July 23 Mile 1223

Hiked out of Port Clinton this morning and don't miss it. It's always fun to come into a town after being on the trail for several days. When it's this hot, you want to take a shower and do laundry. You look forward to meals that aren't in a pouch and have fresh produce and mayonaise on them. And of course something cool to drink. But after a little while, you long for what you came out here to do- hike the AT- and as long as all the body parts are working ok, you want to keep walking. And camping. My new shoes worked pretty well today. Probably not the best for long distance hiking, since they are like sandals, but, hey isn't that what all the people wore in ancient times and they had to walk alot. Anyway, we hiked 15 miles today and these shoes do not press on the sore spots of my feet below the area of the toe next to the big toe. Maybe now with time those areas can heal. Left foot is great, right foot still has an old problem of achiness below the big toe, but I had that before I ever came out here. Worn some insoles for the first 600 miles and had no problem. Been a problem ever since. Have ordered some of the same insoles and should have them next week. Hopefully they will help as well. You have to solve these problems as you go, because you have no alternative unless you want to leave the trail, and our time is getting more limited as we go.
Today we hiked with our friends Tunes and Tootsie Pops. It is great to be hiking with them again.
Again, the trail took us up on a low ridge, about 1000 feet above the valley below, and we walked the ridge all day. But we did have some interesting sights. First, lots of big rocks and even boulders to climb over. Alot more of that to come we are told. Then two views!! The Pulpit and the Pinnacle, rocky overlooks. We are told these are some of the best views in PA. What you see is the valley below. I'll be nice and say no more.
But we did see something much more interesting- rattlesnakes! My first sighting of the trip. As I was hiking along bringing up the rear as usual, Cisco, Tunes, and Tootsie Pops were far ahead, I fortunately stopped to heed nature's call, and when I resumed hiking, I Iooked up the trail and saw four hikers coming about 50 yards away. Suddenly the first hiker jumped back about 5 feet and said "rattlesnake" and you could hear the rattles. We all froze and finally I could see him slither across the trail, and he was at least 4 feet long. Finally we all resumed our hike, as I went by him, very quickly, he didn't look very happy. Not much later, when I caught up with the rest of my group at the Pinnacle, Cisco and I went to see the view, and there was another rattler, 4-5 feet long. I actually got his picture then got out if there.
The rest if the day's hike was not eventful, the trail went from being rocks and boulders to a well maintained country road. Very nice, but very unexpected. Hiked down to a really nice Shelter-Eckville-actually someone's backyard. Solar shower- very cold, but on a hot day it felt good to cool off- fresh water, and the owner gave us frozen Popsicles! So good!
Camped in the yard, made our dinner and the rain began to fall. Jumped into the tents and another hiking day closes.
It was four months ago today when we started at Springer! The time does fly out here. October 15, when the park closes in Maine, will be here before we know it. I hope we run out of miles before we run out of calendar.


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