The epic journey of a sibling pair as they trek 2,181 miles from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachia Trail.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Duncannon

Today was a little better for Hansel.  The heat persisted, as did the grassy fields, but there was a trip into town that broke up the day a bit.  In the morning, Hansel awoke and quickly hiked into the town of Duncannon with two fellow thru-hikers Pajamas and Budd Heavy.  Today's field walk was not quite as fun.  Because it was hot, Hansel hiked without his shirt on.  And because the grass was tall, it was constantly hitting Hansels bare belly.  The pollin was especially bad today, which was a little bit of an issue considering Hansel has a fairly significant grass allergy.  When he was younger, he used to get an asthmatic reaction and had to use an inhaler in order to breath.  When Hansel arrived in Duncannon today, he had rashes all over his abdomen where the grass had hit him and his eyes were nearly swollen shut.

Their first stop was the Doyle Hotel.  This is a very famous spot for thru-hikers.  It is over 100 years old and apparently it was "super glamorous" in its day; however... in the words of Hansel, the place has "gone to crap."  You lay in bed, and you gaze up at the ceiling, and you think to yourself, "How did that stain get up there?"  The place was pretty gross, BUT it is incredibly hiker-friendly and they have great food and great beer!  Hansel had a delicious barbecue pork sandwich, half an order of buffalo chicken wings, fries, and a strawberry shake that he took on his way out.  Silver Fox got the most enormous banana split anyone had ever seen.  It was delicious going down, but it then took him about 3 hours to hike 4 miles to camp because his belly hurt so badly.

One thing that Hansel decided not to accomplish while in town was showering.  Although it would have been extremely nice to wash all the grass pollen off of himself, the cost of showering was a bit steep.  Paying $7.50 at the hotel was just not happening.  The good news is, the shelter where Hansel and Silver Fox stayed that night had a very good water source.  They decided to work out a little guard buddy system.  Silver Fox took the first watch while Hansel went down for a creek bath and then they traded posts.  Cheep, effective, and au natural!

Happy Trails!

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