Make it count: Day #85

Friday, June 5th - Day #85 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 12.8
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 1149.2/2,193 (52.40%)

Carlisle (1136.4) to Duncannon (1149.2) - Doyle Hotel in Duncannon

Total ascent - 2,191’
Total descent - 2,258’

Total States Completed - 6/14

**Rain Day - rained lightly in the morning. Storms (with hail) expected tonight

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Coming to you live from the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA. The Doyle is a legendary hotel along the AT route. So much history here. Originally, a 3-story, wooden hotel built in the 1770’s. It burned to the ground in 1803, and then was replaced by the current brick building. Current time - the hotel is certainly showing its age. Rooms are only $25. No air conditioning and bathrooms are shared on each floor. It’s not glamorous- but it gets the job done.

Today we hiked 12.8 miles into Duncannon. We were originally planning to hike another 4.7 miles today - but bad weather is expected later tonight with potential for a huge hail storm. We chose to stay here tonight to have a roof over our head.

I’m glad we’re staying actually. If I was hiking solo (without Caruso and Sherpa Mike) - I almost certainly would have continued on. My body has been pretty run down the past couple days. I think the heat and humidity is taking its toll on me. My shirt is drenched with sweat most of the day. It’s so soupy and muggy out right now. I’m trying to stay as hydrated as possible - but it’s difficult.

It’s been a nice few days hiking with people. In addition to Caruso and Sherpa Mike - we’ve run into a little bubble. We’ve made friends with Spice, Colby, and Painted Sticks. Jenna and Mike (I had met a week back) are also really close to us.

With the shorter hiking day, we made it into town around 2pm. We checked into the hotel. I then grabbed a shower and just rested an hour. The town is still pretty locked down - so we all went our separate ways to grab takeout dinner. I did a medium pizza. We then sat on the 2nd story balcony of the hotel and chilled/talked a couple hours. Spice, Colby, and Painted Sticks joined us. It’s really interesting to meet so many unique people.

I’m still dead tired - so I told everybody I was calling it an early night a little after 7pm. Party animal - right? That’s ok - I didn’t get much sleep last night - and I need to recover. It’s 7:45pm now - wrapping up the blog. Hoping to be sleeping by 8:30-9pm. We’re hoping to put a nice effort in tomorrow- possibly going over 20 miles. We’ll see how it goes.

The really bad rocks could start anytime. Hopefully we still have a couple days of OK terrain - but then the ankle twisting begins. Update on shoes - I still have both the Altras and Hokas — but the Hokas have been performing nicely the past 2 days. I put Dr Scholl’s inserts into them to avoid my ankle bone from getting bruised by the constant friction created by the side of the shoe hitting the ankle bone. This alteration has saved the day. The Hokas have significantly helped with the bruising and pounding my feet have been taking. The true-true test is coming up shortly

Goodnight from an AT iconic location! Charles Dickens stayed here - as well as other famous people. Here’s to cool weather and an injury-free day tomorrow!