6/11: Day 73
Pine Grove State Park-Boiling Springs
Total: 21 miles
Last night, for the third night in a row, it rained. We heard thunder before bed far off in the distance, but around midnight the sky's opened up in a big way. It's been nice that it hasn't been raining during the day. The Kallins got out of camp a little quicker than we did since they have new gear waiting for them at the post office and it closes at 4:30 p.m. We, on the other hand, meandered about drinking coffee and making jokes about the many faces of expressions Dawn makes. One is called the "stink eye", but my favorite is her "Gurrrr" face. Maybe I can sneak a picture sometime. We started walking about 8:40 a.m. Since it's been raining every day for the last three days, it has progressively became more and more humid. I've heard the expression "the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife." It felt like the air was so thick I could of traded my shoes for a canoe. Pennsylvania is fairly flat, but by the top of every little up hill I was swimming in sweat. Yesterday, we passed the current half-way point, but today we passed the original half way point. I think it's so cool to be walking a path that has been around for nearly a century. On the other hand, I wonder what went through the minds of my predecessors as they passed these land marks. Our last couple of miles ended with ultra flat corn and wheat fields. We are beginning a 14 mile stretch of farm land that is renowned for its flatness. Upon arriving to Boiling Springs, we must of looked confused about where we were, because less than five minutes after we began to orient ourselves with the map and where we wanted to go a lady pulled over. We asked her if she knew where the Allenberry Inn was, and she offered to take us. It was so awesome! Free ride! When we got to the Allenberry, it was not at all what I expected based on what I had heard. It was full of huge old trees with moss hanging so low they grazed the ground in the breeze. The facilities had been built some time in the 1960's, renovated in the 1980's, and not much had been done since. Despite it's outdated decor, it was a very charming place. It also sported a room for $40, breakfast for $6, which was awesome, and a hot tub. All of which surpassed expectation except the hot tub; it was luke warm. Upon getting our room we decided to order in pizza from a recommended Italian place. We've learned it's almost always a safe bet to go with what the locals recommend. Two large pizzas really hit the spot and gave us left overs to munch on at our purgative. Over all, it's turned out to be a great day.
6/12: Day 74
Zero day at Allenberry Inn
Total: 0 miles
Last night it rained basically all night. We were so glad to be under a roof. We woke around 7:45 a.m., and moseyed our way to breakfast. My first goal of any morning meal is coffee. During college, I became an avid coffee drinker. The waitress brought some and it was an excellent cup. For $40 a night, I really feel like I'm getting my money's worth. We ate breakfast and then started our zero day routine of hanging around the hotel. This place is unique in that it hosts a lot of senior citizen events. Around 10:45 a.m. a whole tour bus full showed up. It was so fun getting to chat with some of them, they where all very intrigued by our journey. One gentleman asked if we were thru-hiking when we said yes he tossed us a guide to all the trails in Pennsylvania. We thanked him and laughed after because hiking anymore than we have to is out of the question.
For lunch, we ate our left over pizza and settled in for an afternoon nap. Before this trip I had two main jobs that would usually let me take a nap during the day. I really miss those times. My brother found our hammock and he is sending it to us soon, so let the day napping begin! Last on our list of zero day activities was dinner. We were able to get a ride with a fellow hiker, Mio, to the same place that brought us pizza last night. The place was full of Italians, no wonder the pizza was so good. It made me miss the authentic Italian food places we have close to where we live. With full bellies, we waddled back to our bed. The night ended with us watching Dennis Quaid in his portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis. At first, I thought the movie was a comedy, but then I figured out he was really playing a person. We finished that movie with a different view of the song "Great Balls of Fire," and the morals Jerry Lee Lewis lived his life by. After all, he did marry his 13-year old cousin when he was 22.
6/13: Day 75
Allenberry Inn-Darlington shelter
Total: 13 miles
Have you ever looked forward to something for weeks and then it turn out to be a bust. Today was one of those days. It started out so good. We woke about 7:45 a.m., took showers, and got to breakfast in time to sit and chat with friends. Just before we started hiking, a thunder storm rolled through so we let that pass. We expected it to be humid and overcast all day. Those are pretty small irritants in the grand scheme of things. The anticipation for today has been the 14 miles of farm land we would be crossing. Technically, we had already crossed two miles of it, which was incredibly flat, so we were excited for another easy 12 miles. It was flat, but it was also a swamp. To be honest, I took it harder than I should of, but I can't describe how disappointed I felt. For weeks, we both had looked at this piece of terrain on the elevation map and lined for its flatness. Instead we spent hours slipping and sliding through the mud and fording creeks just deep enough to cover our ankles and soak our feet. At one point, we reached a set of train tracks. I had to sit down and collect myself. The A.T. is full of many physical challenges, but the biggest hurdles are always mental. My tender wife sat next to me and it was so comforting for her to give me a hug. We stopped at a nice picnic table by a pond for lunch. The sun was shinning, and it was nice to watch the geese swim around the pond. Just as we packed up to leave, the mother of all rain storms burst forth in a manner reserved to describe the battle of the bulge in WWII, and the intensity with which the Kool-Aid man jumps through walls in his commercials. I had a steady stream of water flowing down my face as did Dawn. Literally, a second after it ended we reached what would have been shelter, many of our hiker friends had taken shelter and were still dry. One remarked to make sure and take cover so we didn't get wet. It was funny, but my soaked boxers didn't laugh as the rubbed my thighs red. We made it to a shelter after just 13-miles. It was 5:30 p.m., and we decided to cancel our ambitious goal of 21-miles that day and camp for the night. It's been an insanely challenging day, but none the less the joy of The Lord is our strength. We will not be conquered by a foot path.
6/14: Day 76
Darlington Shelter-Peters Mt Shelter
Total: 22 miles
Promptly at 5:00 a.m. this morning I woke up. Last night, we got into camp early so we decided to wake early and get an early start on the day. We left camp at 6:30 a.m. and by 11:00 a.m. we had done 13-miles and made it to the grocery store. It was a local grocery store and we met the owner. We recognized that he was the owner because he was standing directly under his picture. He offered us a ride back to the trail when we finished our shopping. We hit up the hot food at the deli and then began our shopping. For the last 1,100 miles, we've basically eaten the same food, so we decided to change up a couple things. Dawn bought a loaf of bread that she smashed down to packable size. I bought Nutella and peanut butter for lunch. When combined on a piece of bread it's like eating a giant Reese's cup. We also both bought bagels and butter for breakfast which is a lot of carbs and fats. Different food is a huge moral boost. We hiked out with our friend Aerie. We met him 500-miles ago, and it's been awesome hanging catching back up with him. We were able to talk to him about the Lord for a good two hours while hiking. He had some questions and The Lord really helped me answer them. He commented on noticing how Dawn and I treated one another and how we set a good example of what love should be. We told that him it was all the Lord's doing. It was a really awesome time.
For the second night in a row, we made it to camp at a good time. The thing about hiking this long of a duration is you need at least a part of the day to relax. If we leave camp late the pre-hike relaxation isn't good because the coming miles are hanging over your head, but if you get to camp early it's so nice to have the miles behind you and a hot cup of tea before bed. This rhythm of waking early and relaxing before bed has made so much difference in moral. We will have to keep this up. Life is good.
6/15: Day 77
Peters Mt Shelter-PA HWY 443
Total: 22 miles
Once again we woke up with the sunrise this morning. Actually, I was up before sunrise, I had to slowly wake my sleeping beauty. One aspect of getting up and leaving camp so early is that the first one down the trail breaks all the spider webs. Lucky for me, someone camped not too far down the trail so I wasn't the web catcher today. Not much happened during our day. When we got to camp, we figured out there was a town with pizza within a couple miles. Since there were 10 or more people camping, we sent a delegation of two to obtain pizza for the group. Two guys volunteered for the task and set out for the road to start thumbing for a ride. We expected them to be gone for at least two hours, because between getting to the road, buying pizzas, and a ride back it was no small task. Not even an hour later, here comes Mosey and Scuffy with eight large pizza, pies, and sodas for every one. It felt like Christmas morning, only this time Santa hand delivered the gifts! We all sat around and ate to our hearts content, and our bellies bulged with satisfaction. Dawn was so sweet at the end. There were pizza leftovers, so she made every one a little zip-lock baggie of leftovers to eat later when we got hungry. She'll be a great mother one day! We settled into our tent about 7:45 p.m., and I fell asleep immediately. Life goes easy.
6/16: Day 78
PA 443-French and Indian War Monument
Total: 22 miles
Since the beginning, we've heard about the rocks in PA, but we haven't seen them yet. We woke up and got out of camp early, and I broke spider webs for 6-miles until we reached another shelter. Also, no big deal, but WE HAVE LESS THAN 1000-MILES LEFT!! Now instead of counting up how many miles we've done since Springer Mt., we are counting down the miles ahead of us. It's such a feeling of relief to be on the down hill slope of the milage chart. Just before finishing today, we reached a blue-blazed trail that we thought was our destination. Normally, water sources and shelter paths are marked with blue-blazed trails. We had our doubts so we decided to hold off on setting up the tent. Dawn went hunting for the water and I sat down to look at our guide book. About 25 minutes later, she came back empty handed. She wasn't happy to say the least, and I couldn't blame her. Any time you walk so far it's very disheartening to do something and get no results. We gathered our stuff, pushed another mile, and found the monument we were shooting for. I offered to get the water and it happened to be just around the corner. She setup the tent, and did a great job. All of our hiking friends caught up, and we settled in for a night of hanging out and cooking dinner. Our group now consists of the following: Mio, Buzz&Tandum (father and daughter), Scuffy, and Mosey& Jungle Jim (father and son), and Aerie. Hopefully we'll be together for a bit longer. When we cooked dinner and ate we heard the low rumble of a building thunderhead in the distance. Around 7:30 p.m. we began to see lighting- a lot of lightening. At 8:00 p.m., the sky let go of their payload. One of the guys in the group doesn't have a tent. We had offered for him to take shelter in our tent vestibule, but he didn't take us up on the offer. I hope he survives the night with at least a small amount of comfort and sleep. For us, life goes easy.
6/17: Day 79
War monument-Port Clinton PA pavilion
Total: 15 miles
It stormed hard most of the night, but our NEMO tent hasn't let us down yet. Even with a little condensation and humidity we stayed relatively dry. We started hiking with a skip in our step today. With so few miles to accomplish, we looked forward to the opportunity of going to town and hanging out for the day. We have found the rocks that everyone spoke of, and they are just as sharp and pointy as everyone has forecasted. It's been said that PA is where boots come to die, and I believe it. That slowed our town progress some, but we still made it in by 1:00 p.m. One of the huge things about Port Clinton is 1-mile down the road they have a Walmart and Cabelas. We hitched in with no problem thanks to a sign we got from Scuffy, it said "Ride Please, AT Thru Hiker." Upon arrival we found a Five Guys Burgers!! That place was awesome! I got a giant burger and so did Dawn. Then we walked over to Cabelas to check it out. It was so big! The door greeter told us it was 6-acres of outdoor goodies. They also had some of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen in a store like it. They had North America, Africa, and Antarctic taxodermed animals on display. Dawn was so nice to walk around with me as I oogled at the many items I wanted to buy. It was a good thing I would've had to carry anything I bought on my back, or I would've maxed out our budget for the week. When we left I asked a guy if he would take us over to Walmart. It was an awkward exchange. He said "I'm not from here." I said "It's right over there," as I was pointing to the store. He then declined. At that point we decided to just walk. We bought food, and I even found time to play on the electric wheelchair. Hitching back to camp took no time, and Mio even caught up with up as we we about to get a ride. Scuffy's did sign did the trick again. It took less than five minutes for someone to offer three dirty hikers a ride. As we sat around camp another hiker, who has a car, offered to take all of us to Cabelas. How could I turn that down?! So back we went. The main purpose of this trip was to charge our cellular devices. As we did that, I went to the gun counter and held some guns which was awesome, but sad since I couldn't shoot any of them. Though my mind wanted to wander all over the store, my legs gave out on me. After an hour or so Dawn and I found some display lawn chairs and posted up with the rest of our group. We all got in the truck that brought us and drove back around 8:45pm. Tonight as I lay in the tent, it is the hottest and most humid to date. I'm literally laying still and continuing to perspire. The weather channel shows it's going to cool off in two nights to the mid-50's. I'm praying that comes to pass. Nobody hikes the trail to live in comfort, the heat and humidity will eventually pass.
6-18: Day 80
Port Clinton-Eckville Shelter
Total: 15 miles
Last night was a sweat fest. At no point did I even think about using a sleeping bag or my fleece. Yesterday we got offered by a fellow hiker who has a truck right now to slack pack us. Around 6:30 a.m., we got up and around and by 7:45 a.m. we were walking out of camp with no little more than some snack bars and a couple bottles of water. The trail was pretty easy today except a few rocky parts. The last 4-miles or so was on a forest road. Forest roads are truly gems. They are normally very well graded if on a hill, and almost always less rocky than walking through the woods. We made it to the destination no later than 2:00 p.m. and none of our gear was there. We'd been told by others that it had been dropped but now it was missing. Both of us started to get a little worried wondering whether we would see our gear again. A couple locals, a few towns back, had warned us of some packs going missing and we desperately didn't want that to be us. The rest of our crew showed up. No one had the guy's phone number but we found his email address and sent him a message. Turned out he had taken another hiker who had gotten hurt to a clinic. What a guy! Around 3:30 p.m., he showed up with the gear and all of our worst fears were gone. It turned out to be frivolous worrying in the first place. It ended up being a great night of hanging out with a little bubble of hikers. One of the guys with us, Buzz, was a scout master of 26-years who recently resigned from his position, he personally saw 45 Eagle Scouts come through his troop. Many of which went on to be very driven and successful young men. That lead to a conversation about merit badges in scouts. One of the rarest badges is the invention badge. It was only ever awarded to 10 scouts and was discontinued not long after it's inception. We joked that one of the ten scouts had probably invented a time machine so he could be 11-years old again so he could have more time to earn more merit badges. It was pretty hilarious at the time. Buzz is also hiking with his daughter. She is a recent college grad like ourselves. It's been really cool to learn of their hike. Buzz is so happy to have his daughter with him, he says he has learned so much about her. I can only imagine what this experience must mean to a father. We've also been hiking with a guy named Mio. Apparently, when he started he trail he didn't know what the drink mix Mio was and proceeded to squirt it straight into his mouth. He said it tasted awful. He is also a recent college grad and really funny. The five of us combined make for great hiking. I think I've learned more in the last 5-days about random trivia than I have he whole rest of our hike combined.
Tonight it's supposed to rain again, go figure, and possibly more tomorrow. At this point we are used to it. However, wet feet are something I hope to never get used to.
Cabelas animal display
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