Derrick Earls, More Heart than Scars tackle the AT together and in Spirit!: August 2014

Day 65, July 19, 2014

26.2+ AT miles. My first marathon ever. Completed in approximately 10 hours. Boiling Springs, PA to Duncannon, PA. Overcast weather. The breakfast at cafe 101 was imperative to me completing the marathon.

I heard guns booming all day. It was great to hear our 2nd amendment right being expressed freely.

I stopped and fished for an additional hour at a pond on a farm. Only caught a small brim. Unable to land some nice bass.

Made it to the Doyle, Wild Card bought me a beer. I took pictures with IHOP, the Queen B**** (owner of hostel) and Wild Card. Played some pool and enjoyed time with fellow hikers.

The Doyle is a beautiful place that could use some work. The showers are communal and your expectations of housekeeping should be low.

I spent quality time with great hikers. We passed out around 11 p.m.

Neat flower bud.

Boom! Raspberries.

Nice PA farm.

Fly fishin in the pond.

Boiling Springs showing love when I returned from fishing in my sandals. The fly fishermen were kind men and left these worms in my boot. Flashback.

Sunfish.

Delaware Water Gap, PA.

Day 64, July 18, 2014

I packed my gear and went fishing for most of the day again. However, I was unsuccessful in landing any trout early in the day. My phone took longer to charge than I anticipated and I ended up taking another zero. Why not, it was beautiful here!

I was offered trail magic of beer, tons of new flies and lures. The trout fisherman were nice gentlemen!

Caught a 10 in. brook trout.

I stealth camped on the guzibo by the lake. It was surreal.

Camp.

Awesome conservancy project.

The "run."

Fly fishing at its best.

Boiling Springs Lake. Every lake should be this clean!!

Take 2.

Big trout.

Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

History.

History takes 2.

Brook trout.

Day 63, July 17, 2014

Zero.

I slept in til 10 or so and went fly fishing all day. Boiling Springs, PA is known for it's world-renowned trout waters. I caught a knotty head, small brim and an 12-14 inch brown. The brown trout was an exhilarating fight for about five minutes! Another neat thing was that there were raspberries everywhere along the trout stream. I got my belly full!

I Took a bike down to Kerns grocery. The ATC let me borrow a bike to ride a mile. The chocolate milk, fried chicken and yogurt were amazing. I didn't have my pack and didn't think about a spoon for the yogurt. I used my chicken wing bone as a spoon. That is just part of being a thru hiker :). Use whatcha got!

I called it an early day around 8 p.m. and got some rest.

Oh yeah, the train definitely awoke me several times throughout the night, but I loved it. Also, my ankles and feet were able to get some amazing therapy in the 53+ degree trout water. It felt like I was icing my legs all day :)!

Knotty head.

Huge trout feeding in the clean spring water.

Raspberries!

Nice brown trout.

Take 2.

Day 62, July 16, 2014

12 AT miles.

We hiked into Boiling Springs. Tuna and I did sprints for about 100 yds and completed 15 of them. What a picturesque cloudy day.

Pizza was amazing at Anile's ristorante and pizzeria. I split a large with Tuna and got a cheese steak sub to go. The fellow hikers I was with hung their cell phones from the exit sign outlet to charge them. Anile's also took our 6 pack of beer that we bought from the bar and served them to us free of charge in cafeteria cups. They were extremely kind to us!

We stayed at the AT hiker campground in a back area of a corn field. There was a nice large handicapped porta potty to use the restroom as well.

FYI. PA alcohol laws are rather different. Beer can only be bought at the bars. They limit you to two six packs and then you can walk out the door, drop them off and come back for more. Also, wine and liquor must be bought at a distillery. Thus, no alcohol at gas stations or grocery stores.

We called it an early night.

Previous nights shelter.

James Fry the night before.

Nicest mouse food hang I've seen thus far in a shelter.

Train! Climb it!! I got stung by a bee running through the field to get to the train :(.

Everyday is leg day on the AT!

Miss post earlier. This is the rock maze in PA.

Climb!

Tuna acting cray!

Boom!

World Cup 2014! Go USA! Tim Howard beast like!!

Tuna up ahead.

Beautiful! Grass hoppers galore when you took a step. Hundreds moved out of the way while taking a step.

Mother Nature.

Boiling Springs, PA. Veteran memorial.

Tuna a veteran, honoring a Medal of Honor recipient.

Boiling Springs history.

The main Boiling Spring. Together with several springs, they pump 26 million gallons of water out daily. Unbelievable.

Hiker trash at the pizzeria. You got electricity? We have phones that need charge :).

Large pizza.

Tuna and I like Peter Pan.

What should I take from this resupply? Food is heavy... I only need 3 days... What can I give to others? The post office drop package dilemma.

Day 61, July 15, 2014

11.9 AT miles.

Some days wanting to complete miles overwhelms the mind. Today I'm grateful to say I'm glad I slowed it down.

The morning was foggy and humid and my bag, pack cover, boots and clothes were wet. I had a pair of socks that were mostly dry, a soaked pair and a completely dry pair. It's always a good idea to keep a pair of clean/dry socks in the bank! I opted for the mostly dry pair and hung the drenched ones on my pack. I put on dry clothes and quickly switched to placing my previous days wet clothes before departing the shelter. If I would have placed dry clothes on, they would be wet in a matter of minutes. They were slightly cold but I began walking. My body heat warned me up and I made it to the historic halfway point. IHOP and I posed for a picture.

We arrived at Pine Grove State Park ready to conquer the half gallon challenge. I arrived and my group informed me their was one left. I thought they were joking and sure enough there was only one Coconut half gallon of ice cream left (-a pint) left. The prices were reasonable and I ordered two burgers and fries. I got me a $.75 nest tea out of the vending machine. This was around 10:15 a.m. We waited for the AT museum to open at 12 p.m. and it was worth the stall.

I spent an hour or two in the museum and it was remarkable. Benton MacKaye, Myron Avery, Ed Garvey, Grandma Gatewood and Gene Espy were amazing pioneers. Their stories each phenomenal and exceptional to the history of the Appalachian Trail.

After we toured the museum the Hershey Ice Cream truck arrived. I had approximately 9 miles to hike and begin processing my options. I quickly realized hiking would be horrendous after eating that much ice cream. We did some estimations and quickly realized it was approximately 2-3 cups of sugar, 2400 calories and overwhelming amounts of lactose. Your pancreas would be extremely upset with you as well. We also realized that the typical family ice cream which they were selling as a "half gallon was a pint short. They are 1 and a half quarts. Needless to say noone went back for the extra pint! The ones who participated were great sports. Most finished.

I walked my remaining miles and arrived at 5 p.m. I picked a top bunk at James Fry Shelter. Relaxed and completed chores. Another fire and beautiful evening.