ZERO IN DUNCANNON

AT Day 069: Thursday June 15,  2023

Mile 1149 + 0 miles/km

Total Distance Hiked: 1149 miles/1849 km

Doyles Hotel

A: ft /m  D: ft / m 

A bonus zero day because we pushed the last few days to get here, mainly because of the rain predictions and our leaky tent. Hammers feet may have paid the price but they are recovering well. His new shoes will make a huge difference. We also now have a Big Agnes Hilton – Second Edition so no more worry about a leaky roof in the rain.  And we have been told that there will still be plenty of rain before we finish.

Duncannon is a town in decline. Despite having such scenic attributes, being surrounded by mountains and on the  confluence of two rivers there are a lot of empty stores and derelict buildings in town. I can see the dilemma for the owners of the Doyle Hotel. Proper restoration would need a huge investment of funds and yet the prospects  of getting a return are pretty slim. So they focus on the bar: the kitchen produced great tasting food and there is plenty of variety in the beer brews they offer. Hammer and I were pretty happy with the very basic room, comfortable bed and a hot shower.  

We got our resupply from the outfitter in town called ‘Kind of Outdoorsy’. It had everything we needed and was reasonably priced compared to our last two resupply stops. The owner was lovely and we also did a Darn Tough socks exchange here. We left our old socks at the store and received a replacement pair,  as part of Darn Toughs lifetime guarantee. We also donated our beloved Big Agnes Hilton – First Edition to the local Scouts group. This way it may get some expert repairs and go on to provide many more nights of shelter. It’s kind of fitting that our last night sleeping in the old tent was a stealth camp spot near a busy Interstate freeway – sheltered and protected us to the end.  

We noticed a few more hikers arriving into town around lunchtime today.  Faces we recognized from the rainy afternoon at the Pine Grove Furnace Store a couple of days ago. Seems like it was ages ago. And that’s how it goes on this trail. We are already reminiscing about the beauty of Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia as we slowly step over the rocky terrain of Pennsylvania. I wonder if we would also wistfully reminisce about this rocky terrain.  The beauty of the AT is more subtle then the other long trails  we’ve done and in some ways occurs in retrospect. 

We are making a long list of places we would like to revisit at a more relaxed pace at another time. And in keeping with zero day updates here is a post from Hammer.

Hammers Reflections and Thoughts on West Virginia and Maryland

Hike Your Own Hike or HYOH is a concept quite often expressed by hikers but I suspect that often what it means to some is: hike like me or you are hiking the trail all wrong. 

The principle behind HYOH is that if you are comfortable skipping sections of the trail that’s OK. If you wish to slackpack (that is carry a day pack for sections of the trail) and get shuttled to your start point and get picked up at your finish point and transported to a hostel/hotel, that’s fine. If you have a supported hike where a vehicle meets you at the end of the day and whisks you to a motel or you sleep in a supported van then that is okay as well. There is an unverified story of one hiker who has covered 2,000 miles of the trail but has spent only 3 nights in a tent.

On the other hand, you also get some people that before stepping off the trail to allow you to pass will draw a line on the trail. They will then step back on the line, so as to not miss a single inch of the trail.

To me it is a joy to be out here hiking and I am unconcerned with how others hike the trail. I am also unconcerned with the subtle advice given to Corky or myself such as what is your hurry, the last one to Katahdin wins or you must not be seeing much. In fact our speed is pretty slow but we seem to be up earlier than many and hike later than most.

One guy we met,  trail name ‘Squirrel’ hikes quickly for half a day to a shelter where he watches movies he previously downloaded on his phone. He is also an online gamer and so he studies the characters in games he wants to play. He seems very happy with this arrangement but it would not be suitable for me to hike this way.

I like the concept of Hike Your Own Hike and am glad to see people hiking the trail anyway they are comfortable with getting the job done. Corky is not so keen on people slack packing and running for cover with every rain event. It’s the lack of equivalency for her,  in the end if you finish you can all say I’ve hiked the AT yet the way of achieving it is so completely different – maybe she is more competitive.  

I especially take my hat off to section hikers who piece their journey together over many years. The reason I admire the section hikers is that logistically it is more difficult. It also requires you to gain your trail legs over and over again as you start each section, since there are often significant lags between completing one section of the trail and starting the next.

West Virgina was such a small segment of the trail, about 4 miles. In fact it seemed Corky was just getting the hang of singing John Denver’s Country Road song when we were in Maryland. Harpers Ferry was the only town that we entered in West Virginia.  The office for the Appalachian Trail Conservacy is in town and each hiker stops here and gets their 2023 hiker number reassigned. It’s also the psychological halfway point of the trail, even though the real halfway point is another 64 miles up the trail. We hope to return to Harpers Ferry at another time to learn and see a bit more of its history.

The Maryland section was about 41 miles and it was an interesting section of the trail which took us about 2 days to complete. It had some good climbs and unfortunately the views were often obscured by the smoke from the Canadian fires.

It’s often said that the Universe provides the right person to meet at the right time. Just before leaving Maryland we met ‘Badass and Blind on the AT’. He was laying by the side of the trail. He said he was taking a “Zero on trail”, he had a fall and injured his shoulder. We asked if he was OK and if there was anything he needed. He asked if we had some pain meds and if we could spare some water. After giving him some pain meds and filling his water containers he asked if he could interview us for his YouTube channel. He whipped out a GoPro and had the most amazing radio voice and banter. He said he was just finishing up the state of Maryland and he may see us again further North. He said he falls often and sometimes only makes a mile for the day. He wished us well on our journey.

The next mile and a half was particularly precarious in terms of  rocks and uneven nature of the trail. We wondered how on earth will he get through this. It was a meeting that reminded us to approach this endeavour with a grateful heart despite our periods of perceived hardship.