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Journal
| About Downunda | Trail
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20th June 2002 From:
Eckville Shelter I found out what the initials BMECC stand for: Blue Mountain Eagle's Climbing Club. They own this shelter and the caretaker's residence in front. This shelter was a surprise oasis; all the comforts of a hostel at no charge. Thanks, BMECC. I hit the trail at 7:00 A.M. intending to stop at the Bake Oven Knob Shelter 17.4 miles away, but when I reached it, I was a little disappointed. There was no privy and the shelter was small and very old. So, I cooked an early dinner and filled my water bottle as I had decided to hike on for another few miles and find a nice campsite. 'Charlie Fox Trot' was at the shelter and he also had decided to hike for a short while. The weather today was perfect, fine, sunny, and a temperature of around 65 degrees. The trail was covered in rocks or boulder fields for about 14 of the 19 miles, so the going was fairly slow for much of the day. My feet don't hurt at the end of the day anymore, so they much have adapted to all of the rock hopping. Only another 40 miles and I will be leaving Pennsylvania for New Jersey and New York; the miles are really flying by. When I was at the outfitters in Port Clinton yesterday I weighed my backpack on their scales - the weight was 30 pounds even. This included all of my gear, two days food, and 48 ounces of water, so it seems my maximum pack weight with five or six days of food would be around 38-40 pounds. 'Réal' has moved ahead of me as he decided to "Blue Blaze" (skip sections of the AT) yesterday to dodge a long climb. (TKH note, Blazes along the AT are painted, 2-inch x 6-inch, vertical white rectangles that are placed at eye height on trees and other objects in both directions, to mark the "official" route of the Trail. Side trails (shortcuts) are marked with blue blazes.) One of my water containers has sprung a leak. I'm annoyed about it as it was new when I started in Damascus eight weeks ago. I'll see if one of the outfitters can swap it out on warranty for me. Tomorrow morning I have a six-mile hike to the highway, then I can hitch a lift into Palmerton and pick up my bounce box and the food Faye sent me. That's all for now, goodnight all.
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