Today was a blessedly short day… well, compared to yesterday it was. We still covered 15 miles which is our goal daily mileage. After such a late night and probably thanks to the Tylenol PM’s I took, I slept until 8:45a this morning. I think I woke up around 7a, but can’t really remember if that happened or not. I know I was in a could of deep sleep when Warthog started to stir, a sleep I was very sad to have interrupted. Even though I could have slept until 11a, I knew I needed to get going. I had to make it eleven miles to the city of Duncannon before the post office closed at 4:30p. We left camp around 10a. At a two mile per hour rate (including breaks), that would give us an hour window should we need it. We hiked a little faster than that and arrived at the post office just after 3p.
My sister, Jenny, sent me a surprise. I was really hoping it was fudge since she’d gone to Mackinaw Island the weekend before. I was not disappointed! When I opened the package, staring up at me was a small rectangular box whose shape I know and recognize so well. If you live in Michigan, the Mackinac/Mackinaw area will always remind you of fudge. Jenny sent two slices; double chocolate and german chocolate. By the end of the night, we’ll have eaten half of it. To be honest, we shared some. But to be even more honest, most of the damage was from Warthog and I. I’m not worried about the calories, we will burn them off. In fact, Warthog could use all of the calories he can get. He weighed in the other day at 140lbs and is starting to look pretty thin. I worry about him and make him eat extra, whether or not he wants to.
We spent a couple of hours in Duncannon, PA. We weren’t in a rush to get moving. The shelter we were headed to was just another four miles down the trail. Warthog and I ate lunch outside of the post office. Kirby joined, then Snow Monkey and Wonder Woman got there. Some other thru-hikers stopped to visit too. After a bit we moseyed on down the street to the ice cream shop. Two separate locals recommended it. Both said basically the same thing, “it’s cheap and you get a lot.” Those are magical words to a thru-hiker. Everyone else ordered ice cream, I chose a malt.
To leave town, you follow the main road down and over two long bridges. Supposedly there are Peregrine Falcons that have been known to dive-bomb hikers. We didn’t see them. I was a little disappointed too. I kind of hoped to add, “averted a falcon attack” into my AT story repertoire. But, we did see ducks and a large turtle in the river below. It’ll have to do.
After the bridges we crosssed three sets of railroad tracks and then started our push for 1,000 feet of elevation gain. We dropped about that to get into the city. As we did, I got worried for our climb out. There were a lot of stairs made out of boulders. Stairs are the worst because you have to expend so much energy pulling your leg up and pushing yourself with the other. It’s so much easier to hike up an incline instead of climbing up stairs. Lucky for me, there were minimal stairs. It was mostly all incline. The last section resembled more rock scrambling (climbing over big boulders, using your hands, sometimes having to pull yourself up or lower yourself down) than hiking. It was fun. I enjoy those sections because it keeps your brain active. Physically, scrambles work out more of the body and leave you more tired. But we haven’t had a lot of those in a while and I’m excited we are getting into territories where scrambling is more common. I hope I don’t regret those words.
Less than a mile after we summited, we hit our site for the night. It was slim pickings for a nice spot. We are on an angle, but not the worst angle we’ve slept on this hike. There is a partially downed tree just at the foot of the tent. If it goes down, I think (and hope) it would hit about five feet away. It’s lodged against a standing tree and I can hear it creaking some. It’ll be fine. The point is, if I couldn’t have camped farther from it, I would have. That’s how busy this site is tonight.
Sushi Roll and Roar are here too. I like them a lot and got excited to see them. We invited them to light sparklers with us that Warthog and I brought. A day late… I know. We would have done them on the 4th (and had planned to) but we got into camp too late to have fun. So the 5th it is! We had seven sparklers, just enough for us and all of our friends. After the sun went down, we lit them. It was all over far too fast. We should have bought more, but I’m glad for the fun we had while they were lit. The best part about it all was the little bit of normalcy it brought us. Everyone was a disappointed that they didn’t get to see fireworks, including Sushi Roll and Roar. The few minutes we had sparklers brought us closer to home and traditions and parties and the people that we miss.
