Date: 2014-07-03
From: eagles nest shelter

To: port Clinton
Miles today: 9.0

An early morning start. And the right decision to continue hiking the gravel road. The trail was bad and I actually felt sorry for those who hiked it. We saw a turtle, a few rabbits and a beautiful rattlesnake (it was nice, she didn't bite me even so I almost stepped on it). We found beautiful turkey feathers and put them on our hats, we more and more look like crazy wood people.After 6 miles we had to get back on the trail too. The trail seems not well maintained. I'm sure they could do a better job if they would like to. If they at least would throw all the loose rocks to the side of the trail. And maybe cut the bushes so we wouldn't get all those mean ticks, plus we could see the snakes hiding on the side of the trail. It was rocky as hell. But then the steep downhill didn't have any rocks, just loose gravel and loose dirt. Put those rocks there and build steps! It would be well appreciated! Whoever we talked to said the same. Our opinion on this maintaining trail club is set, and it's not a good one. We made it down to port Clinton, we got a ride to town from a nice lady. We got our package, repacked it and sent everything we didn't need north. The nice lady picked us up again and brought us to cabelas. It's according to the book an outfitter. It's a huge store and the main customers are hunters and gun lovers. They have about 100 dead animals, stuffed and presented to the crowd. I looked at a hunting crossbow and the sales guy told me to focus on a deer head on the wall. I liked the crossbow, for target shooting, but hunting? I don't think I could kill. I love to see the animals in the forest, to watch them, but I have no desire to kill. And I definitely didn't like the "stuffed" animals, nor the elephant tusks they had standing around. Those animals got killed for no good reason, they aren't feeding anyone! Anyway the store wasn't what we had expected. They had a lot of gear but nothing for thru hikers, no light weight stuff! So we went to Walmart instead, there at least we got what we needed. Plus one of the manager asked us tons of questions, they want to improve their offers for hiker needs (they realized how many customers from the trail they got).At burger King we got disappointed again, they have never heard of my favorite burger which I always get at bk in Switzerland and they didn't have wifi. We went to mc Donalds, they have wifi for free! We stayed there while a thunderstorm hit the town. After we hitchhiked back to port Clinton. A church has built a Pavillion there with a grassy area where hikers are allowed to stay a night. It started to rain again so we actually sleep in the pavilion. Many hikers have shown up, by now there are about 20 hikers here! I hope they quiet down soon, it's past 10pm and I would like to sleep. You hear, our mood gets influenced by the trail. Marco hates hiking right now, how can that happen? But we try to stick to the trail, we try to get further, we try to live the dream even so the trail is more like a nightmare. People keep telling us that the trail will get better up north. We hope it's true and we hope we can build our own opinion on it.