Date: 2004-06-05
From: Hertlein Campsite, PA

To: Day 71: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 18.1

On AT Day 71 I got up at 4:00 a.m., but since it was raining steadily I took my time in the tent and didn¢t hit the trail until 7:00 a.m.; however, in spite of the extra time, I did something rather stupid. Picture this; I have a waterproof cover for my pack and all of the contents of my pack rest inside of a large waterproof garbage bag and all my food and clothing are in separate waterproof stuff sacks. But in spite of all this concern about keeping my gear dry, I made the na ve mistake of putting my sopping wet tent in my pack right next to my sleeping bag and since the stuff sack for the sleeping bag is not waterproof, the sleeping bag acted like as a giant sponge. Another hard lesson learned as next time I will put my wet tent inside of a separate waterproof garbage bag.When I left in the morning the temperatures were in the low 50¢s and with the steady daylong downpour they never got above the mid-50¢s. This combined with the fact that my Gore-Tex jacket and boots failed once again (they work for a while, but ¢¦), I got soaked. All in all, perfect conditions for hypothermia. I was confident that if I kept moving I would be OK, but just as I was challenged in the cold blowing snow earlier this year, one of the difficulties was figuring out how to keep warm long enough to eat snacks and a quick lunch. The solution I have tried is to wait to eat until you finish a particularly tough section when you are especially warm and then to eat as fast as possible.The terrain for much of this day¢s hike continued to be very rocky, causing me to slow down so that I wouldn¢t slip and re-injure my left knee ¢ or worse. I point this out because in one of the sections where I was moving along as fast as possible I was startled to see Bramble literally run by, clad only in his kilt, boots and pack ¢ no shirt again, despite the cold rain ¢ tough guy.The trail leading the last couple of miles down to the tiny town of Port Clinton is particularly steep and, given the rain, treacherous in places if you are not careful ¢ I was. My original plan had been to stop after this 18.1-mile hike and camp in the town¢s public pavilion (the site of a free-to-all-AT hikers food fest on June 2), but given that I was completely soaked and cold I tried to find a room in the town¢s only hotel. Unfortunately, when I inquired at the bar (which doubles as the registry for the hotel), I was told that they had just rented out the last two rooms and that I should check out the pavilion. Dejectedly I left the warm and friendly hotel and bar and plodded up the street another quarter mile or so and found the pavilion.Truth be told, the pavilion was huge, dry and very nice. There were at least four other hikers (two section and two through hikers) already there and they were sitting around under a bright white gas lantern eating doughnuts, candy and chatting amiably with one of the local AT club members, Bag of Tricks. The pavilion also had numerous gallon bottles of water, and several large ¢hiker boxes¢ with additional food and other goodies. Given that I was wet and cold, I didn¢t waste any time pulling out my WET sleeping bag, changing in some dry clothes and making a hot dinner. Bag of Tricks came over and asked if I needed any dry clothes to get warm, I declined, but I was very impressed by his sincerity. None of the other guys were making dinner, since they were all going to be picked-up by others or be shuttled by Bag of Tricks to a restaurant or the fire station for a spaghetti dinner later on. While I was eating my dinner and getting warm, another local person dropped by and offered to drive any of us anywhere we needed. All-in-all, Port Clinton sure lived up to its claim of being an ¢AT hiker friendly town.¢