Day 57: William Penn Shelter to Port Clinton, PA (27.8 miles)

July 8, 2004 - Wow, what a thunderstorm last night. Right after I finished cleaning up from dinner it started to rain. It was a good thunderstorm that lasted till 8 am. Let myself sleep in. After the rain stopped the sky cleared and it was a beautiful morning. Hiked the 4 miles to the 501 shelter which is a 4-sided building with a shower and you can stay and order pizza. Got there and 6 hikers were still around at 10. They said it was a full house of about 20 people. Good thing I decided not to move on yesterday. Got a shower. I really needed one, then headed back north. Was making great time after taking a shower. I always feel a lot better after a shower. I caught up with the guys I met at the 501 before lunch. They seemed to be surprised to see me so soon since they left the shelter 30 min before I did. Ate my peanut butter sandwiches for lunch at 2 pm and left at 2:30 pm. Hiked over more rocks, so many rocks in PA, but kept my 3.5 mph pace. Surprised that I could do that going over all the rocks. Passed about 15 thru hikers today, must be getting close to the big groups. I was planning on heading to Port Clinton for the night. There is a spring 4 miles before town. Ran out of water 2 miles before the spring. Got to the spring very thirsty, but saw it was steep hike down to the spring and far away so I decided to just tough it out and head on to Port Clinton. I made it down to town but my mouth was so dry. Got water as soon as possible. I’m staying at a camp ground here in this small town of Port Clinton. The campground is owned by one of the churches and lets hikers stay here for free. It was a big pavilion to eat in and sleep if you don’t want to pitch a tent. Not sure if I will pitch my tent because I’m feeling lazy, but if the bugs are bad I’ll have to. 27.8 miles for the day. I passed the 1200 mile mark today, so less than 1000 to Katahdin.