Thursday Sept 16th, 2021, 1600-1845
Duncannon to Darlington Shelter, SOBO AT mm 1054.8
11.6 miles
2356 gain, 1476 loss
Again not a whole lot got accomplished this day but at least I walked out of town wearing my new shoes and socks. Actually, the socks were a pair I’d worn on another trail, mailed from home. But I was able to replace the Darn Tough socks worn on this trail at the outfitters, which then became my sleep socks. I mailed my extra stuff home and reused the flat rate box my shoes came in to stuff with excess food. The Post Office had a tote full of protein and granola bars donated to AT hikers by a local patron, so I also stuffed a bunch of those in the box. This I mailed ahead to Lexington VA, where my friend Open from the CDT lives. I planed to visit him in a few weeks.
Having lightened my load a bit and with new shoes, I felt eager to get to the halfway point of the AT and finish PA. I couldn’t bear to throw away my old shoes that had served me so well. After all, they were still in decent shape. So I washed them one last time and left them with some other shoes in the basement. Mystic Spiral had just taken a used pair from the selection to get him as far as the next town, so maybe there’s a chance someone could still use them.
Picky arrived just as we were heading out, so the 3 of us had lunch at the Doyle. The food was so so and the ambiance even worse but the familiar company was good. Because of a long stretch of trail through farmland and private property coming up in about 15 miles, I had planned a short day to a shelter…if one considers 12 miles short. Stellar and I left town pretty late but walked fast, arriving just in time to collect some water and settle in for the night. We saw no one else on the trail and had the shelter to ourselves. The mosquitoes left us alone for once, so I was able to enjoy the night. It had been a little too hot during the day but the evening temps were very pleasant…no need for even a jacket. We were starting to get into the Goldie Locks days.