Date: 2003-06-13
From: Duncannon 

To: Peters Mountain Shelter 
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Duncannon to   The first thing I thought when I woke up this morning was "I could take a zero day here today and just relax." I had a little bit of a headache, and didn't feel very well rested. I thought it would be nice to take a day to sleep in, eat food, take a nap, read, take a nap, eat food, take a nap. (Sigh) I decided to hike instead. Of course, that was after a good breakfast at Jodi's Cafe. Three pancakes, bacon, toast, orange juice. All of it was good!I wasn't in any hurry to leave Duncannon, mostly because the destination for the day was just over 11 miles. It was also because I liked Duncannon. The people were very friendly, offering rides or internet access without me even seeking it. The walk out of town was very nice, as the AT goes right down a street that parallels the main street, passing houses and churches. I like little towns, especially when the people are so nice.After leaving town, I crossed Juniata River, then Susquehanna River. I don't care for the roadwalks, but I like crossing big rivers. All the rivers I've been crossing lately have been swiftly flowing, and are out of their banks, so it's pretty cool. Once across the rivers, the AT climbed Peters Mountain. There were a few good views of Duncannon and the rivers on the way up and once on the ridge, which was nice. Especially since the trail was quite rocky. I climbed up over huge rocks, and down and around them. Ugh! Luckily, it didn't last too long, and the trail leveled out some, returning to the usual toe-stubbing rocks scattered strategically on the trail.When Hotdog and I got to Clarks Ferry Shelter, Kid was there, taking a break. It was almost 1pm, so we had lunch there, before moving on. Kid had left first, and a bit north of the shelter, as I was walking under some powerlines, he called to me from some rocks above. "Hey, wanna see some rattlesnakes?" Of course! I climbed up the rocks and within 15 feet of us were two rattlesnakes, sunning in what little bit of sun there was. When Hotdog came along, we called him up, and he saw the two snakes we did, plus two more. Wow! They were so cool. One of them slid down between some rocks, and a few minutes later, rattled for us. That was awesome! We stared at them for a while, then moved on. Kid kindly asked who was going to lead, and I volunteered, thinking I could step on the snakes, and by the time they got angry, Kid or Hotdog would be around them. I didn't see any more snakes today.Before getting to Peters Mountain Shelter, the three of us passed thruhikers Prince William and Sunpig as they were going south. They explained that they had stayed at Peters Mountain Shelter last night, and, along with Fidodido and Dirty Bird, took a zero day there. There were 23 people in this shelter last night... all headed to the next shelter, 16 miles away, so they decided to stay here another night. Prince William and Sunpig were headed to the nearest town, for the second time today. They also informed us that Mule, Paparazzi, and B-Roc were there too. They had planned on a 26 mile day, but when they heard about the crowd ahead, they decided to stay too.It's cool to meet these people that I've been following in the shelter registers. From the way the shelter spacing is, we will probably be at the same shelter tomorrow night too. It looks like I'll have to get used to juvenile jokes and friendly barbs being tossed around again tomorrow. I can do my share of joking, but I'm not in the mood for this kind of joking. While they know each other, and are probably entitled to cut each other down all the time, I don't like it. I found that out when I lived with my brother and cousin and they'd blow off steam by spending time cutting each other down. It was okay with them, but I didn't want to hear it. I like to be around positive things, especially out here.I know that different people act differently than I, and like different things than I do, and I can accept it. But I can also choose to avoid it, if it's something I don't want to be around. I'm sure, them traveling together for a while makes it worse than if I'd met them individually.I've been sitting in the loft of the shelter while everyone but B-Roc was on the lower level talking. B-Roc is in his tent tonight. I found out that 5-Alive was here last night! They'd been about 3 days ahead, but are just one day ahead now. I doubt I'll catch them before I take time off when family comes, but maybe, just maybe, I will. I'd like to see them again. I want to keep in touch with those that started the same day as I did, especially those that I met before the AT, like Speck of 5-Alive. It's also nice to catch up to people. :-) I'm not going to hike more than I want to just to catch up, but it would be nice to see some familiar faces again. Faces I haven't seen in a LONG time!