Date: 2003-06-26
From: Darlington Shelter

To: Clarks Ferry Bridge
Miles today: 13.2

Woke up to an incredible sunrise. THese are the things you remember forever.Shared breakfast with Bag, Medicine Man, Flash, Thor & Siesta. Everyone was up early due to the heat.We learned our friends Sassy & Kodiak have gotten off the trail. We'll want to stay in contact with them and learn from them what led them to their decision. They will be missed. The guys were really lamenting that so many strong hikers have gotten off the trail.A steep, rocky but uneventful descent into Duncannon before 1 p.m.It was in the high 90's but we were still thinking about a big town lunch. As planned, we walked on the trail through town and stopped at Sorento's- huge strombolis.And now for the hard part. We decided during lunch it is time to end our AT hike. Fact is by about mile 900 we admitted that it was becoming more work than fun. The unrelenting rain made for really tough conditions- wet everything on a regular basis with tons on ankle deep mud. The ATC said that 2003 was the wettest year since folks began hiking the trail. Once summer arrived- dealing with drying out became nearly impossible as shelters were full of weekend hikers and lots of scout troops. This required us to set up a wet tent often in the rain which gets old. Now that we're having better weather, it's switched to temps in the high 90's. Actually, all of the conditions are doabel but we feel we have so many other exciting opportunities that draw us away from the daily rigors of thru-hiking.AT Thru-Hikers are a tough bunch. Perhaps if we were returning to our same jobs and house- we'd stick it out but all along we knew that post trail we had an awesome cross country journey planned as we travelled toward our new home in Helena,MT. Once the trail became work we found ourselves asking why continue?And so our plan is another journey- taking the remaining mos. we would have hiked to base camp in some of the greatest parks across the country en route to MT. We had plans to visit family in NM and CA and now will expand that to see places like Arches Park in Utah, The Grand Canyon,Yosmite, The Cascades, etc. Hopefully, we'll combine some backpacking with our camping, too.So it's been a very emotional day. While we are incredibly proud to have walked 1135 miles from GA to PA, we know we will grieve the wonders and simplicity of trail life.We took time to stop at the library in a Methodist Church in Duncannon to open up to each other about our decision. What an honor and privelege it has been to hike 3 mos. with my daughter and husband. These have been the most incredible times of my life.So once the decision was made- we needed a plan. We considered staying the night at the Campground in Duncannon but between the mud, bugs and raw sewage smell- it was voted down. So we walked to a bust truck stop in Clarks Ferry and decided to try to hitch to Harrisburg. While we know we could have phoned family- we were all a little fragile to share our news and needed to do the final stretch alone. Crossing major highways let alone hitching is not a simple task. After enduring close to a half hour of whirring traffic, finger-flicking, and waves, we concluded people travel at a pretty face pace in "the other world". As we were walking back to find a place to call a cab, a van pulled over. The driver said he had lots of room and time and suggested a motel within walking distance of the train station in Harrisburg.So, here we are. Decided we will call our son Josh who lives in an apt. in our hometown of Wallingford to see if we can stay with him for a day or so. Talk about role reversal.Still planning to reunite with my family in Lebanon on Sunday to celebrate our jouney. Although it will be on different terms, we are truly ready to celebrate, regroup, reunite with our families and plan our "Quest for the West".THEAT