[at-l] A Visit To The Doyles

[Scott Hoffman <shoffman@redrose.net>]

This past Friday was my lovely wife's (and a great hiker babe to boot!)
birthday, so we decided to celebrate it right by hiking the trail. Only
having the weekend to do it, so we decided to start at Duncannon (Pa.)
and hike south to the Darlington shelter and return back to good old
Duncannon the next day. Friday after work we stayed at the "world famous
Doyle Hotel" in beautiful downtown Duncannon. Some of you may have been
wondering why in the world would you want to spend your birthday at a
hiker haven like the Doyles. For no other reason, just because it's
there (enough said). The new Doyles is in a class by itself, which class
I won't say. Considering this place hasn't been taken care of for over
30-40 years and it's showing its age. The new owners are really trying
hard to improve and rebuild this grand old lady of Main Street. Okay, it
isn't the Taj Mahal and it certainly hands above Mountain Mamma's, but
what would you expect for $10 a night. Hopefully in time this place will
rise like the phoenix from the ashes and show its beauty to all the
hikers who may grace this building. A thought I had while leaving the
Doyles is maybe all of us hikers could get together some weekend and
help out the new owners by painting or doing light work and make this
building really shine like it did a long, long time ago. I'm a firm
believer in giving back to the community, so why not the hikers return
the favor and help rebuild this old lady as it welcomes in a new
millennium for many generations of hikers to come. A web site dedicated
to the Doyle Hotel is available at www.doylehotel.com.

Mother Natures Son

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