Jun 12 - Pennsylvania

Jun 12 - Pennsylvania

DAY #88
START LOCATION: Darlington Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Duncannon, PA
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 11.4
TRIP MILEAGE: 1,137.7
MILES TO GO: 1,041.4


Smoke and I watched all our fellow hikers at Darlington head out in the morning. We got out last by 9AM. I know, a half hour early than usual! Pretty amazing for us.  We had motivation though... Town time. We just wanted to get there. We were tired. I haven't given my body a day off since Buena Vista, VA... 3 weeks and around 300 miles ago. We cranked the 11 miles hard.  It got rocky. We were cursing it. We were grumpy.  But, the AT does a good job of providing nice overlooks over trail towns. Duncannon was no exception. We hit Hawks Rock and our grumpiness faded with the gorgeous view of Duncannon and, correct me if I'm wrong, the Juniata River.


The drop into Duncannon was steep and treacherously rocky. There was some more cursing. But, we were almost there, our spirits were lifting and the cursing ended up being humorous. We hit the road into Duncannon pleasantly surprised... It was a 1 mile walk along the road into town. That was a nice cool down, even though the temps were in the 80's. At the first convenience store we passed I grabbed a 32 oz slurpee. It was perfect.


We were rendezvousing with my friend Jay. He was picking Smoke & I up at the Doyle Hotel and taking us up to State College, PA where they live for some R&R. The Doyle was jammed with stinky thru-hikers. The last few weeks has brewed a lot of shelter register chatter over the USA/England World Cup match... especially with the handful of British thru-hikers. So, lots of folks wanted to join in on the action and have almost a mini reunion. I saw so many hikers I haven't seen in days, weeks and months... Some as far back as Erwin, TN. The timing was nice for that, but Smoke & I were there to meet Jay and meet Jay only. 


Jay rolled in about 10 minutes after us and we had a quick beer and caught up on things. We jumped in his car, and it didn't register for quite awhile why he was leaving the windows down on a brutally hot day when AC would be the ticket... Oh yeah, we stink. We ran some errands and got some amazing food at Five Guys burger joint in State College. Jay wasn't kidding... "Almost as good as In-and-Out Burger" was the claim. I disagreed. I thought it was better. You cant get a bacon double cheeseburger with mushrooms, pickles and fresh jalapenos at In-and-Out.


Got back to their place and Steph had rolled out the red carpet... But, unbeknownst to me, our firends Donna and Dorian moved out to a place down the street. I was bummed to hear they were gone, but Smoke and I got our own rooms with beds. But, There's a chance I'll see D&D tomorrow so I'm excited for that. Anyway, our own rooms with beds... Unheard of accommodations on the trail. We had drinks, hung on the porch with great neighbors and watched the crews wrap up the construction of the new backyard pool. The foreman said it may be ready tomorrow and they'll be working hard to get it ready by then. 


Steph ran our laundry and made a phenomenal dinner for everyone... Alfredo pasta with chicken and veggies, fresh mustard green salad with sliced strawberries and a dinner bread that was perfectly baked. She's an amazing cook and I had THIRDS.  I pitched to her the idea of becoming a trail angel and us throwing a trail magic party in PA next thru-hiker season. She is all over it.


We partied until the wee hours and I'm headed to bed... IN A BED!


-natedog