Date: 2011-06-06
From: (70) 501 Shelter

To: (71) Hamburg PA
Miles today: 24.4

Today¢s hike was relatively flat, and would have been a breeze had it not been for the rocks. Burying the trail in endless quantities, the rocks reminded me of the old saying, ¢Pennsylvania, where boots go to die.¢ My own shoes gave credibility to this, as they were disintegrating before my eyes.Not paying attention to my surroundings, I missed a turn on the path and ended up hiking into ¢Boulder Field¢, an ocean of rocks that covered several acres in every direction. I traversed across this field of rocks for fun, and ate lunch on a particularly large slab of stone on the opposite side. After finding my way back to the AT, I hiked down a hill and ran into German Shepherd and Raisons (Raisons because he started in Georgia with a 5 pound bag of raisons) eating breakfast on a trail picnic table. I would continue to pass or be passed by the two of them throughout the course of the day. We talked some when near each other, but most of the time I listened to audio books while I hiked, as is my custom. Having finished ¢The Chronicles of Narnia¢ the day before, I now began George Orwell¢s ¢1984¢. I really like listening to audio books while I hike. As long as I have loads of time and little to occupy myself, I might as well knock a few books off of my reading list, and it has proven to be worthwhile thus far.In the afternoon I spread my sleeping pad out on the ground and lied down to eat and take a break. After a few minutes a hiker named Hand-Me-Down caught up to me. Hand-Me-Down had attempted to do a thru hike last year but dropped out in New York because of Guardia. This year he had gotten back on at Harpers Ferry for a thousand mile section hike to finish the trail. He got the name Hand-Me-Down last year at Neel¢s Gap. He was doing the shakedown to see what weight he could drop. The man checking his gear was shocked at how old some of it was, and he would ask ¢And where did you get this??¢ to which Hand-Me-Down would respond ¢hand me down¢¦¢ I hiked with Hand-Me-Down and learned that he was going into the town of Hamburg for a resupply. I decided to go in as well so that I could eat at Wendy¢s while charging my phone (I often pick a table near a wall outlet when I eat in town for this purpose). The two of us hiked to Route 61 and tried to hitch, but we had no luck as the traffic was going by at a million miles an hour, so we started walking. Walking was a stupid idea. Upon setting foot on the road we were thrown into a whirlwind of passing cars and 18-wheelers endlessly exploding past us. It was fun, but not in a safe way. While walking we had to step over a dead deer that was lying in our path, and I imagined what would happen if a vehicle hit me and sent all of my limbs flying off like a Mr. Potato Head toy.Upon reaching Hamburg we found the Wendy¢s and decided to tackle the dollar menu challenge, which is when you order and eat one of every item on the dollar menu. Trays buried under a mountain of sandwiches and other assorted dollar menu goodies, Hand-Me-Down and I sat down, armed with our ravenous hiker appetites, and inhaled all that lay before us. Only wrappers were spared. Wendy¢s dollar menu challenge complete. Hand-Me-Down left for Cabella's (the biggest in the nation), and I decided to go to Wal-Mart to buy more food and an extra battery pack for my phone (my phone is on the fritz and keeps turning itself on and off, resulting in a rapid decline of battery life). Being the small world that it is, I ran into German shepherd and Raisons at the entrance, and we all began talking about splitting a hotel room for the night, assuming we could find Hand-Me-Down. We sat down on the sidewalk in front of Wal-Mart and sure enough Hand-Me-Down arrived (this was no great surprise as thru hikers can¢t resist a good Wal-Mart). Reunited, the four of us continued sitting on the sidewalk while talking and resting our sore feet. Filthy and on display for the locals, we were the definition of ¢hiker trash¢. (Hikers often call each other ¢hiker trash¢ when caught loitering around town). We were an interesting group, consisting of a red head from Tennessee, an Asian (Raisons), a German, and myself who could pass as Amish with my chinstrap beard. The four of us eventually got up to go to a hotel, and were housed in a hall full of other hikers, with shoes and clothes hanging outside of doors and everything else. German Shepherd had put the room in his name, and we laughed hysterically as he wrote ¢Germany¢ down under license plate number and some big long German words in the other blanks. We spent the night watching a movie marathon in a very cozy room. The television fascinated us, and even something dumb like a tele-commercial would capture our full and undivided attention as we watched the images move around and talk! (I think it¢s magic) We just aren¢t used to TV anymore¢¦