Date: 2004-12-13
From: Peter's Mountain Shelter, Pa.

To: The Doyle Hotel, Duncannon, Pa.
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: scattered clouds

11.4 miles todayDoyle HotelDuncannon, Pa. I didn't have any coffee left this morning. I've been drinking Eight Oclock coffee that you grind in the store ever since Liteshoe sent me an article from Consumer Reports saying that it was one of the best on the market...I have to agree, it's very good coffee, but I don't have any today. Hippie felt sorry for me and all my whining and made me some hot tea. We had a small breakfast because it's a town day!!! We didn't want to fill up on food we had when we knew there was a buffet waiting on us at the truckstop in Duncannon. We got started early for us...8:10am. It's harder to get out of your sleeping bag when it's cold out. I never start that late the rest of the year, but the initial shock of the cold air in the morning after being nice and warm in your sleeping bag all night is like taking a cold shower in the winter...it's just hard to do!! We walked on or near a ridge all morning. When we were on top of the ridge or on the right side of it, we were in about a 20 mph wind that was kind of chilly. When we were on the left side of the ridge, it felt great out. There was still snow flurries, but no snow had stuck from last night. I got to cross over on the new pedestrian bridge they built over the road at a sharp turn in the mountain pass on Rt 225. I never had problems crossing the road thre before, but you did have to watch for cars coming around the bend. We found a spot on the left side of the ridge that was out of the wind and the sun had come out for a short while. I sat down and leaned back on my pack looking at the farms below and I almost fell asleep. The warm sun felt great and I felt warm even though it was still just as cold out. The clouds came back and it started chilling down even on the side of the ridge, so we started walking again. I could see Duncannon and then I spotted the truckstop from the top of the ridge at 11am. It didn't look too far away, just down the mountain and on the other side of the Susquehanna River. I kept walking the ridge line and we never started going down. (You can see most everything around you this time of year because there are no leaves blocking your view.) We got to where we were right next to the truckstop on the ridge, but it was still on the other side of the river and we were still on the ridge!! Don't the people that layed out this trail know that I would be hungry when I came by here?? We walked over a mile passed where the truckstop was before we finally started coming off the ridge. We ended up switchbacking all the way back to near where we had just passed by an hour before. We finally got down to the river and there was a coal train on the tracks in our way...sometimes it's so hard to get to food!!! I didn't want to crawl under it and I didn't want to climb in between the cars just in case it started moving. Those big steel wheels looked like they would hurt. It looked like it was about a mile to the right to get around it and only a quarter mile to the left. We headed to our left, but we were walking right up against a wall and only had a few feet from the wall to the train. It stayed still until we got around it and we headed over to cross the bridge over the Susquehanna. The river was way above normal and flowing fast, The snow flurries were back and the wind was blowing about 30 mph and felt cold. We got to the buffet and life was good again...we survived!!! I was still in my hiking shorts and Hippie was still wearing her short hiking skirt, so we got a few comments from the truck drivers. That's ok, I was happy with my food. Hippie has been like a bottomless pit lately. She eats way more food than I do. She got a few extra comments from the drivers on about her fourth trip to the buffet. When we got done, we walked outside and was greeted by what felt like very cold weather. It was heated in the truckstop and when you get used to the heat and then walk outside, it's cold!! We walked fast about 1 1/2 miles to the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon. A guy that just got out of his car yelled over at us that we were crazy to be out hiking this time of year...welcome to Duncannon!! We went into the bar and ordered a couple Yuenglings. I stayed here in '02 and swore I'd never be back because it was so bad. I wouldn't have come in today, except Hippie said that they've really been working on it to make it better. She had come through here earlier this year on her thru hike. She was right, it was very nice this year. Vicky was behind the bar and her and her husband bought the hotel and bar back in '02 when I came through the first time. The bar and grill wasn't open back then. I had another beer while we sat talking to Vicky. Shrek is here working. I met him last year when he was finishing up his hike from where he left off in '02. He was real happy to meet Hippie Long Stockings. He said she was a legend!! He kept talking to her and saying good things that he had heard about her and I think I even saw her blush. She's been hiking with me for a long time, so I know she's not used to hearing anything good about her. In fact.....nope...I'm going to be nice and keep my mouth shut. Ha!! We got our room and went up and took showers and did laundry. They have just put new beds in the hotel, so the old, and I mean really, old beds are gone. Hippie and I tried planning out the next few days so we knew how much food to buy here in town and when our clothes were dry, we went down to the bar and had a few more Yuenglings. Shrek is the cook here and he made us a couple hamburgers and a plate of fries so big we couldn't finish them. It was a nice evening sitting in the bar talking. The snow got pretty heavy for a short while and that was nice to see from the inside of the Doyle. About 10pm, we went back up to the room and went to sleep. Tripod showed up a little while later and knocked on the door. Hippie answered, I just said hi and went back to sleep.Another great day on the A.T.