Day 106
Start: The Doyle Hotel, Duncannon, PA
End: Spring
Miles Hiked: 17.3
Miles on AT: 1167.6
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Whew, last night was so much fun, but I definitely felt it this morning. Still, my internal hiker clock forced me up around 7 am. After showering and getting most of my things together, the first order of business was breakfast!
I went next door to the local diner and ran into Chewy and Sassy finishing up their breakfast. I slid into the booth across from them, ordered my meal, and chatted for a while. They were trying to figure out their next steps. Should they flip soon or keep going?
A lot of people that I’ve run into were contemplating flip-flopping, which is when hikers move to another location on trail (in this case Katahdin) so they can start hiking in the opposite direction. For hikers who don’t think they’ll reach Katahdin by mid-October, this gives them a little more time since they will be hiking south and away from harsh winter weather that would otherwise end their hike.
They hadn’t come to a conclusion, but they did finish their meal, so I said goodbye and dug into my hardy breakfast. It was good!
Back at the Doyle, I packed up my things and got ready for my second order of business: the post office. There, I got my new tent (yay!) and sent my old one home. The comments for this post office rave about the post woman there and I have to say she was fantastic and so helpful. There was a huge hiker box full of delicious goodies and she helped me select the box that would be the most economical for me to send home. It was one of the best post office experiences I’ve had.
Finally, around 11 am, it was time to hit the trail. I walked through the very patriotic town of Duncannon and crossed the large Susquehanna River. After a short climb, I was on top of the ridge and the hiking was smooth and easy. Yes, there were a few rocks, but they weren’t as bad as I had seen coming into Duncannon.
The day was easy and uneventful. I stopped at a shelter for water and at a water cache (thank you, trail angels!), but just kept moving. As the sun was starting to wind down, I reached a spring with a nice little site perfect for my tent, ate dinner, and crawled in for the night.
And that’s day 106.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.