Pavillion in Port Clinton, PA
Today I woke up to a chilly morning though still probably in the 50s. That isn't a complaint though since it is meant a cool day. After that anything positive about the hike stopped. My goal was 23 miles to make to Port Clinton tonight so that I could spend all of tomorrow getting ready for Dana's visit. The trail turned out to be the worst stretch of trail I have hiked yet! Over the 23 miles, perhaps 3-4 of them weren't uneven, sharp, shifty, hard, irregular, cold, treacherous, slippery, and/or rough. I could go on and on about the horrors of the rocks in the 501 to 
Port Clinton stretch but I will summarize as such; although I mentally was suffering from a serious case of TouretteKs syndrome but I only let the thoughts escape my lips once in the form of a one word sentence that rhymes with duck and could be heard 1/2 miles away.
One good part was a beautiful ferned woods. I love ferns. They are my favorite color, they tend to be in the shade, are wonderous to watch unroll from a sprout to full size, and have soft leaves. I stopped to take in this great and more importantly calming scene. After a litle while I decided a picture would be nice and took a shot and then crouched and got another shot from a different angle. 
I turned off my camera and got up and that spooked something I hadn't noticed. From less than 10 feet away a dog like animal about the size of a spaniel, light tan/white fur, pointed ears, a running gait that wasn't particularly fast but rather deer like (from legs, back legs, repeat), jumped out of the ferns and ran 50 feet away. Then it just walked on feeling untreatened by me. I am not sure what it was but I would guess a coyote. Very cool but unfortunatly caught me with my camera off.
The end of the day I made it to town by about the 6. The last section of trail headed down hill was astonishingly steep with me really having to dig in with my poles to keep from sliding down the packed dirt slope. The first thing I saw in town was the rail yard which had a display of massive boulders of coal as big as 5 feet tall and 10 across. Easy one was from a different mine in the state. I hit the Port Clinton Hotel bar and bough a salad and cheesy garlic bread for a snack and then walked towards the town pavillion where hikers are allowed to spend the night. A van pulled along side and I saw Anonymous. The driver offered me ride to the local newly opened outfitter (of which he was the proprietor) and I accepted. There I got fuel for Dana and I, replaced my lost iodine bottle, and picked up a map for Dana to use on the upcoming segment. Then a ride back to the pavillion. Anonymous has been wanting to replace his canister stove with an alcohol one for a while since it !
is getting hard to reliably find canisters. On the ride back we stopped to buy a couple cans of pop and at the pavillion we drank them and I made him a alcohol stove with them. The stove turned out great and also I helped him patch his ThermaRest with a patch kit he had bought at the outfitters.
I got to the pavillion after dark so I can't see who all the sleeping hikers are. For some reason no one took a mattress so I set up there. I think it is because there is a little leaf litter on top of it and it looks grungy but it is dry, smells fine, and I put a ground cloth on top. I am sure I will sleep well here.
One last thought is that I have seen no deer yet in PA. I hear PA is a real big hunting state so I suspect that is the cause.
------------------------------
Tell your friend about PocketMail and let the savings start rolling in!
No comments:
Post a Comment