Hiking Trail Journals

Appalachian Trail 2003 - Chelsea's Journals

Entry #87 - July 7, 2003

8:40 PM - I think it was 12 miles or so before we were in Duncannon. The trail runs right through town. Everyone we had talked to had planned to stay at the Doyle Motel - an old, old hotel that has rooms for hikers mostly. Shared bathrooms, no TV's or anything like that. They've got a bar downstairs where we were looking forward to hanging out, but wouldn't you know, they were closed on Sundays. Checked on the cost of a room anyway, and it was $23.00. We thought too much for no luxuries or air conditioning, so figured we'd go down the street to the Pub to decide what to do.

Had a big plate of nachos there along with a couple of beers. Even got a couple of "chips" good for free beers, but we had to catch a shuttle to the grocery store at 3:00, so we'd have to have them later.

Picked up some food, and then it was back to the Pub. Quite a few people had shown up. We sat with Jitterbug, Hoover, Blink Blink and Pitstop and had more free beer. Again had to leave to get our laundry done. That was an interesting experience in itself, since we had to wash most of our clothes, including the ones we had on, and there were NO bathrooms to change in at the Laundromat! Before I knew it, Andy was naked in the middle of the aisle & whipping on his clean boxer shorts, when a lady came in & straight down the aisle. She did not seem amused. At least I had the courtesy to go in the back corner where it was dark, ha,Ha!

Finally made a decision to stay at the campground about a mile further down the trail. It was an OK place - $3.50 each to tent, and they had showers. That night we went up the road to the 24-hour truckstop. We risked our lives to cross a four-lane (not divided, though) highway (busy highway) to go have some chicken strips & a burger. We're lucky in the fact that the day's storm came through while we were inside!

Got a late start today - 10:00. After 8 miles, some people from Loser's church had trail magic for us! Cheeseburgers, salad, hot dogs, chips, watermelon, lemonade - it was delicious. Started thundering pretty good while we were there, so headed out again shortly. Never rained much, though. Tonight we're tenting at a spot near a spring. Heard some deer snorting, and I hope they don't come investigate, as we don't have our rainfly closed because of the heat. It's a little creepy being exposed with just the netting dividing you from the dark woods. The mosquitoes are driving me nuts, buzzing outside.

Next | Previous | Index