Date: 2005-06-27
From: William Penn Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA
Miles today: 27.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Up and gone by 6:50 this morning. The feet are banged and bruised so bad it took a few minutes just to be able to walk. Forget about going anywhere bare footed. What I was suffering from was a serious case of stone bruising. Deep bruised all over the bottom of the feet. I had two blisters forming on the sides of my heals. I could not believe it, the sides of my heals. The sides of my feet were taking the punishment due to the speed I was walking, the distance I was doing and above all the impact against all the rocks on the trail. This was when I first came up with the realization that the "P" in Pennsylvania stood for pain.   I was not alone in this respect. The log entries at the shelters I passed told of so many other hikers who were suffering the same as I. One hiker, Messa, was from Japan. I met him earlier near the Laurel Falls before Trail Days. He could not speak or evidently write English that well however, what he wrote could not have been more "on the mark". He wrote, "Foot bad, much pain, broke". He was so right, the foot was bad.   The goal this day was to make it to Port Clinton. I was walking alone to try to slow the pace down but keep the big miles going. I stopped at the "Dick Kimmel look out" and got a nice view of eastern PA. There was a wind sock there so evidently this was a launching point for hang gliding or Para gliding. Now that would be cool, to go aloft and float the ridge lines there. I have a lot of hang time under a chute however, I never glided as of yet (someday perhaps). I passed over PA-501 and stopped in to the 501 shelter. What a great shelter, completed with bunks and sky lights. A shower in the rear of the building and water from a spigot, sweet.   At 3:59 I came upon another Rattle Snake. This was snake number four and this one had the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. It was blacker then any other of the snakes that I have seen. It did not rattle until I almost stepped on it. It scared the "Ba-Jesus" out of me. I bet you I jumped right out of my shoes. I went three feet up and three feet back with no effort at all.      I eventually made it to Port Clinton however, I decided to take a quick unscheduled break. Before I went to town and settled in to the "Town Pavilion" for a free nights stay, I stopped at the Schuylkill River and let my sore feet soak in the cool water. This is the same river Daniel Boone slept near when lost as a boy. I tried to imagine what it must have been like. A trade trail along the river, fishing spots placed here and there by the local Indians, did he have a fire or go cold camp? Was he afraid? It boggled the mind to imagine what it must have been like. After about a half an hour the swelling went down a bit and I moved on. Quite a few hikers were there, English Bob, Vision Quest, Cycle Hiker, Snowman (not Snowyman who I have been hiking with before) and Fatigue. I was catching up to people I was reading about in the logs over the past few weeks.   There was a bus stop there and I could have taken a bus home but I decided to move on the next day. I wanted to get as much of PA done as possible before I took my break. I also did not want to go home to early, I wanted to get closer to the 4th of July as I could. By the time I got to the pavilion the outfitter store was long closed. Lucky for me there was a well stocked hiker box that allowed me to resupply for the next push. Trail Angels placed fresh clean water in jugs on the picnic tables there as well as some great snacks. I had 76 miles and three days to go till I reached the Delaware Water Gap.   Personal note: Happy Birthday to my sister, Barbara