Date: 2005-06-21
From: Doyle Hotel Duncannon

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 28.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day #97 HAPPY NAKED DAY! June 21st, summer solstice, full moon, equals naked hikers. Don't worry mom i wore my boots I'm absolutely exhausted after a crazy i'll never do that again 28.9 mile day. After sleeping in, i was hiking by 6am through the lovely, though slightly depressed town of duncannon. After crossing the clarks ferry bridge along side of a very busy road, the trail crosses railroad tracks and goes up peter's mtn rather steeply . I don't know who peter is, but i'm sure i don't like him. There are shelters located at 4miles, 11miles, & 29miles out of town. Normally, i don't let shelters dictate my milage. Water on the other hand has been in short supply as of late. Once you climb up on a ridge, there is little or no water too be had. The only thru-hiker i saw was handyman. Swift is just ahead of me and i think chuck & rabbit were at the first shelter i bypassed due to the early hour. They have built a footbridge over PA225 since i have last been here. I had planned to get water at a stream when the trail dropped down into clarks valley. Just my luck as i walk across the highway a local is getting out of his truck. Checking out the fishing he says. He was wondering how safe i was feeling on the trail. I wanted to say pretty safe, until i ran into him. We had a wonderful chat about fishing and gangland murders. He'd talk fishing for a bit then drift into a detailed description of how gangs kill people. This went on for 40 minutes. Where were all the other hikers? Needless to say i decided not to pump water and run up the trail. Not a big crisis since there should be a spring and stream up ahead. No sooner do i leave mr. slice & dice, i run into a hiker with a crossbow on his pack. What the hell is going on here? Freaks on parade. I say hi and ask his name, to which he replies he has none. Good enough for me. Perhaps he can chat crazy man down at the river. I think they will have a lot in common. The spring i was counting on was such a bright and vivd orange color that i had not seen except at the drink fountain in mcdonalds. Since, grimace is no where to be seen i chose to move on. The stream is dry with happy pockets of standing water/muck. Earlier today a branch whacked me in the eye. Now it seems to be twitching and feels poofy. This isn't good since i recently started breathing through my eye lids, much like some lizards far away do. I hear it works in baseball too. Now i'm thirsty enough to drink mud. Lucky for me the trail becomes quite muddy. Where there is mud hopefully there is water? A happy little and may i add clear spring that isn't in any of the books or on the map. Only 4 more miles to rausch gap shelter. It was a very long four miles. I reach the side trail to the shelter, cause the shelter is never on the trail when your really, really tired. The muppets were setting up camp and were quite pleased about hiking naked. I crawled down to the shelter where i run into michigan. Swift actually kept going, the man is not human. The thought floated by my little brain about doing the other 1.1 mile to make a thirty mile day. My feet said no, in fact they may never walk again. I've done the math, if my feet fall off i figure i can hop twelve miles a day. I set up camp close to the shelter. Michigan tells me someone burnt down the privy. i'm thinking of course they have. I think i'm too exhausted to sleep. I may have really over done it with the heat and all.