Date: 2014-06-18
From: campsite near Hawk Rock

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: broken clouds

Will add photo later.I did not sleep well, most likely because it was quite warm, and also because it was my first night back out in the tent in over two weeks. At 4:30 AM, I started hearing yelling and young person party noises, which did not help with sleep. A couple of flashlights raked over the tent, and I wondered if the party would move up to my site from Hawk Rock. I could hear people go by on the trail talking, but the closest anyone came to acknowledging that someone was there in a tent was when someone said, "good morning," at about 5:30. By then, I was beginning to pack up. Grinder walked by about 7, as I was finishing packing. I said I was headed to breakfast in Duncannon and would not be far behind.The trek down from the ridge was on a steep and rocky trail, and it was already hot. I finally got to Goodies, and Grinder, Hank, and Blue Jay invited me to join them. I had read Blue Jay's Trail Journal before I left for my hike and had seen a couple of entries last week, so it was fun to meet her. She has run, I think she said, twelve marathons in ten different states. She is 62, one of the few women out here close to my age. After eating eggs, bacon, toast, and potatoes, washed down with OJ and coffee, I headed to the post office to mail a birthday card to Leigh and then to the ice cream place. At 10:45, the bank thermometer said 87. Ugh. It was not open, but Hank was sitting outside at a picnic table and said he was going to wait until 11. I joined him. From near Dallas, he is one of the few more middle aged people out here. He said he can take the time because he works as a software consultant and could cut back on projects. A young woman opened up at 11, and I got a large cup -- and it was large -- of sinfully chocolate and coffee. I hoped it was early enough in the day not to keep me awake.The walk out of town included bridges over the Juniata and then Susquehanna Rivers. Hot and no shade. I was glad to head back into the woods, even though it was a steep climb to the ridge. Hank passed me and then Grinder went by. I began to dread what we were in for when the trail became very rocky, the big kind hat take some careful navigation. I stopped at Clark's Ferry Shelter for a break and water. Grinder and Hank were there, along with three guys who had begun a southbound section hike just two days before. JPEG soon arrived. The three guys were staying, the rest of us were planning to go to Peters Mountain Shelter, about 6.7 miles further on. The three assured us that the trail was fairly easy from there on, but I did make noises about finding a stealth site. The heat was really wearing me down. I got water, changed my socks, chatted with three SOBOs, and finally left at 4. Fortunately, I got a bit of a second wind on the easy trail and was able to make a little better than 2 mph. There were only two decent sites, one too close to Clark's Ferry, and the other .9 from Peter's Mountain. A runner who had passed me just after a bridge over a road came back and said there were just three guys at the shelter, all in tents. I decided to go to the shelter and got there at 7:45. Hank and Blue Jay were tenting near the trail. JPEG was down toward the privy, and Grinder was putting his tent up in the nice large shelter. He said there were supposed to be thunderstorms, and he didn't want to pack up a wet tent. Since it was late, I decided to do the same. Wings, a nice young guy came in but said he thought he would eat and move on. The fact that he could have the whole upstairs and the threat of rain convinced him to stay. He and I cooked on the deck, and went to bed.Lordy, it was hot. I could not get comfortable, and the noise of my air mattress seemed magnified by the shelter floor. I felt awful about the racket, but I couldn't help moving around. Unzipping the screen door helped a bit, but I was thrilled when a big thunderstorm rolled in and cooled things off a little. I did feel for the folks in tents, because it was very windy and the rain torrential. I think I finally went to sleep around 4.