May 8
End: Duncannon
Miles: 11.4
Total: 3003.3
Our plan was to get to Duncannon as soon as possible to eat more and to sit out as much of the upcoming rain as we could. Coming down from the mountain, we walked through more fields, which were easy to traverse but guaranteed us wet socks, shoes, and feet.
We did one significant mountain, then started descending, but not before it started raining a little. We put our rain gear on as a precaution, though the rain was light and soon stopped. Our descent led to a road which was apparently in Marysville, not Duncannon.
Walking north on the road, we soon got to Duncannon and stopped in at the laundromat to strategize. Spiral stayed with our laundering clothes while Swivel and I walked the mile back to the grocery store in our rain gear.
Our expedition to the grocery store was not fun. We couldn’t catch a ride, the rain had started again, and it was a full mile or more to the store. We finally arrived and decided that we wanted to stay in Duncannon for the night instead of walk out of town in the rain later on.
Unfortunately for us, the grocery store was quite expensive. We bought the bare necessities, like a gallon of ice cream, then walked our purchases all the way back to the laundromat. Unhappy with the walk but glad to be back, we all shared the ice cream, which was gone in minutes.
We settled on The Doyle, which is a very old and very run-down hotel on the main street, and is friendly to hikers. Though we did not have our own television or bathroom, we found time to take showers and I got to use the computer down in the bar.
We relaxed and enjoyed a good half a day’s rest at The Doyle. The owners were nice and we saw several other hikers at the bar, including Meats, Bread and Butter, and Xtreme, who all walked from Boiling Springs in the rain.
Sleeping in a bed felt great, and I felt good about staying at The Doyle, since it is an important point along the trail. I was also thinking about waking up the next day on my birthday!