7/5/12 – 1140 miles
I’m at a place called the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA. It’s kind of dirty, kind of ancient and run-down, kind of a fire-trap, but it is a thruhiker tradition to stay here. For $26 you get a room and a shared bath, shuttle to town, and an amazing cheeseburger at the bar(extra) . There is no A/C and no screens on the windows so I have many bugs in my room. I hesitate to do laundry because one mile out of town and my clothes will be soaked with sweat anyway. I will probably just rinse my shirt in the sink.
Tomorrow I enter the streatch of Pennsylvania trail famous for being filled with rocks. The trail is so rocky that many hikers leave the state with sore knees and bruised ankles. One hiker described the trail as if someone “sharpens” the rocks at night. I’m sure I will slow down for awhile in this section.
I thought the name of that town sounded familiar, and when I looked it up on the map I knew why. When I used to come visit you from Aberdeen Proving Grounds in MD, I drove up 11/15 along the western side of the Susquehanna River. For some reason I remember the name of that town as one of the towns on my route, although it was over 40 years ago!