A Lot Can Happen in a Week
Duncannon PA - Mile 123 - May 4th, 2016
A lot can happen in a week. As of today I've done 123.2 miles. The trail has gotten more difficult, mostly because of the rocks, though there have been some pretty steep ups and downs too. This is Pennsylvania, known for all the rocks, so that will only get worse. My feet are pretty sore and I've been pretty exhausted. Twelve days of hiking without a break is tooooo much! I took a double zero in Duncannon. (2 days off) My left foot is pretty swollen, which is weird, because my right foot is the one that usually hurts. I'm going to try to get different shoes in Hamburg and see if that helps.
The last night sleeping out on the trail was pretty rough. The tarp I have did not give my hammock good enough coverage and most everything ended up wet. So, I had Ron overnight me my tent and sleeping pad. Now I can sleep in a shelter pretty effortlessly and have the tent for back up. My sweet friend Debra made me a cozy and sent me some freezer bags so I can "cook" my food and not have to wash my pot every time. I have quickly found out that simplicity is the name of the game. I thought I had things fixed so they were simple, but it was not the lowest common denominator. And maybe it still isn't.
Also that night, I got lost mere feet from my hammock when I got up to go to the bathroom. I know it sounds funny, but I was pretty scared. The rain was this misty shower and the light from my headlight was bouncing off of it and there was low visibility because of that. I almost won a Darwin Award for dying 6 feet from my hammock. I did finally find the shelter, but not until after calling out for help and waking everyone nearby. I could just see myself dying of hypothermia feet away from shelter. It's really embarrassing, but I figured it would entertain you, so there you go.
The next 70 mile stretch is pretty much nothing but rocks. No town to speak of or anything, so I'll really be looking forward to my next break.
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Duncannon PA - Mile 123 - May 4th, 2016
