Date: 2005-05-31
From: Port Clinton

To: Stealth camp 2.3 miles north of Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

start: Port Clintonfinish: Stealth campsite 2.3 miles north of Eckville Shelter miles: 17.5day: 85Last night Underpants came back from picking up his truck at PA 325 and took us to resupply and get dinner at Cracker Barrel.  We tried to go to a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant, but it was closed for the holiday.  Underpants had his dog Cisco with him, and his girlfriend's dog Libby, which is a beautiful, super-hyper Labrador/Boxer mix.  She's crazy.  She loves to play tug of war by grabbing her own leash in her mouth.  Aside from that, she has an attention span of about 3 seconds, and has a real good nature.Underpants dropped us back at the pavilion, a free place on the edge of town for hikers to stay.  We invited him to come out with us again, and he just said "not anytime soon".  Hmmm, and I thought he had a good time.  All we did was hike 53 miles in 3 days.  That's taking it easy, right?  I laid out my Thermarest and was soon asleep, but around 4:30 am the birds chirping and nearby road noise woke me, so I shoved in some earplugs and went right back to sleep.When I finally woke for good, Goldilocks was also awake, and we slowly packed up and walked to 3C's Restaurant for some breakfast.  A man named Brian was sitting nearby and was interested in our journey.  We talked a bit, and as he was leaving he bought our breakfast!  That sure was nice, and totally unexpected.  What a great way to start the day.  Thanks Brian!When we left the restaurant to walk almost a mile through town back to the trail, the sun was out and it was getting hot.  It was already 11:15, and the miles went kind of slow and lazy, so that by 3:00 we had only gone 6 miles, but we took a nice long break in the shade at a nice grassy area where we couldn't hear any road noise.Ever since Front Royal road noise, sometimes close, sometimes a big highway far off, is a constant companion.  I long for the quiet remoteness of the Georgia mountains.I started out ahead of Goldilocks and continued on at 3 MPH to Eckville Shelter.  Very quiet today.  Now that the holiday's over, all the non-thru-hikers have gone home and we're in a bubble.  There are lots of hikers we know that are a few days behind us, and lots a day or two ahead, but today we saw no one, except two section hikers at Eckville.  But the reason we walked 0.2 down the road to this shelter is that there is a caretaker who provides sodas and snacks for a donation!  I downed some refreshing calories and enjoyed reading the huge register, with entries as far back as 2001.Left around 7:00 pm and hiked up to the ridge top.  The plan was to hike until dark, but with all the rocks we had encountered today I was willing to stop a bit early for a nice campsite.Well, the campsite is nice, but only as soft as the rest of Pennsylvania, meaning there are some amazingly sharp rocks under my sleeping pad.  There is, however, a nice breeze, the air has cooled, and we are positioned for a nice sunrise.  We have about 23 miles to hike tomorrow into Palmerton, where we plan to hit the PO and stay at the free "jailhouse" hostel.