Date: 2005-05-05
From: clark's ferry shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

MAY 5, THURS. DAY 28      staying at yellow springs village clearing tonight. left shelter at 6:45 this morn. got in to camp at 4:30         alone last nite again. bought a pair of gloves in town yest. how about that ken reimers? ken is my old running buddy. he wears socks on his hands instead of gloves. he is from elkader ia. and those people up there think he is nuts. i don't think, i know he is nuts! we drove out to boston in 1996 and ran in the 100th anniversary boston marathon. got there the day before the event at about 6 a.m. and just sitting on the street right across from the fancy park ave. hotel waiting for the time when we could go and pick up our race packets. then we were going to drive out to hopkinton where the race starts the next day. ken says lets go in that hotel and get a room. i said are you crazy? they have been booked for a year because of the 45,000 people coming in here for the race. he says lets go in anywayl. he waltzes right up to the garcon or whatever you call those guys with their nose in the air. so happens they have a room in the penthouse. we take it. only $200/ nite. have out own elevator and all the buffet food you want up there.          met guy named jack. from mechanicsburg pa. out for a couple weeks. started up north of port clinton. stopped at peters mt. shelter and took shirt off. getting warm. nice shelter. a double decker. met a couple turkey hunters with shotguns. told them i had saw a turkey back down the trail. them turkeys can run faster than i thought. they zip right up the trail then take off with a loud crash thru the trees. met an asian sobo just now. wanted to know where and how far to the shelter. was hard to understand him. had on a pack bigger than he was. he had a big camera case with him. met a couple guys on the trail that looked a little shady.         probably could have made it to next shelter tonite but was tired so staying here. is pretty buggy here. lot of black flies. having mac and cheese tonite for supper. now that it is cooling off the flies aren't quite as bad. but later this month bet they will be terrible. have a little sore spot on my heel again. oh well another few days from now and it won't matter. in my tent about 6:30. was a long day. MAY 6, FRI. DAY 29      made 22 miles today. staying at 501 shelter tonite. few clouds today. did not sleep well last nite. thinking about going home. getting anxious.    was listening to npr and they were playing pomp and circumstance. brought back old memories of my highschool graduation. my dad came to it. i was i shock cause he had never came to anything other that that boxing fiasco and he was drunk on that occasion. he just didn't like crowds. i think my grandfather, (i called him pa) nehring came to a basketball game once but otherwise nothing else. my dad never once saw me play, basketball, baseball or even a class play. i had the lead in one play and big part in another but no one in my family came. weird huh? but now my uncle jim used to come to just about all the ballgames. and my aunt bessie's dad and mom came too. her dad was nicknamed popeye. he liked to come and watch me play cause he said i went up and down the court like a wild man.          just lost the trail. no blazes. finally found it back. was crossing highway where they are building a new bridge and talked to a crane operator. told him i used to be an ironworker and we had a good visit. i noticed that all the workers were tied off. thats the way it is now. hard to get any work done but much safer.       man you have to be a masochist to hike thru pa. you have to want to punish yourself every day. it is absolutely ridiculous. as you can see my attitude is getting worse. falling all the time. tripping constantly. one thing about it tho. you are mostly hiking on the ridges so not so many ups and downs. and when you do finally get to some decent trail it is a relief. got in to 501 shelter about 4:30. is right next to hiway 501. shelter is enclosed and even has a door on it. but cracks in the floor so i suppose there are mice. there is a caretaker here named don. told him about going home from port clinton and if he knew about the buses stopping by there in the mornings. he tried to get info but no success.   took a sponge bath but still stink. got up and had breakfast. then looked out and watched the resident cat eat a big old rat. all of it, fur and all!!!. saw don outside and asked him if it was hard to get a hitch to town from here. wanted to go in pine grove and get a breakfast and newspaper. he said the ridgerunner (scott)was coming down this morn to have breakfast with him and invited me to eat with them. had eggs, spam,taters,juice, and coffee. mentioned to scott that i was wondering if the bus was still coming thru pt. clinton at 5 a.m. he said it was but better yet he lives up north of there and goes thru there on his way to work every morn to his job as a nurse at reading where i would need to go anyway to transfer buses. so he will pick me up in front of the hotel pt. clinton around 6 a.m. on mon. and take me right to the bus sta.. trail magic!!!!MAY 7, SAT. DAY 30         made 15 miles today. staying at eagle's nest shelter.      very tough day. tripping over about every rock. can't seem to pick my feet up. really wears on you. it seems worse than ever. the rocks just get to me psychologically and physically. getting too tired. don't know why anyone would ever want to day hike here.    had trouble with tape recorder. discovered it was not recording. well i had bumped the pause button. so did not get my thoughts recorded for most of the day. got to the shelter at 3:30. decent shelter. and it is .3 mile off the trail. that always gets me too. it doesn't seem like much to someone who has not hiked but to a hiker it does. have a raw spot on my right foot on top of the toes.   are 4 people in the shelter so far. jim and tom who are brothers out for 2 weeks. tracy and beanpie. some scouts came in but they camped. slept ok. MAY 8, SUN. DAY 31         in to port clinton. last day on the trail      nice morning and not too cold last nite. it is good to be finishing. hard to describe. been 3 years now. gets in your head . times i don't enjoy but more times i do. spent 4 nites alone in shelter or camping. i recommend hiking with a partner.   i did get over the fear of dark. now i can get out by myself and throw my tent up. get out in middle of night and look up at the stars and have no fear. that is a good feeling.been good therapy for me. i have always been a little chickenshit. lol. i have had good weather for the most part on this section.    sure glad i had my radio with me. listen to npr in morning. and late afternoon. listen to kathy and regis, dr. phil. and others on tv sta. on sat. i like to listen to mike feldman, click and clack car talk, prairehome companion. good company. passes the time.    strong winds today. oh man going down the mt. damn near took a fall. don't know how i kept from getting killed.   wish you could hear me on this tape. got down off the mt. very steep ascent. and in to port clinton. big war whoop. im done!!!! im done!!!!         walking past a church and there was lady pastor opening the doors of the church. she said you are welcome to come to church. so went in stink and all. is about 11 a.m. mother's day service. sat behind two old ladies. felt sorry for them. i am sure they could smell me. phew!   went to hotel pt. clinton and got a room. kind of dumpy. $50. community bathroom. but did my laundry. shower was hot and cold. went to the hotel cafe and had a meal. big servings. almost too much.    there is a cabela's about 2 miles away from here. got there no and called them to see if they would come down and pick me up cause i had some warranty work on some boots. first guy i talked to said they could not pick me up. i asked for the mgr. and explained that i was an app. trail hiker. he said they would send someone over for me within the next half hour. sure enough they gave me a ride to store. showed the cust. ser. boots. they called their shoe man up front and he tried to look up the boots. so happens they were two years old. but he did find an old catalog and the brand of boots. gave me a gift card for $140. great service right? so bought a new pair of low cut merrell trail shoes. and a swim shift for mary. browsed around for a couple hours enjoying myself, then had lunch at their cafe, all on the gift card. then they took me back to hotel.       called mary, wished her happy mothers day and also mom who was up visiting mary. mary will pick me up at waterloo hopefully.         walked down to the pavilion to see if any hikers were there. met nurse without a purse there. (male nurse.)from kansas city, mo. he had hiked the trail in the middle 90's. said it took him 8 months. is another one of those professional hikers. really don't understand that yet.      this hotel is not hiker friendly. i can sort of understand it as far as the restaurant is concerned because we do stink when we come in off the trail til we get a shower.. but i think it is totally a scam to charge $50 for a shithole room and cold shower. tv that shuts down when the bar closes. at 10 p.m. right in the middle of an elvis movie. but the food is good. giant portions. no wonder the people in this country are obese. hamburgers are an inch thick and good 6 inches in diam. subs are 14 inches and loaded. french fries in a big styrofoam cont. enough for 4 people. red lily was here and half drunk. is a strange one. he just wanders around in no particular order. he said his mother provides for him. i have met many others out here on the trail with the same situation. their folks taking care of them. probably better that having them underfoot at home.lol.          mary picked me up at bus sta. in waterloo. so good to be home. now need to start planning next adventure.   got up at 4 a.m. couldn't sleep. was up many times during nite to pee. too much coffee. was anxious about my ride to reading with scott. paranoid. thinking maybe he would forget. and then the bus goes by about 5 a.m. so if scott does not show up would have to hitch ride to reading or spend another day here. not!!!!      but he showed up right on time and took me in to reading bus sta. gave me an apple to eat on the way. great guy. so long bus ride home. 4 transfers. is the worst part of hiking.