June 30-July 1 in PA

June 30, 2005 | Day 95 | Miles: 14.4 | Total Miles: 1218.7
End: Eckville Shelter, Tent
Danielle:
Warm and super humid
Not a bad day of hiking today. It wasn't as bad as advertised--everyone said the rocks got worse after Port Clinton, but it didn't seem much different than the rest. We hiked the day with Fatigue today, and supposedly hit the PA high point--The Pinnacle. We'll have to look that one up, to see if that's the case...
Yesterday, Hairball and Snowbunny, plus Patch, caught up to us. Very cool to see everyone! Everyone did the 24 miles into Port Clinton in one day versus two like we did, so we're with the biggest group of thru-hikers we've seen in a while. Patch ended up taking a day off at the Microtel, but Hairball and Snowbunny are here tonight along with a few others. The shelter here is like a cabin in someone's backyard. Very odd. We decided to tent out, because of the bugs, but we did partake in the solar shower, flush toilet and fridge with cold drinks and ice cream sandwiches. Yum.

Ryan:
three h's
rock factor - 4
i still hate pennsylvania. not for any particular reason today, but it sucks. the shelter is nice...actually, the shelter is kind of gross, but the tent area is nice. there is a fridge here stocked with drinks and ice cream sandwiches. very tasty. that's because this shelter is on a road and next to a house which belongs to the caretaker. the caretaker idea is great, but the caretaker is a grouch. he's not happy we're here. if you don't like hikers, don't be a caretaker. same deal at the 501 shelter. actually, most of the people in pa have been grouchy...ah, yes, the worst state ever. only 65 miles or so until the delaware river...can't come soon enough.
today's song - rhythm of the night, el debarge (kill me. we went back to cabela's for the free shuttle back to the trail, and this little gem was playing when i went inside to use the facilities. kill me.)

July 1, 2005 | Day 96 | Miles: 17.4 | Total Miles: 1236.1
End: Bake Oven Knob Shelter, Tent
Danielle:
Warm, humid, mostly cloudy with mist and rain in the morning
How is it that despite the fact that it didn't rain last night, everything was wet this morning? Ugh. Talk about humid! It did rain a bit this morning but cleared out in the afternoon. Unfortunately the rain didn't take away the humidity. Oh well. We just keep on moving forward... The trail was a mix of pretty mellow old woods road walking and boulder fields. We did see lots of salamanders, one deer and one small snake. We're camped out near the 1940s shelter, and have experienced the joy of the PA's watersources--the top spring was dry so we had to go 0.4m downhill to the third spring for water. Not fun! It took us 43 minutes roundtrip... Hopefully we do get some rain soon to fill up the springs and streams in NJ/NY... Not much else to report. A short day into Palmerton tomorrow. Yeah :-)

Ryan:
mostly cloudy, light am rain, humid, evening clearing
rock factor - 7
i must quote a shelter register entry from another thruhiker: "i'm masa. bad rock lode. foot is very pain." i think that pretty much sums it up. masa, you see, is japanese, and speaks very little english. we only saw him for about 2 days as he is doing some big miles...very impressive. in a related story, pennsylvania continues to suck. hopefully, we get out of this state soon or my journals will be unfit for public consumption. needless to say, we grumble a lot. it wasn't as hot today because of no sun, so that was an improvement. only about 45 miles left of pennsyltucky...get me out of this state. unfortunately, we heard that the rocks continue for about 40 miles into jersey. ah, sweet at, how we love you so. we're still hiking with fatigue...in fact, we can't get rid of him. he started in waynesboro, va and is planning to go to the ny/ct border. great guy, and i keep trying to convince him to ome to maine with us. i've convinced his heart, but not his head. with our zero day in hamburg, some folks have caught up with us. most notably, hairball and snowbunny. it's great to see some familiar and friendly faces out on the trail with us. we also saw patch at the hotel, and after his zero is just a day behind...he's going to try to catch us within the week. that would be great. our unplanned zero day, by the way, was a great decision. we've felt fresher these last two days. granted, they haven't been big days, but things are feeling pretty ok...still plenty of aches and pains, though. i think you get those when you hike 1200 plus miles. currently, we're hiding in the tent from the bugs...it's a sauna in here. so, hot. i hate pennsylvania.
today's song - allentown, billy joel (this section of trail is maintained by the allentown hiking club. shhh whooo haaa...i hate billy joel. i hate pennsylvania.)