Date: 2003-07-17
From: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

To: Alec Kennedy Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

Sleep, my friends, is a beautiful thing. I hope that you cherish every moment of it that you get. I do cherish it when I can actually get it. Last night was not one of those nights, however. I was feeling a bit better when I went to bed...although that, in itself was not an early hour. I needed to write my journal, and that took a bit of time. When I went into the "girls" hostel room, everyone else was already asleep, and the lights were off. The "boys" had pretty much just gone to sleep in the downstairs room. I should mention that the hostel is a mansion that used to be a part of the Underground Railroad. It has a secret room, under a small trapdoor, that leads to a tunnel. I missed the tour last night, due to my emotional drama/trauma, but Randy said that the room was REALLY tiny, as was the trapdoor. Being as claustrophobic as I am, it might not have been the best thing for me. Anyway...I tossed and turned for at least an hour on my bunk. The room was really! warm, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I thought I would try to find a place on the porch to sleep, but when I went downstairs, all the doors to the outside were locked. I knew there was an electronic security system, but didn't know if it was set, so I didn't dare to unlock anything. I finally found a bit of air where there was a recliner in the lower hallway. I had my pillow and sleeping bag with me, so I proceeded to camp out. I went to sleep very soon afterwards. I half woke up when the caretaker went through at about 5, but drifted back to sleep. I got up and went back upstairs at 7...crick in my neck, but at least I'd gotten a little bit of sleep. I laid down on the bunk for a half hour, then got up and packed my stuff. I talked with L, another thru-hiker for a bit, then went downstairs. Gerri and Randy were almost ready, and were heading to the store for breakfast. I had a couple of bars and two cans of Sam's version of Mountain Dew. When we all had f!inished eating, we hit the Trail at a leisurely pace. We wanted to do19 miles today, but were all having some footache issues. We went to a grocery store/deli for lunch and resupply...yummy subs! While we were sitting at the picnic table eating, we heard a cracking sound from above. We knew what it was...the question was...were we going to have our AT hike ended by an ill-placed falling tree limb?? The limb fell onto the roof of the store, jagged edge first, then crashed onto the gutter. We would live to hike another day...whew! We hiked on. PA started throwing some rocks at us today...at one point a maze through some large boulders...yikes! Randy and I found a great cave in one section. We hiked on...on sore feet. We knew that we weren't going to make it the 19...but had heard that the campsite we were heading to was right near the railroad tracks, and that trains go through every 90 minutes. The shelter seemed like the best idea. We got here to find boy scouts (taking all the tent sites but one...wah!), Iceberg Slim and Froggie !Pete. Gerri ended up tenting, and the rest of us are in the shelter. Oh, and Gray Matter showed up late, after hiking from the shelter we left TWO days ago. I would have died on my bloody stumps of feet trying to do that! Does that mean I'm old? Just curious... I am feeling better today (but you can still write to me!), although I continue to have foot pain. (I may get some gel cushion liners for the boots in Boiling Springs tomorrow...anything to help ease the ache!) I think I was just feeling a lot of mixed emotions, hitting that halfway point. I'm in much better spirits, and am now looking forward to taking a zero day in Duncannon on Sunday, and picking up my maildrop on Monday. Goodnight and peace to all!