June 13 - 22.8 / 1,207.2

I woke up from the 501 shelter and got ready. DS was up and gone. He didn't say goodbye or anything. I left the shelter with Fusion, and shortly after, we hit the PA rocks. I had always heard about PA being bad. Now I know the truth. It sucks! Most of the morning was either spent going over boulders or dodging small razor sharp rocks. Even if you think you are about to step on level ground you end up stepping on a rock and tweaking an ankle. In the morning, we also passed by a few weekenders out with their boys. The two men and three boys are planning to hike part of the Long Trail in VT later this year. This is just practice for them.

I had to take quite a few breaks during the day as my feet were killing me. During the hike, we met Traveling Astronomer. He was a really cool guy from MA that was SOBOing. He recommended a few places to stop at further north. I found out via a shelter log on 6/15 that he thru hiked the trail back in '85. He actually ran into Hobbit, aka Dick in a Box, who also hiked it then. How cool that each of them met up 25 years later and remembered each other from their hike.

As the hike went on, I came across some more trail magic in PA. I think all the trail magic is because people know this state is terrible. In a spring were about 40 soda cans. I grabbed a DP and Pepsi. They were from Fiddler who hiked the trail in '07, I believe.

After the break, I continued on to Port Clinton. The trail there was all rocks and my feet had had enough. I thought the decent into the town was going to be worse. Fusion was even told, "You fall, you die." I made it down without a problem. Fusion and Hopi were right behind me. As we arrived at the pavilion in to town, the Cabela's van pulled up. Turkey and Thrasher got out. Fusion, Hopi, and I jumped in. We ended up picking up DS, Castor, and Spatula as they were walking down the road. Shortly after we arrived at the largest Cabelas in the nation (that is a fact). This place was huge. I ended up buying new shoes from Vasque and some more socks. My Salomons were going to fall apart at any second on these rocks.

We all got a ride back to the pavilion and stayed there for the night. Also there were Turkey, Thrasher, Walking Man, and Grace & Glory.