Date: 2011-06-07
From: (71) Hamburg PA

To: (72) Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

After sleeping in till 7am, the four of us decided to go downstairs and get our money¢s worth out of the free breakfast. We put on our shoes, and no sooner had I stepped out the door into the hallway then I looked up and saw Fuzzy Navel! She had stayed the night in none other than the room across from ours with Downhill and Tigerlilly. I had thought that she might still be days ahead of me, when in actuality she had been right under my nose for the past twelve hours! ¢Ahhh Haaaa!¢ I cried, pointing at her. She gave me a weird look and I started laughing and shaking my head while walking back into my room, which confused her even more. Then I returned with the book and gave it to her, explaining that Padre had entrusted me with it. She thanked me for it, and said something about how light I pack and that I had still taken on the extra weight (I had thought about cutting it up, but in the end left the book intact, cover and all). Mission Complete.The downstairs was full of other thru hikers lounging around the lobby or eating breakfast (mostly eating). It was easy to pick out the hikers in the room because they (we) all had un-kept hair, dirty clothes made out of synthetic material, and an overall mangy appearance (Hiker Trash). German Shepherd, Raisons, Hand-Me-Down and I all sat at a table and had several plates of food each before heading out. Before returning to the trail we cut across the main road to check out Cabella¢s (biggest in the nation¢¦we pretty much had to), and once inside were stunned to find multiple floors, a mountain covered with fake animals, bridges going over streams, an aquarium lining some of the walls, and more. German Shepherd kept shaking his head and exclaiming, ¢Americans!¢ while we walked around. I have to admit¢¦he had a point.After leaving town, our walk back down the highway was as intense and terrifying as before. That being said I got bored of 18-wheelers thundering past and, bending down, picked up a long strip of rubber from an old tire which I tied to the back of German Shepherd¢s pack. He drug it behind himself for quite a ways. Meanwhile, Raisons kept peeing alongside the highway, oblivious of the traffic all around him (he¢s been in the woods too long). Once back on the trail we cut through the forest to a nearby river where we had seen a 50ft cliff towering over the water. We swam out to it, and then German Shepherd, Hand-Me-Down, and I spent several hours cliff jumping and swimming. Raisons, who somehow went through life without ever learning how to swim, hiked on. We never saw him again. After drying out on a sandy and trash covered beach, we resumed our hike. The terrain was rocky and steep, and we soon separated. In the afternoon I passed The Pinnacle, a large pile of rocks near some cliffs with a grand view of the countryside. It was my second time at the spot, having camped there with some college friends of mine one summer. I honestly don¢t know how I felt being suddenly thrust into a familiar place. My memories of The Pinnacle were from a different version of myself, and I hardly recognized them as my own. It was odd.Around 5pm I became very aware of my thirst, having only had one liter of water the past seven hours in the summer heat. I was miserable for a long time, and could hardly keep from dragging my feet. When I finally found a stream I nearly collapsed, overwhelmed with the disbelief that it was real, and then drank deeply. I arrived shortly after at Eckville Shelter, having only covered 14.5 miles but feeling content in how I had spent my time. The Eckville Shelter is actually on public property beside the owner¢s house. It is a large shed or small barn, transformed to accommodate hikers. Clean water can be found on the side of the house, as well as outlets for charging phones and a shower in the back yard (not that I took one). At the shelter were Estereo and Spoon, who I had seen earlier in the day shooting at squirrels with their newly purchased sling shots. There was no sign of German Shepherd or Hand-Me-Down, and I assumed that the two of them must have hiked past the poorly marked shelter sign without seeing it.