(Darlington Shelter (mile 1,138.3) - Peters Mountain Shelter (mile 1,160.6))

I started hiking this morning around 8:30am. I hiked about 2 miles and reached PA Route 850 where a pregnant lady was setting up trail magic. She introduced herself as "Naps" and asked if I wanted a cheesesteak pretzel. She explained she was meeting a 61 year old lady thru-hiker named "Dallas" whom she had hiked the PCT with last year. Dallas arrived and they exchanged affectionate greetings. I hung out for a bit while Naps and Dallas were catching up. Dallas seemed shocked to see her friend pregnant, while Naps shared amusing post thru-hike insights. For instance, she shared that she sometimes longs for trail life, but other times, especially when the weather is terrible, she’s grateful to have a roof over her head. As I was preparing to leave Naps asked if I was heading to Duncanon and offered to slack-pack me, which I gladly accepted. Trainer showed up and he also accepted the offer to be slack-packed. We then all agreed to meet Naps in Duncanon in 3 hours and set off down trail feeling as if we were floating.

Trainer is one of the Little Hotties who I’m less familiar with. As we hiked, I learned that he is from New York and has been working construction for a couple years. His big goal after trail is to join an electricians union. Dallas on the other hand is most recently from… get this… Dallas. She earned her (very creative) trail name last year during a PCT thru-hike after retiring from a career as the VP of logistics for Toyota.

After a mile and a half of field hiking, we climbed back up on the ridge and encountered a long stretch of Pennsylvania's infamous rocks. The ridge was mostly flat for 5 miles until we reached Hawk Rock, a fine overlook with lovely views over Duncannon. The overlook was crowded with day hikers so I didn’t stay long. Afterwards, the trail began a steep decline towards town. At this point, I was hiking solo. To entertain myself, I was listening to an audio book called “American Predator,” a true crime book about the serial killer Israel Keyes. True crime has never been my thing, but the audio book was available on Libby and I have to admit that so far it’s been riveting.

After a brief road walk, I made it to Duncanon around 12:30pm. Naps was parked outside the outfitter with a doughnut on her car. She explained that she had gotten a flat tire just a couple miles outside of town. I took a shower at the outfitter, whose name, “Kind of Outdoorsy,” made me chuckle. After my shower, Naps shuttled us to a grocery store for resupply. I then hung out in the rear hostile portion of Kind of Outdoorsy while my laundry was getting done (I split a load with Trainer and Savage).

Naps, Dallas, Trainer, and Savage were planning to go out for dinner, but I opted to move along, leaving Kind of Outdoorsy at 4:15pm. The walk through town was pleasant. I got the vibe that Duncannon is a small but colorful community. Just outside of town, the trail crossed two large bridges over the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers. After crossing the Susquehanna, I crossed a set of railroad tracks before beginning a steep climb up to a very rocky ridge. The notorious Pennsylvania rocks were on full display as I zoomed along the ridge.

After about 2.5 miles, I stopped at Clark's Ferry Shelter for water. My goal for the evening was to make it to Peters Mountain Shelter, which was almost 7 miles away, and it was 6pm. It was clearly going to be a late night.

The ridge offered many fine views. The overlooks themselves were mostly power line swaths, but as I hiked later into the afternoon, the golden hour light imbued a lovely saturation on nearby ridges. I was moving quickly and ended up spooking a raccoon up a tree. The creature seemed to eye me with equal parts suspicion and curiosity as it climbed its way up into a maple tree, where it perched and stared. I stared back for a while, snapped some photos, and moved along.

I reached the shelter around 8:30pm and found Numbers and a number of friendly weekenders. I sat around the campfire for a while, happily accepting a bit of trail magic from a local couple. Before retiring for the evening, numbers and I agreed to hike together tomorrow and planned to roll out of camp around 7:30am.