Date: 2006-05-12
From: Boiling Springs Pa.

To: Duncannon Pa. (Doyle Hotel)
Miles today: 25.6
Weather: overcast clouds

9:42 p.m. Yesterday we slackpacked with my parents. We had breakfast at a diner across from the motel, then eventually we got our stuff together and squeezed into the car. It was a cramped, uncomfortable ride back to Pine Grove Furnace, where we had left off. My parents hiked with us about 1 mile to the sign indicating the halfway point of the trail. We took pictures and were happy, then my parents turned around and we kept hiking. It was a rainy day, not warm but not too cold. We stopped for lunch and saw Spiritual Pilgrim, who had stopped after 7.5-ish and was going to spend the night there. After eating, we continued the walk in the rain, although it let up sometimes. I hiked with Team Steve and Sunshine mostly. We hit another shelter with 4 miles to go on our easy 19 mile slackpack, but we didn't go to the shelter, just kept on towards Boiling Springs, where we planned to meet my parents, get our stuff, eat, and then camp. The last couple of miles of the day were through or beside farm fields. Rural Pennsylvania at its finest, manure smells and all. We got to Boiling Springs at about 4:45, an hour from the last shelter. My parents weren't there yet, but they, Kaptain, and Lockjaw arrived presently. My parents provided a bucket of KFC as well as fruit, bread, cookies, hot chocolate, soda, cheese, crackers, and more. It was a feast. It was pretty much pouring out, though, so we dreaded heading back out to camp. Amazingly, a guy whose trail name is Ishmael showed up and asked us if wanted some dry camping. Of course we said yes. He drove us to his house, where he showed us two shelters in the backyard and offered us full use of his house. Bathroom, laundry, kitchen, and hanging-out areas were all provided. All of this was just out of the goodness of his heart, and we definitely couldn't have asked for better trail magic. We went inside and he told us about his hikes (he's done the Triple Crown) and showed us a friend's slide show and gave us more food. Later we went out to one of the shelters and set up our stuff. It still felt like a night in the woods, which was nice, but we had a dry place and house luxuries. It poured, too. It is so lucky that we had that opportunity, because we would have been soaked and unhappy. This morning my dad picked us up around a quarter to eight, and after grabbing some breakfast we were on the trail again slackpacking by about quarter to nine. The first 12 or 13 miles were flat farmland like the last few yesterday were. There was rain in the forecast, but it was actually beautiful and sunny all day today. Fortunately, a lot of the trail today was shaded even though it was through farmland, because there was a little strip of trees and bushes through which we walked. After those flat, boring miles, we did our first climb of the day. It wasn't particularly big or anything though. At the top, we ate at a shelter that was just recently built. We realized we only had 11.3 miles to go. It seemed an easy walk, therefore, the rest of the way to Duncannon. With 4 miles left in the day, we ran into my parents who, bored, had decided to do a day hike to meet us. They brought soda, cookies, and leftover pizza, and my dad did his magic show. "Trail magic" now. My mom also saw a large rattler on the way up. I was impressed as we descended into Duncannon at the hill my parents had just climbed. When we got to the Doyle (a sketchy tavern/inn that's been around forever and is an infamous hiker stop), I freaked out because I thought I'd lost my wallet bag yet again. I had been stressed out since my parents' arrival because normal life is just so complicated, so I was already in a touchy mood and got pretty upset about the wallet. Eventually I found it. Phew. We went to dinner at a pub that was quite busy because it was a Friday night. I had a salad and a portobello mushroom sandwich, which was good, but the meal timing was terrible, so pretty much none of us were eating simultaneously. After dinner I drove the guys to the grocer store for resupply. I managed not to kill anyone, even though I hadn't driven in a couple of months. Back to the Doyle we went, and they drank beers in the bar downstairs, but I wasn't even allowed to hang out with them because I'm underage, which I think is pretty dumb. Sunshine and Lockjaw each came up to visit me though, as I sat in the room going through pictures and doing my journal. It's getting pretty late and they're coming up now. Night.