Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA
The state of PA has been described to me many times in terms of it's rocks. I have heard the phrases "240 miles of rock" and "The PA trail crews spend the winter sharpening the rocks with files" more times that I care to recount. What I have seen before today is generally flat and fast with rocks only apearing in short streatches. Today that changed. The day was spend on a trail that was almost totally lacking in flat surface. Mostly 
I was walking on the sharp edges of rocks or placing my foot on slanted notches between jumbled rocks and those were the better foot holds! Sometimes the rocks were lose and shifted when I placed my weight on them.
Also there was a lack of water along the way. I started out with two liters when I left the shelter but a combination of factors made that insuffiucent. First there was the heat which combined with the humidty made it seem like 100 degrees out though it was only in the 80s. The other factor was lack of water sources. The one I was banking on turned out involved a 400' descent down a steep trail and climb back up to get at. I decided the time it would take to get at it and treat would be beter spent getting into town. I was never in any real danger, just thristy for a couple hours. Up the trail at Hawk Rock I got a good view of the town and valley below. There I met a group of friends who were out for a day hike. We talked for a while as they didn't know much about hiking and had lots of questions. They even had some spare water. I hiked with them down the mountain before I split off to stay on trail and they went to their car. At the road leading into town I came across the !
most welcome surprise, two coolers stocked with cold bottles of fruit punch. A trail angel named Mary had left them along with a note that she would be serving dinner at 6 P.M.
The walk through town was easy except that it was very badly blazed. There was one intersection where I spent near 10 minutes standing on every corner trying to figure which way to go. Finally I made an eductaed guess, a corect one as it turned out. There the trail lead to the Doyle hotel and bar. The building itself was built in 1905 by Anhieser-Bush and had seen better days. However the rates are affordable, water hot, and the bar has good food an beer. This is pretty much where any hiker in Duncannon stays so I met all my fellow hikers who were in town.
I got lunch at the bar and checked into my room. Due tot he heat most people were hoping from the air conditioned bar to air conditioned local businesses as the rooms had no AC. I had lots to do though so I stayed in the heat cleaning and packing. At 4 the local supermarket runs a shuttle to get hikers to and from the store where I took care of my resupply. In addition there was a RiteAid next door which allowed me to download my digital pictures to CD so I can send them to Jeff for uploading.
Back at the room a repacked all my food and then went to the laudrymat. The big item was my sleeping bag which would take hours to dry so I wanted to get an early start. Dana is comming to hike with me for 5 days starting next thursday and is going to to be using that bag. I wanted to make sure it didn't stink too much. :) Then while the laundry was happening I headed over to Mary's for a great homecooked meal. Thank you Mary, your efforts and food really were a bright spot on my fairly buggy, rocky, hot, sweaty, and dry day.
The rest of the evening was spent tending to the laundry and catching up on these here journals.
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