7/8/99 Darlington Center   Miles Today : 26.5 Miles to Katahdin : 1050.3

Wow, my longest day yet, almost 27 miles! Basically, I walked a marathon today, up and down hills and rocks with 40 lbs on my back. Everything hurts right now so I am going for the short sweet recap, here goes: we left from Togg run early this morning trying to hustle into bowling springs before lunch. I got ahead of Colorado and DB and cruised the 12 miles into town by 11:30. Boiling Springs is a very cute little town with a giant bubbling spring that fills up a large duck pond in the center of town. The trail winds its way around the pond ending up at another ATC center. I had to do some scrambling since my maildrop didn't show up! Colorado, DB and I ate lunch in a small restaurant and got ready to go. I wish we were staying here for the night since the town is so nice, but Dunauch is calling and the Doyle, a thru-hiker staple has $.60 drafts 4-6! At 2:00 we headed out with 15 miles to go.

Along the way I got a little natural trail magic: raspberries! Yup, wild raspberries were bumbling and boy were they tasty. The trail at this point is mostly flat and winds its way through Pennsylvania farm country. Mostly its very boring terrain but occasionally a good view of an old farmhouse with a mountain ridge behind. With four miles to go to the shelter we came to the Davis farm a house where ATC volunteers can stay. Here we filled up on water and cooked dinner since finding water on the trail has been a problem with no rain and hot temps everything is drying up out here. Unfortunately, we were talking to Ape and Angus who heard that the Doyle is closed. And Duncannon is a bit! ARGH! I could have stayed in the wonderful town of Boiling Springs!

Oh well, I must move on at this point, so I gladly made my way to the shelter. On the way, I caught a glimpse of a whole family of deer right on the trail! There were 2 adults and 2 does who scattered as soon as I came around the corner. One of the does hung around just long enough for me to grab a picture, very cool.

Finally, I may let DB and Colorado hike ahead of me soon. Colorado needs to be in CT by a specific and DB wants to hang with him. That means no 0 days and a 20 mile average until then. I think I want to take it a little easier and see more stuff, but who knows , I am going to see what happens. Tomorrow on the easy day to Duncannon for beer and hopefully food resupply. The temps have cooled some and it should be a nice night to sleep. So much for short and sweet.

-Chomp

< Previous Entry | Next Entry >