Day 44: Duncannon, PA

Wow, its been 10 days since I was last online...feels like forever. I am now in Duncannon, PA on a day of rest. I decided to take 2 days off in this town because I am having lots of problems with my right knee and I need to give it some rest. About 3 weeks ago, I didn't wear my left knee brace for one day because they are tearing up the backs of my knees. So, I overcompensated and made my right knee do all the work that day ultimately really screwing it up. So, it has gotten progressively worse since then...good stuff. Nothing that lots of vitamin-I can't fix, but I'm trying to not get back into taking 12 a day like my last trip.

Well, delay no further...here are some excerpts from my journal over the past 10 days:

Day 33
"I only hiked 8.5 miles today because of my new boots...need to take it easy until they are broken in. Overall, the boots worked well today. I had a few hotspots but not too bad."

Day 34
"By 9:00, my heals were killing me. I stopped and took my boots off to discover blisters, :( I taped up my feet and kept hiking. Because of the heat, I just sweat off the duct tape and my feet were killing again."
"At noon, I reached the backpack campground and decided to just stop here. This place actually has flush toilets and hot showers. It felt great to shower and clean up."
"At 5:00, I walked the 0.2 miles to Turner Gap and ate dinner at the restaurant there. It was SOOOO good. It was a high-end place, but they welcome hikers as long as we are showered. The french onion soup had an inch of cheese on top...no joke. There was more cheese than broth and I ate every bit of it. I had a pasta dish with shrimp and the cheesecake with strawberries for dessert...so yummy."
"Oh yeah, a bird pooped on me today...like I'm not dirty enough without the poop."

Day 35
"And so it begins...the rocks. Ugh!!"
"I ran into a rattlesnake on the trail today. Those things just give me the willies. I just didn't feel right after I saw it."

Day 36
"I got into Pen Mar County Park at 1:45. The snack stand was open and there were all sorts of people there. I ended up getting bombarded by people like in SNP. But, they were feeding me so I can't complain."
"I have now officially completed the AT in 6 states...Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. It feels pretty good."

Day 37
"Uneventful day of hiking...so, I decided to come up with the Top 10 Foods I Miss the Most. I thought of this list long and hard while I was eating my freeze dried dinner. So here goes...
#10 - Twice baked potato with a volcano of colby cheese on top
#9 - Russian pancakes cooked in so much butter that the outside edges are fried crispy
#8 - Chicken enchiladas with 1.5 pounds of colby cheese on top with a carton of grape tomatoes on the side
#7 - Fruit pizza with 2 packages of cream cheese instead of 1 on the almost raw sugar cookie crust
#6 - Benihana soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, lobster and shrimp combo dinner and green tea ice cream
#5 - Tunde's apple pie heated up with 3 scoops of ice cream AND cool whip on top
#4 - Red Lobster crab stuffed mushrooms, all-u-can-eat crab legs with a caesar salad and cheddar mashed potatoes
#3 - Outback bloomin' onion, potato soup, house salad with ranch, filet mignon with a baked potato rolled in bacon lard and rock salt, and a Sydney's Sinful Sundae
#2 - Cold Stone Creamery "Gotta Have It" size of cake batter ice cream with cookie dough
#1 - P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps, Kung Pao shrimp, and banana spring rolls
At this point, I would give my right arm for any of the above. Gotta go eat a granola bar now..."

Day 38
"I slept in the shelter last night because there weren't any flat spots for tents and it was supposed to rain. I'm not a fan of shelter sleeping, but I did it anyways. I got jolted out of sleep at 3:30am by an animal pulling on my feet. I jerked my feet back and grabbed my flashlight but didn't see what it was. I'm going to assume it was a raccoon because I would rather not think about the other options. I could feel its claws though the sleeping bag and it was pulling on the sleeping bag. I HATE SHELTERS!!!"
"I hiked 3.5 miles to Caledonia State Park and waited until 11:00am for the snack bar to open and then wolfed down a funnel cake, large root beer, and a Reese's ice cream bar...just enough to make me sufficiently ill and then I hiked out."

Day 39
"I got into the state park at noon and decided to take on the 1/2 gallon challenge. This state park is the half-way point between Springer and Katahdin. So, I have officially hiked 1/2 of the whole AT. So, you can join the 1/2 gallon club and get a wooden spoon if you can eat a 1/2 gallon of ice cream in one sitting. I picked up cookies 'n cream and dug in. Two hours later, I finally finished it...I was delirious at that point. Everything had a haze around it. I was a mess, but I did it. So, the woman gives me the "wooden spoon" and I kid you not, it is a popsicle stick. I ate all that for a popsicle stick?!?!"

Day 40
"My feet are really starting to feel good. The boots are now broken in and really comfortable...I'm liking the Vasques."

Day 41
"I changed into clean clothes and went into Boiling Springs. I had 4 maildrops!!! One from mom, Kristin, Tunde, and Gretchen. Gretchen's included stuff from Prugh, Chris and Emeli. I got so much good stuff...they are all the best!! I had to bounce stuff up to Duncannon since that is where I'm taking my zero day."
"I thought I would never eat ice cream again, but I had 2 large chocolate & peanut butter malts in town...yummy."

Day 42
"I had 12 miles of the valley to hike. About 8 of the 12 miles were in the shade which was nice, but when I would hit a stretch in the sun I felt like I was gonna die. Heat index of 105 today...brutal."

Day 43
"I got into Duncannon around 2:30 and I was waiting at the Doyle Hotel for the owners to come let me in, a southbounder named Stumbles showed up...the first southbounder I have met. We checked in...I don't even know how to describe this place. Its 100 years old and the rooms just have a bed in it and each floor shares a bathroom. Its really bad. I have decided to move to a different hotel tomorrow. I need a tv and a/c when I'm in town. I'm such a snob."

So, that brings me to today. I will be taking today off as well as tomorrow trying to recover some. Thanks to everyone for the e-mails and comments and the fun stuff in my mail drops!!

My next mail drop is in Port Clinton, PA but I will NOT be stopping in town so it may be best to not send anything there. Then, my mom will be coming out here for Labor Day weekend so I will not have another mail drop until mid-September and that will be my last one (will post at a later date the location and time). If anyone is interested in sending something sooner, let me know and I can give you my mom's address so she can bring it out with her on Labor Day.

Focker - That's really funny about those men. That was back when I was hiking with the boy scouts. On August 1st, I ran into 2 men who were day hiking that I talked to for a while. One was from Chicago...if I remember correctly, he lived in Evanston and worked on Dearborn. Was that them? So random...

Here are some facts about my hike so far:
Section Hike #2 Total: 419.2 miles
AT Total: 1,133.2 miles