[at-l] Pennsylvania....It's beautiful this time of year!

[Felix J]

My hike began with me and my hiking partner, Sundown, meeting our ride, 
Greyowl, at the All-American Truck Stop in Duncannon, PA at 10:30-ish 
Sunday January 28th.  About two hours later he was dropping us off in 
front of the Eckville Shelter. While we were strapping our packs on, 
Mick, the caretaker of said shelter, came out to see what the goings-on 
were. He was his normal self....friendly, but not TOO friendly. 
Actually, 'friendly' probably isn't the right word. Though, a little 
over a year ago he was more than nice to give Pilot and me a ride to 
Port Clinton. (Which I told about in a wonderfully written, yet never 
sent, trip report)

At ruffly 12:22 we hit the trail. The air was chilly. Temps were in the 
lower 20's, I believe. We saw lots of day hikers in the woods. In fact, 
we had to pass a couple not 100 yards into the hike. There were probably 
15 that we saw in total this day. Most, presumably, hiking to The 
Pinnacle.  One girl, who was with another girl and a guy and a dog, 
asked us, well after passing, "Where are you hiking from?". She asked 
this in such a way that I felt that I should present her with my 
'papers'.  "The road" I replied as I was fumbling to find my papers. 
"Where are you going?" a little friendlier. "Duncannon." "Are you 
camping?" "Yes"  She then stepped toward me and tenderly kissed my 
cheek. Then, my lips. Our kisses were warm in the cold air....Enough! 
(This was true up 'til that 'kiss' part....)

Alright, let's not make an epic outta this. As it would happen, we 
missed the trail to our first night's shelter (Windsor Furnace). This 
may be the first time in my hiking life, (or, otherwise, I suppose) that 
I actually hiked passed/past my intended stopping point. Once we 
realized this, which was nearly a mile beyond said shelter, we decided 
to stop and camp at the first water source with a flat spot. We ended up 
camping on a blue-blazed sidetrail (which were plentiful on this hike!). 
As it turned out, Sundown and I were both sleeping in our 'new' tents 
(mine one I purchased used) for the first time ever.

First day: Slightly over 10 miles

We were both fed and in bed before dark. Not much else to do. We got 
somewhere around 2 inches, maybe less, of light, fluffy snow through the 
night. Made eating breakfast and getting packed up a bit more of a chore 
than we wanted...but, 'twasn't bad. I believe Sundown's 
watch-thermometer reported the temp at 18 degrees. We would soon miss 18 
degrees.

We made good time to Duncannon. The thoughts of hot breakfast at the 
Port Clinton Hotel...the 'closed-on-Mondays' Port Clinton Hotel, helped 
to quicken our pace. Once we realized that we were wanting to eat 
breakfast at the 'closed-on-Mondays' Port Clinton Hotel on a Monday, we 
decided to try another tactic. Sundown went into the candy store across 
the street from the hotel. In a pitiful example of an attempt at yogiing 
a ride to 'Three C's Restaurant", Sundown was only able to ascertain 
that the 'Three C's Restaurant' was, in fact, open for business.

Over the course of the next 5 minutes I attempted to hitchhike in no 
less than three directions, two of which I attempted two different 
times. Sundown was hell-bent on eating food someone else cooked! (Don't 
get me wrong, I am generally the first one in line wanting other-hands 
prepared food. This day, for some reason, I was content with hiking back 
out of town) So, we walked the .5 miles or so away from the trail to the 
restaurant. While there I heard another patron...which there were only 
two of...say to the cashier woman, who was also the waitwoman..."Here's 
the tip. I didn't want to leave it on the table."  Right, jerk! I'm 
gonna steal your $2.50.  (As it turned out, I DID steal his hat later on 
that day. Quite a twist, it was.) (That wasn't true. I didn't steal his 
hat.)

I was hankering pancakes and eggs. For some reason, Sundown was 
hankering an open-faced roast beef sandwich. Now, an open-faced roast 
beef sandwich, with mashed potatoes and gravy and bread and cottage 
cheese, is quite possibly my favorite meal of all-time. So, I folded to 
peer pressure and went with it. The waitwoman, who had one of those 
looks that said "I'm not as old as I look, but this is the way I've 
always looked" about her, overheard Sundown telling me about a tasty 
alternative to 'straight cottage cheese'.  After hearing me tell the boy 
that I had, in fact, never heard of putting apple butter on my cottage 
cheese, she says to me "You're not Pennsylvania Dutch, are ya?"  "No 
ma'am. I'm Hoosier". She hooked me up with a bit of apple butter and 
assured me that the concoction that would result was far better than 
scrapple and went as far, nearly, as denying any connection with scrapple.

The apple butter and cottage cheese mixture was good. Not life-changing, 
but good. The open-faced roast beef platter? EXCELLENT. Well worth the 
extra mile it added to our day.  My 'Three C's Restaurant' experience 
was VERY pleasant and gets two thumbs up. Highly recommended over the 
Port Clinton Hotel, which has been the site of several disappointing 
situations for me...all documented in the never-sent trip report of days 
goneby.

At some point during our time in Port Clinton, I had occasion to say to 
an elderly woman "I love a woman who has her own shovel."  On with this....

Onward we pushed. Made it to a very nice Eagle's Nest Shelter well 
before dark. Had a nice day capped off by a nice evening. In bed before 
dark. After dark, it would be clear, cold and beautiful...the moon 
nearing full.

Day two:  slightly under 15 trail miles.

Through the night I found it necessary to leave my bag, something I 
nearly never do, to relieve myself. The sky was utterly beautiful and it 
was downright cold. Sundown's watch thermometer, which must be taken off 
his wrist to give an accurate temperature reading, said it was 12, I 
think. And, it was.  I got one of those shivering uncontrollably things 
going on... I shoulda put a jacket on. (Scotty!!)

Now...here's the thing about when it gets down around 10 degrees at 
night....It means it's more than likely going to be down around 10 
degrees in the morning.  And, THAT means it's gonna be REALLY difficult 
to load up. You do as much as you can while still in the bag...cook and 
eat, get things ready for the pack..."I don't wanna get out!" Then...the 
move. Roll the thermarest (which is, if you've never done it, nearly the 
equivalent to repairing a space station with a crappy adjustable wrench 
in the middle of Tracdon-7, a rarely visited section of our galaxy) warm 
the hands for three minutes while dancing about. Stuff the sleeping 
bag...or, as much of it as you can. Warm the hands for three minutes 
while dancing and cussing. Cram the thermarest and sleeping bag into the 
pack (because they go in FIRST!!) and warm your hands for three minutes 
while reciting lyrics from songs you haven't heard in years, dancing and 
cussing.  Then, the big 'load and go'.  (Her tender kiss warmed my 
spirit. Her hand on mine...KNOCK IT OFF!!)

We hit the trail about 9:30 with 15 miles the plan.  I don't recall 
anything special happening this day. There was a tug at the heartstrings 
when I crossed highway 183. This highway leads a short way to a town 
called Summit Station. When I was a wee lad...well, probably 15...I 
would frequently accompany my truck-driving dad to Summit Station to 
pick up dump trailers for a sand and gravel-hauling friend of his in 
Saginaw, Michigan, where we lived. I remember passing this 
trail-crossing back then. And, her kisses.

Hertlein Campsite was a very nice area that I only vaguely remembered 
from my thru-hike. Highly recommended if you're in the area looking for 
a place to camp.  We rolled into 501 shelter well before dark. When the 
caretaker arrived home sometime later, a pitiful example of fone-yoging 
went unfruitful and we found ourselves pizzaless. Pizzaless, I tell you.

Now, you'd think that the fact that we were in, more or less, a large 
shed for the night would be warmer than being in a shelter. Wouldn't 
you?  This did not turn out to be the case. I think that the only good 
thing about our stay at 501 (perhaps a better way of saying this would 
be that the only way staying at 501 was better than staying in a 
'normal' shelter) was that I got to sit in a chair, in my sleeping bag, 
at a table and cook both dinner and breakfast. Yes, a pizzaless dinner.

Day three: 15 miles

The morning was brutal. No better way to say it. Flat out brutal. 
Definitely the must uncomfortable time of the entire hike. Water bottles 
frozen ("I'll pull 'em into the bag in a minute" I'd tell myself. I KNOW 
BETTER THAN THAT!!), bag and thermarest nearly too cold to touch. Plain 
and simply brutal. It was, in fact, warmer outside. I couldn't wait to 
get out there and start hiking to warm this old blood of mine....as the 
thoughts of her kisses weren't coming close.

A nice day for hiking was just up the trail. Still, too cold for many 
long stops. We took a nice break at William Penn Shelter where we 
actually, and quite probably for the only time of the hike, saw water 
dripping off of something: The shelter roof...which was in the sun.  We 
hiked on to Rausch Gap Shelter. The last mile or so to the shelter was 
much more pleasant than I recalled it. And, the new privy there was very 
nice (as were all the privies in this section. hats off to the local 
clubs). We made it to the shelter well before dark again. I was quite 
proud of this feat. 17-plus miles in February for a man of my advanced 
years is hard to do with limited daylight.

Footnote: A request
I'd be most gracious if someone who has the most current PA maps 
could/would e-mail me a scanned and shrunk .jpg of the section of trail 
from I-81 to Rausch Gap Shelter. I'd like to see what the relo through 
the area does. I couldn't figure it out on my old 'memeograffed' maps.

Day four: 17.5-ish miles. 

Hmmm...I don't remember too much happening on day five. We did hike into 
an area with much deeper snows than we'd been in. We talked, briefly, to 
a hunter. He was only the third person, not counting the shovel-toting 
woman, we talked to in five days. We stopped for water at the spring 
just south of highway 325 for the purpose of carrying it six miles to 
the shelter, thereby foregoing a never-ending walk down the hill and 
back to the water source at the shelter. I taped my heal while stopped 
for water. Hiking in the snow that day had caused my feet to be wet and 
I started to blister/rub. I shoulda taped 'em both. This was the first 
real non-cold induced pain I was in on the hike, though. And, it really 
only hurt on uphills.

We rolled in to Peter's Mountain Shelter well before dark. Well before 
enough that we got to cook dinner at the picnic table therewithin. 
(That's a good word for this time of morning.) (Is it a word?)  Sundown 
got there long enough before me that he took, yet again, the good spot. 
Kids just don't respect their elders these days. Back in the day...well, 
you remember the day.

Again, in our bags by about 6 in the p. Another good day.

Day five: 17+ miles. 

The night wasn't bad. Sundown saw his first-ever flying squirrel. The 
temps were a warm-feeling high-teens. If not more. Felt good, actually. 
Packing up was easy in the a., as our food bags were pretty much empty 
(GREAT planning...that's what it was) and it didn't feel as bitterly 
cold as it had been.  A quick 10-ish miles into town and we were eating 
outstanding hamburgers at the truckstop by 12:45.

All in all, it was a great trip. I can't imagine enjoying hiking more 
than I do with Sundown. He is the perfect hiking partner for me. And, 
has been the target of many a joke, and the inspiration for many a 
story. My fleece balaclava is off to you, my friend.

And, many thanks again to Greyowl and Steve Landis. True friends to 
those they don't even know. That's what it's all about. That and her 
kisses. Oh, those kisses. 

Now, GET TO WORK!

(Oh, yeah, I may have forgotten the part about the police and that goat. 
For another time) 

-- 
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/