[at-l] Mini PA Trip Report and Pics

[icw@xxxxxxxxxxx (Clark Wright)]

Well, I tried to do a post from my office e-mail re my recent hiking
adventures in PA, but I guess Ryan's fancy software would not let it
thru, since it came from an "outside" e-mail address - so here is an
even more abbreviated version, sent from home.  Two weeks ago, I drove
up to Duncannon, PA to try and finish off those pesky PA rocks in my
quest to reach Katahdin.  After a beautiful first day climbing up out of
Duncannon, I had the pleasure of experiencing two straight days of
freezing rain, glazed ice on all the rocks and trees, up to a foot of
packed snow and ice remaining on the Trail from the early spring
blizzards, huge amounts of downed trees, washed out hiker bridges,
flooded creeks and rivers [almost lost my Trooper when the Riverfront
Campground at Duncannon flooded - they had to move it], torrents of
water running right down the Trail, and lovely, long sections just south
of PA 183 where there was nowhere to walk except in 6+ inch deep swamp
waters for as far as you could see.  Oh, and I had a good time, too! :)

Anyhow, it was the most challenging week of hiking I think I've ever
done.  After my two-day hypothermia challenge, the sun came back out and
I had several beautiful days.  I also got some trail magic from two of
my 2001 hiking friends who came up and met me for the final miles I
walked into Port Clinton.  I managed to cover the 70 miles between
Duncannon and Port Clinton in five days of walking, but decided to
postpone my second week of walking for a slightly warmer and dryer time
of year! :)

A few pics can be found at:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/Duncannon2PortClinton

Hope everyone is doing well, and that the Class of 2003 survived the
recent snows and cold rains!

Thru-Thinker
[Clark Wright]