Day 101 - The Dalmatian of Days (10/10/2016)

I decided on a more modest day today, in part for logistical reasons and in part because I'm still a bit tired. I ran into all of the usual suspects. I'm really beginning to like this cohort of SOBOs. Shakespeare and Flatland, and BXE are too fast for me, but I hope to get more time hiking with Cinderella and Waterboy. So far I've only ever met them while NOBOing.

By far the coolest wildlife experience I've had was today. On the trail, I noticed a large bird on a branch just 30 or 40 yards down the trail. I stopped and tried to get my phone out to take a picture. Just as I was pulling it out, the bird (I think an eagle) flew from the branch and directly at me! It passed with it's wings fully spread out, no more than a foot from my waist, and soared on into the forest and out of sight.

Papa Wallaby tells me that's a good omen. I wish good omens weren't so close to being attacked by a large bird of prey.

Also, I finished Pennsylvania. So that's 8 of 14 states down.

Just as I was ending my hike, I ran into Pancake who had twisted her ankle and was struggling. I offered to give her a ride to Walmart for a resupply, so she and Papa Wallaby met and Papa Wallaby got to play Trail Angel!

Start: Wolfville Rd, Maryland
End: Old Forge Rd, Pennsylvania
Distance: 17.6 miles

Day 98 - Takin' out the trash (7/9/2016)

Biker and Hiker Trash

Today marks the start of another few days of slack packing. Papa Wallaby came down from Ontario and picked me up at Pine Grove Furnace. He'll slack me for four days, then head home. I'm hoping to get about 100 miles done, though that might be a stretch.

I showered, we had lunch, and visited the Appalachian Harley-Davidson store. The receptionist there was very friendly and asked me to send her a post-card down trail. It was a pretty relaxed day.

Critically, Papa Wallaby brought me a new phone (thanks Colin!!) and my laptop. So a good chunk of the day was spent getting the phone set up, buying an external battery pack, and updating blog entries.

In passing, a quick reminder that lots of photos that don't make the blog are available here.

Start: Tentsite at 1075.9

End: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

Distance: 11.5 miles 

Day 97 - Let's talk about food (6/10/2016)

[with apologies to Salt 'n Pepa]

Let's talk about food, baby
Let's talk about cal-ories
Let's talk about all the good things
 and the bad things
that I eat
Let's talk abouuut food.
Let's talk about food.

Today I could barely do 8 miles. I attributed my sluggishness to the long walk yesterday, which no doubt played a role, but I realised something else as well:

Meal	Typical	Yesterday	Today
Breakfast	2 cups of oats with dried fruit + Clif Bar with peanut butter (optional)	3 Huge Pancakes + bacon 1 bite of scrapple (regrettable)	Normal person sized breakfast skillet
Morning snack	Clif Bar with peanut butter (optional)	...	...
Lunch	3 wraps - 2 pepperoni and cheese, 1 peanut butter + Clif Bar with peanut butter (optional)	...	Normal person half sandwich and half bowl of soup
Afternoon snack	Clif Bar with peanut butter (optional)	Clif Bar with peanut butter	....
Dinner	2-3 cups of tuna casserole (pasta and tuna) + cup-a-soup or hot chocolate + Clif Bar with peanut butter (optional)	2 wraps	Normal dinner

Unsurprisingly, without more food in my body, I had little energy left after such a big day of walking.

I camped down at 5 pm, made a huge meal, and went to bed.

Start: Boiling Springs

End: Tentsite around 1075.9

Distance: 7.5 miles

Days 94 & 95 - Hiker HIITs & Duncannon (3-4/10/2016)

Off trail, there were two things I loved: running and high intensity interval training (HIIT). I'd been missing those, so I decided to create a sort of hiker version. The idea is to walk at a really fast pace (3-3.5 mph) for 60-90 minutes, rest, and repeat. Doing that, I managed around 20 miles yesterday, which meant that I caught up to Pancake again (she'd done a big day the day before).

Trout is doing big miles these days, so he's well ahead at the moment.

Today we headed into Duncannon. I can best describe Duncannon as a Trump-loving shit hole. We camped for $5 beside a train track, Pancake got herself thrown out of The Doyle for daring to visit with Trout, and we generally just had a great time in a small conservative town with friendly people. I won't be sad to leave, but I'll remember it fondly.

I'm also having serious problems with my phone these days. I'm pretty sure it's about to die.

Start: around 1005.8
End: 1041.5
Distance: 35.7 miles (20.6 + 15.1)

Day 93 - 1k (2/10/2016)

I hit 1,000 miles today! That's really all that happened, but it seems worthy of its own entry.

Start: near PA 183
End: about 1005.8
Distance: 18.1 miles

Day 92 - Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits. (1/10/2016)

It's hunting season! The whole day was punctuated by gunshots in the distance. Like, a lot of gunshots. I've decided it's time to put away my deer impressions and wear orange.

SC and Pancake had planned to head to Hamburg for dinner, then find a stealth site near the road. I decided to join them, and we also met with Shakespeare (who I hadn't seen since Maine) and Flatland.

By the time Pancake finished her laundry, and we got Shakespeare and Flatland back to their shelter, it was 9 pm. That's around midnight HST (Hiker Standard Time). SC dropped Pancake and I off at the trailhead and started for home, while we night-hiked in the rain over rocky ground to find a stealth site.

So after three months, I've done just under 1,000 miles (987.7). Phew.

Start: Port Clinton
End: stealth near PA183
Distance: 14.7 miles

Day 91 - Hamburg, Home For Hikers (9/30/2016)

Another wet day. Rains fell until noon or so, and then cleared a bit. Trout and I went into town for a quick resupply. The Hamburg area may have displaced Hanover NH as the most hiker-friendly town:

• The trail passes by a barber shop where we could sit, have some coffee and cookies, and charge our phones.
• At Walmart, I accidentally put Pouch in front of the power supply for the motorized carts. When I came back to them, the staff were apologizing *to me*, and bent over backwards to find me somewhere else to plug in my phone.
• As we were stuffing our bags with our resupply, a random stranger came over and handed us Powerades and several Mountain House and AlpineAire meals, saying he just liked to help out hikers when he saw them. We saw another customer give some hikers fresh fruit.
• While we were walking over to Cabela's, a red car pulled up and asked if we wanted a ride. Not only did he drive us to the door, but he gave us some beer and then told us to message him when we were ready to get back to the trail and he'd give us a ride. I'm 90% sure he sat in the parking lot waiting as we visited...

THE LARGEST CABELA'S IN THE WORLD

It almost made me wish I was a hunter/fisherman, so I could enjoy it more fully.

On our way back to the trailhead, we found Pancake and SC again, and are now all camped out near Port Clinton.

Start: Eckville Shelter

End: Top of hill outside Port Clinton

Distance: 15.9 miles

Day 90 - Home is where the bunks are (29/9/2016)

Rain. A lot of it. Then mist.

Pouch hangs out outside of Eckville.

Per last night's plan, I set out to do 18-20 miles to get close enough to Hamburg to resupply in the morning. On the way, I popped into the Eckville Shelter because a) it was supposed to be really nice with power, a shower, and real porcelain toilets, and b) because it shared a name with the town of my birth. It really was worth the visit, with padded bunks and a fully enclosed bunk house. Far and away the most luxurious shelter I've seen. I took a quick nap, then headed back on the trail only to run into Trout arriving. He offered to spot me some lunch for the next day so that I could stay at Eckville, which I did. Pancake joined us and we had another good evening followed.

Here's hoping the rain backs off soon, though it is nice to see running streams again.

Start: New Tripoli Campsite
End: Eckville Shelter
Distance: 13.8 miles

Day 89 - and then there was one... (28/9/2016)

North Side Trail

Tim made us all an amazing Mexican breakfast of eggs, refried beans and tortillas then dropped us back at the trail. The three of us (Pancake, Trout, and me) met up at the next shelter, where Trout and Pancake were both feeling pretty down (Trout for illness, Pancake for fatigue and a general malaise). I took a side trail Tim had recommended, and had some beautiful views to carry me through to the next shelter where Pancake and Trout decided to call it a day. I took care of some phone stuff while I had a signal. I had to overcome the draw of a warm fire and Pancake and Trout's campaign to keep me there to get going, but it felt wrong to call it so early without Pancake and Trout's reasons.

Rain and rocky terrain made it slow going, so I only did a few more miles before finding a campsite for the night. At dinner I discovered that I only had one more day of food left... which means a big day tomorrow to make it to Hamburg for a resupply. :(

Start: PA 284
End: New Tripoli Campsite
Distance: 12 miles

Day 88 - Trail Angel Tim, Take 2 (27/9/2016)

It rained all night, making it tough to get out of bed. I headed out to the shelter where I hoped to find Pancake and Trout, and have a quick coffee before braving the wet. They were there, and Pancake and I chilled a bit while hikers came and went. I saw Crunchy for the first time in a long time, and then on my way out I saw Beef Jerky! He'd been off trail for a wedding, and was just getting back.

While I was sitting around, I realised that I was now in the area that Tim from PA had said he could help me out if I needed it. I gave him a call and he offered to pick the three of us up, give us dinner, showers, laundry and a warm place to sleep.

Yep, that's right. Another night off trail. I could get used to this kind of hiking.

The only catch was I had to do 19 miles in about 7 hours, so off I went. Pennsylvania is pretty much as rocky as they say it is, but I was motivated by food and Tim. I was happy to get within a mile of our destination, right until I discovered that most of that mile was one of the more treacherous rock scrambles I've had to do this trip.

Still, I made it, and Tim took us out for dinner, took us to a grocery store for resupply, gave us showers, laundry, and a sampling of his various flavoured vodkas, and then packed us off to bed. All in all is was a great night of examining Tim's ax collection, chatting about travel and hiking, and generally enjoying some good company.

Start: Hahn's Lookout
End: PA 284 (Le High Gap)
Distance: 18.7 miles

Day 87 - Rain. Rain! (26/9/2016)

I needed fuel today, so I popped in to Wind Gap for a brief resupply and battery recharge. Pancake and Trout continued on, and I was hoping to catch up to them. Sadly darkness arrived to early, and the rocky terrain makes night hiking tricky so I camped down. The forecast is for a lot of rain tonight, and over the next few days - which is bittersweet: on the one hand, it means wet camping and walking, on the other it means cooler temperatures and better water sources.

Start: Mt Minski Peak
End: near Hahn's Lookout
Distance: 12.8 miles

Day 86 - Pouch and Pennsylvania (25/9/2016)

This morning, I packed Pouch up to rejoin me on the trail. Pancake's friend Carla (who had done the 100 Mile Wilderness with her) agreed to drive us to the trail and do a day hike with us to Delaware Water Gap. Trout and I were pretty excited to meet her since Pancake had been talking about her for months.

On the way we gave her a trail name that is unfit to print, so I started referring to her as SC. Which seems to have stuck.

The best part of today, though, was crossing into Pennsylvania! NOBOs have been telling us that Pennsylvania was hellish for months. All sharp rocks and dead shoes. I'm dreading it.

SC and Pancake cross into Pennsylvania!

Start: Mohican Outdoor Center
End: Mt Minski peak
Distance: 15.5 Miles