Day 81

Since I cut it short yesterday I had to do a 25 to get to the Doyle. The ankle was hurting more today then before I took my zero but I wasn't going to spend another day near that snake or that monkey creature. Passed some very nice views of the Susquehanna on my way down to Duncannon.

The Doyle is a famous old hotel on the trail. Known for having some of the sketchiest rooms you will probably ever stay in in your life. Mine wasn't that bad, I think that is cause we got some of the better used ones since there were only 3 of us southbounders staying there.

Day 80

Ankle was better but still sore. I decided to just go ahead and walk on instead of staying in the shelter since I didn't know how long it would take for the ankle to heal. I wanted to head to the Doyle in duncanan but that was 48 miles away. So i could do it in 3 short days or 2 long ones. Since I was in Pennsylvania and had just taken a zero I decided to go for two long ones. I wanted to do a few long days to prep myself for hiking the Maryland challenge once I got down there. The hike went fairly well considering my ankle hurt anytime I tried to use it. When I got to about mile 23 I had a fun encounter with a Rattlesnake. This guy here was hanging out sunning himself next to the trail.

I didn't see him since he was black on black behind a log and some shrubs, he didn't know I was coming so when I stepped right next to him he was as scared and jumped for the bushes. At which point i saw him and jumped 5 feet backwards. I bushwacked around the snake since he didn't seem inclined to move anymore and got another picture of him without a log or bush hiding him from me.

At this point I decided to call it quits for the day. My ankle was starting to hurt bad and that snake made me decide to wait for a better time of day to hike in. There was an old abandoned town a half mile further on where camping was allowed. As soon as the sun set I heard something large hopping around in the canopy of the trees. I have no idea what the creature was I didn't get a good look at it but it was bigger then a squirrel, about the size of a racoon, but it was jumping around in the tippy tip of the trees. I figure it was someone's pet monkey that got loose or freed.

Day 79

My ankle was still sore and it was a nice shelter so I took a zero. Pretty chill day sat around eating another pizza and reading books.

Day 78

Ankle was still sore but with nothing but flat land and an easy 15 miles to the next shelter I hiked on. The shelter was not as nice as I expected from the nobos description but it had a solar shower and you can order pizza there, which I did. There were also two other sobos there I hadn't met before but had been chasing for a while, smiles a different one then the one I met in hanover and rj. Numbers and Minty were going to hike in but I managed to convince them to stick around for pizza.

Day 77

I was feeling much better after a good nights sleep and some food. Numbers and Minty Fresh were planning in doing some crazy big days to maryland and beyond. So I decided to hike with them one more time before they leave me in the dust. On my way down to port clinton there was some nice gravely trail with an easy grade. Somehow I managed to step on a loose but of gravel and my right foot slammed into a water bar and I tweaked my ankle. I think it is just a strained tendon and should heal with a bit of rest. The 501 shelter was going to be a short hike for tomorrow and is supposed to be one of the nicer ones on the trail. So I decided to push on instead of stopping in town.

Day 76

From the jail I decided to keep up with the rest if the sobos and do a long hike to another town like shelter. On the way there we passed another sobo couple I had met up in Hanover, goose and pivot. When we got to the shelter there was yet another sobo, barklee. This was amazing a month without seeing another sobo then I run into 6. Now I just need to try convince some of them to hike with me and finish on halloween. When we got to the shelter I was exhausted all I could do was cook dinner and pass out. oI think it was cause I didn't snack properly after lunch.

Day 75

The hike to the jail was nicer than I expected. We had to cross the superfund site, an area completely devastated by zinc processing. I was expecting a more barren wasteland, and there was still a good amount of that, but the government is trying to rehabilitate the area and the forests are starting to grow back. When we got into town we had to go by the police office to register for the stay. Unfortunately the cops were all out on patrol so we got put in the jail by the cleaning lady.

Day 74

From town we decided to do what jj coined as the sinners path. Stay at the church in delaware water gap, hike to a bar in wind gap, then stay at a jail in palmerton. Since we were now in pa I finally got to see the dreaded rocks that all the nobos had been warning me about since nh. They weren't that bad. Annoying at times and my feet did get sore but compared to the trails in the north it was no big deal. It makes me wonder what the rest if the trail is going to be like if this is some of the worst stuff the nobos had seen. We picked up another sobo on our way to town, Minty Fresh had been way ahead but took 10 days off to hang with his wife. The Beer Stein was a nice bar which had a really good pizza one with an actual crust unlike all the pizzas up around ny.

Day 73

The plan was to do a short hike to delaware water gap in pa and stay at a church hostel. Time to hike out of nj. The last stretch was really pretty and crowded. I guess a lot people wanted to enjoy one of the last weekends of summer. It was a practically perfect day to hike. One of the people was a really nice lady that gave me a $10 bill out of the blue. Turns out her son had hiked the trail a few years back so now she carries a $10 to give to any hiker she sees. That worked great for me cause there was an ice cream shop in town. There was also a bakery in town that specializes in pies. Lets just say I had a lot of pie. That night I had two other sobos show up, numbers who I had met briefly in ny and jj who I had seen in the 100.

Day 72

Another beautiful day over nice flat terrain. I got an early start since I was excited about getting a free night stay in a $40 cabin. When I got to the cabin the folks running the place hadn't heard of someone giving away their room like this so were hesitant to give me the spot. Luckily they were able to get ahold of the lady that had the reservation and I got my free night stay.

Day 71

Day started out fantastic, at the bottom of the hill there was some trail magic ice cold coke. Right after that I entered the Wallkill preserve, which was absolutely gorgeous. I stopped off at the next shelter to eat lunch where a nobo told me that the park headquarters gives out free sodas to anyone that signs there register. While I was waiting for my soda I check out the hiker box which has a note saying there is a free nights stay at mohican outdoor center the next night for any sobo that can hike there in time. It was only an extra 6 miles from where I had planned on camping so I decided to go for it. I ended up doing 25 miles today. That left me an easy 20 mile day into the Moc tomorrow.

Day 70

Since it was a town day I didn't do many miles. I really need to see if I can fix that. The trail today was really pretty. There was about a mile on very nice boardwalk over a swamp. Surprisingly little to no bugs.

Day 69

From wildcat I did a short day across the border to nj. Since I crossed a border it rained. This put a big damper in my plans to camp at the drive in movie theater in warwick ny. So I ended up spending the night at a BandB.

1000 Miles!

Just passed the 1000 mile mark. I know I'm way behind in updates here. I'll be in a town tomorrow so I'll catch up the blog then. On a side note I should be back in Maryland by the 1st.

Day 68

I decided to do a 20 to wildcat shelter. Not much to say it was a pretty uneventful day. I did decide that ny is my least favorite stretch of trail. They are the dirtiest trails and they send you up and down over these little hills for no reason. On the bright side I got to do the notorious lemon squeezer. A fun little track between two big rocks. I tried squeezing through with the pack on my back but that didn't work. I then tried the over one shoulder trick malia showed me but my pack still scraped so I just put it on the ground and moved it that way. I also ran into another trail celebrity, chipmunk. She is going go the youngest solo through hike at 14.