Duncannon

So here I am, already in Duncannon, PA.  I am promising myself that I will do everything that I want to do, take time to relax, take pictures - all of that - and not worry about getting to Maine quickly.  I didn't race through Maryland all that fast even though I'd seen it already, either.  Here's what's been going on since Harper's Ferry:

Hiked 19mi from VA to first shelter in MD; Hong Kong Fuey and I gave the rest of our water to a church group hiking that ran out of water (silly day hikers and their water-gusling! :) ).

Hiked through Maryland for 25mi, seeing Gathland State Park (and reading all the civil war signs!) and the George Washington Monument; gave directions to a lost "Hoods in the Woods" staff member (no, the group program wasn't really called that I'm sure) and got Aqua Mira purification from a very nice woman in the shelter that night, after my SteriPEN stopped working again (actually it did work once - that is, it accidently went on in mid-air, shooting UV radiation out when it is only supposed to go on when it is in water... had to pop the batteries out to get it to shut off!).

Left MD through its last, rocky, 10 miles, got some fruit cup and bag of chips handouts in PenMar park, met up with an old hiking-acquaintance and met a new hiker, but they didn't stick with me and I went ahead 15 more miles into PA to get to where I wanted to be that night so I could...

Hike 3mi into Caledonia State Park where I met up with my parents.  They took me out to the Cracker Barrel (delicious!) and then we went swimming in the pool for a bit.  They dropped my pack off 20 miles up the trail at Pine Grove state park and left me with my day-pack (the REI Traverse, if you know what I mean).  I gave myself from 1pm to 6pm to get in to Pine Grove... and that's 20 miles away :).  Sure enough, from 1:10 to 6:12 (my parents dropped off my new watch, which I forgot just after I bought it when I went home!) I went 20 miles in about 5 hours!  Slack-packing is nice!  I promised myself I wouldn't slack-pack to "cheat" the trail, or to scheme against it - a lot of people pay hostels money to drop their pack off places, and shuttle them here and there to go day hiking... I don't want to do that, personally.  My only reason for slack-packing was so that I could move more quickly through that stretch, giving me more time to spend with my parents that morning.

(Same day, new paragraph)  So I got into Pine Grove and got settled in at this old old hostel, which happened to be settled almost squarely on the exact mid-point of the trail this year!  They had a "secret room" you were supposed to ask about, and guess what -- it was part of the Underground Railroad.  I was given a flashlight and I went down the ladder into the dug-out below the house.  It gave some perspective to things.  This whole area was also littered with information about ironworks that were destroyed by the Confederate States of America back in you-know-when -- very interesting stuff.  I then went next door to the convenience store and asked the man behind the counter if this was where I should go for a half-gallon of ice cream.  He said it sure was, and I looked over the selection of flavors before me.  You see, at the half-way point of the trip, it's customary to attempt to eat a half-gallon of ice cream.  I got Neapolotain so that I wouldn't spoil my favorite flavor when I got sick, and so that I would have 3 flavors to go between and not get bored or psyched-out as easily.  I took it, and the register you are supposed to write in if you complete it over to the hostel.  The kindly woman running the hostel reminded me that it was an old building, and suggested that I find a spot by the bushes if the challenge became... unsettled.  I got some company to encourage me on and to document my endeavor, and so it begun.  Tim, a south-bounder there gave me the tip that if I get a brain freeze I should rub my tounge against the roof of my mouth.  It works.  I made sure to get a large enough spoon that I could eat quickly enough, for I did not want to become full and satiated too slowly.  You know how if you wait a bit after eating dinner you aren't full anymore, but if you ate dessert without waiting your stomach would still be "in the mood" for putting down more food.  After a while the ice cream started to get to me, and I was less than half-way finished - about 2 pints in.  I started to join the conversation around the table, mechanically and unconsciously moving spoon from ice cream container to mouth.  When I had about 80% of the ice cream finished I began to nurse it slowly.  Small spoonfull after small spoonfull, I toyed with my Neapolitan foe.  My plan then was to reduce the mound of fatty dairy to 10% of its original size, and then just slam it and be done.  I took a comfy spot by some bushes, hunkered down, and shoved the first of 5 remaining spoonfulls in my mouth -- but it wouldn't all go in.  I tilted my head back, swished my tounge around, and conjured up a swallow.  I did this 4 more times, and then emphatically scrapped the spoon against the soupy bottom and sucked the liquid remnants until that damned cardbord box was clean as the day it was born.  I was done, and photos were taken to mark the occation.  I took my prize (a wooden ice-cream "spoon" noting my membership in the half-gallon club) and recorded my episode in the register.  It turns out that 160 x 16 is 2560... and that is a lot of calories!

The next morning I woke up at 2:50, got a quick shower, drank some coffee and found some cereal and milk in the kitchen.  I put on my pack, loaded with nearly 4 liters of water, turned on my headlamp, and walked outside into probably 45 degree air in search of white blazes.  It was hard to find the trailhead in the dark (people had trouble finding it in the daylight, apparently too!) and started walking.  I got to the half-way marker (the true half-way point changed as the trail gets relocated here and there, from year to year, but the marker is always in that location).  I took a picture in the dark... and I signed the register, announcing my plans for the day, saying "Duncannon, here I come!"  It was 46 miles away, and I had it all worked out on how I would get there in one day.  Lunch breaks, snack breaks (ended up eating like 2 power bars, 2 cliff bars,  one of those gel cubes things, crackers, a snickers "marathon" bar (34g of protein I think!), some other candy bars, a deli sandwich from the Getty...) - I stayed up til midnight actually, I couldn't fall asleep because I was so excited.  And I didn't know how that 2560 of Neapolitain-flavored energy was going to fuel me (or end me!).

(same day still) I ended up making great time most of the way though the day, still reading the registers, taking pictures, and seeing the sights - though I admit I was hurried - I had to, it was a very ambitious day!  I had in my head through which sections I intended to do 3mph, 2.5, and 3.5... all including breaks.  During my breaks I would take off my shoes to let them breathe so I didn't get bathtub wrinkle toes that blister up, and I would switch sweaty socks with socks that had been hanging off my pack and baking in the sunlight and evaporating in the dry air that day.  I did this switch about 4 times, and I think it was completely crucial for me making it.

(still same day) You're probably wondering what the impetus for this ambitious day was.  I had been inching closer to catching up with longtime hiking buddy Coldylocks, and I saw the opportunity to catch up by Duncannon.  The trail went through a river-valley as it moved from one chain of ridges to another, and for about 16 miles there was fairly minimal elevation change.  By 10:00 I had completed the first 20 miles, but more importantly I had learned from a register that Coldy actually took one easier day than I expected, because she had been travelling pretty rapidly.  This gave me the chance to catch up going only about 42 miles that day.  As I ended the river-valley section, I had one big climb that I was worried might make me "hit the wall".  I didn't, and I still had the right energy in me to make it up the hill.  Near the top of this ridge was something just amazing: there was a view out onto the river valley and over to the ridgeline that I had been earlier that morning.  Where buildings, fields, rivers, and major highways were completely indistinguishable, I had begun walking that day.  It is simply mind-boggling, and I hope I never get used to that feeling.

(same day some more) Walking down that ridge onto the next one, I saw some crazy guys drinking beer run over to me yelling, "hey hiker!"  I thought I saw a floppy dark-purple EMS sun-hat on one of the beer drinkers, and wondered if I was really, in fact, caught up.  Sure enough it was Coldy, and I ran over to greet her.  She was shocked to see me... and a little bummed that I did catch her maybe, but she was a little relieved that I made the push to catch up.  It is lonely sometimes out there with as few thru-hikers as there are back here!

She and I and a couple other hikers stayed at the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, which is over 100 years old, and "one of the original Anheuser-Busch hotels".  When someone flushes you *must* jump out of the flow of water in the shower, and there is a pub in the basement - just a lot of character all around. 

I've been writing on this thing way too long, so that's all you get, hope it's enough.  The last few days have been quite an adventure - and I've managed to soak it all in while taking about 4 days to travel about 117 miles by foot.  Thanks for reading!

- Sudoku