Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000
Subject: AT Update 6/20

Greetings from Mount Holly Springs, PA:

Not much new to report since my last message from Atlanta.  The ride from there to D.C. on Greyhound was a "trip-and-a-half".  No wonder people who have the money, fly.  I arrived back in Harper's Ferry in the evening of the 14th and walked to the nearby hostel.  Had a dinner of catfish and peach cobbler at Cindy Dee's diner.  And the next day I was back on the trail.

The weather has been overcast, hot, and humid.  But it's been polite enough to rain mostly at night after I've reached a shelter.  And the good news is that with all this rain, my fears about the springs along the trail in Pennsylvania going dry have proved needless.  (Aren't most fears that way?)  (Well, Pennsylvania is also famous for its nasty rocks and rattlesnakes, so perhaps I should still be wary of those.)  Today, the weather is great for hiking, so of course I only had to go 3 miles to get into town.

So far the trail through Maryland and up to here has been relatively flat and easy.  For not being very high up, Maryland even offered a few nice views, when the fog thinned out around midday.  Tomorrow, I may have to go 23 miles to get accross the mostly developed Cumberland Valley to reach the next shelter.

I have met several people that I recognize from the Southbound leg of my trip.  It's nice to think that I'll be seeing them again from time to time as we move along.  But I still feel inclined to go at my own pace, so right now they are about a half-day behind me, and will probably pass me today while I linger here in town, tasting the delights of civilization.

Speaking of tasty delights, I passed the halfway point (1080 miles) yesterday near Pine Grove Furnace State Park and I valiantly met the "Half-Gallon Challange".  This tradition impells one to consume a half-gallon of ice cream at the half-way point in your hike.  (I think the guy who started this tradition is the one who sells the ice cream at $5.75 a pop.)  I've licked plenty of ice cream in my day, and I'm proud to say that ice cream has never licked me.

Right now I am sitting in the town Library, stinking like a dead fish, waiting for a room to be ready at the M.H.S Inn so I can take a shower.  This is probably not the best way to establish good relations with the community.

Times up, gotta go,