Peters Mountain Shelter
I was up so late last night that I got a late start today. I packed up and headed out. I took an hour or so to write some email. I did this while sitting on a curb near the hotel when Curtis from Standing Bear Farm, the place I stayed just after the Smokies, passed by. We said hi, he didn't remember me but then again he sees a lot more hikers than I. His season was over as the big hiker rush had already passed through so he was going around with his wife and kids looking at other hostels to see what ideas he could get from them. He told me a long list of improvments he was planning so next year's crowd will have an even better time than the pretty darn good I had. After that I got a light breakfast before heading out.
One thing I needed to take care of was my mail but it was Sunday so I couldn't go to the post office to get stamps. I asked around at the local stores but none had any so I set off with the CDs of pictures for this blog still on my back thinking next chance I would have to get rid of them was Port Clinton. I was worried I might crack a disk from the beating my pack takes.
The 
trail walked through town for nearly three miles and along the way I noticed a uneasiness. The people were unquestionably nice and the homes were generally well kept but there was a feeling that the town was dying. On the shore of the river was an old steel mill which was shuttered which I think likely is the source of this. It was I think the fact that many of the stores were good but obviously people weren't putting much into apearances. Also there was a near total lack of big national brands as if they thought the local market wasn't good enough. In some ways this was good as the businesses all seemed locally owned and the people working them were very friendly. None of the pubesent clerks with their mind elsewhere making the minimum wage that seem to be fixture of any big box/fast food restaurant. In the end I liked Duncannon. I am just a little uneay and worried for it.
On the way out of town I noticed I was passing within .2 miles of a truck stop. Truck stops rock for thru hikers, they have food often in the form of buffets, showers, a lounge, phones, and all the other small nick nacks life on the go requires. When I got there they did have stamps, envelopes, a fedex box, and a USPS mailbox. The envelopes were only available as multiple packs and I needed something stiff sided so I got a cardboard box and some packing tape from the cashier and made my own box for the photos. With that done I could hit the trail worry free and started making miles. At 4PM it was supposed to rain so I was hoping to make it to shelter before then. However I had the combined problems of a full load of food and the need to haul 1 gallon of water the 7 miles from a spring to the shelter. The way the water was today was similar to yesterday. The first shelter I passed had a good water source and then the shelter where I was spending the night had one labeled as 8!
00' downhill. From what I gather it is not quite so bad as I read but the trail is unpleasantly steep. I decided to carry the water between shelters to save myself this unpleasantness. At Clarks Ferry Shelter where I filled up I was glad to be passing through. The catapillars I have been seeing around at first were cute but now have turned into a nuisance. The shelter had thousands of them crawling all over. As I left that shelter I noticed the bushes were covered in them. The mountain laurel seems especially hard hit. The bushes have flowers now but they are a nearly completely without leaves as the catapillars have eaten them all. I think these caterpillars are gypsy moth ones as I have been seeing a lot of signs about the forest service dropping insecticide to stop them from mating. They appear to be a real problem that could wipe out some plant species around here.
After that shelter I had to walk nearly 7 miles with a full load a food and water, not much fun. It, however, turned out not to be that bad. The storm front moving in did obscure some of the views but there were still a few lovely spots to stop for a minute. Also the trail I was expecting to be very rocky and that with the heavy pack would have be double ugly. It turned out to be only mildly rocky with a lot of flat. I made good time over it. The last pleasent surprise was the rain. It wasn't heavy and was quite refreshing after all the recent heat.
Tonight's shelter is a cavernous space with room for 20-30. Widowmaker, Caps, Kata-Pilller,Martini, Rossi are all here so it is a friendly and lively crowd. The rain has picked up and is really coming down now but everone is in for the night so the timimg has been good.
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