.October 17, 2005
Well, this is my first day with clear blue skies. Unfortunately, it is my last day of hiking and this section of trail has just one scenic overlook. Although there has been a lot of rain the last 8 days, I still had a great time and I am looking forward to one last day of hiking before heading back to work.
Lynn dropped Snoopy and me off at Route 183. There wasn't much to see the first few hours and then we came upon a junction with the Sand Spring Trail.
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Shortly after this came the junction for Eagle's Nest Shelter. It was .3 miles off the trail so I bypassed it. Today's trail was mostly flat but I did have one short steep section to climb. You can barely make out Snoopy in this picture, but he beat me to the top of this stone staircase.
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I came to Auburn Lookout where I stayed several minutes to enjoy my last scenic outlook of this vacation.
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Then I began the very steep descent down to Port Clinton. It drops close to 1,000 feet in about half a mile.
Lynn had planned to hike part way in to meet me. I warned her that the map was showing the trail was very steep. When she got there, she took one look at what she had to climb and decided to wait at the nearby picnic table where she met two brothers.
"I am waiting for my husband," she said.
"Where did you drop him off?" one of them asked.
"Route 183"
One of the men whipped out a map to see where I was coming from.
"Here he goes," the other brother said, "He loves to study maps."
"I know," said Lynn, "I'm married to a man like that."
"When are you expecting him?"
"Four o'clock."
"No, I doubt he could be here that soon."
"Well, he has been pretty punctual with his time estimates so far."
"Maybe, but I don't think he could travel that far yet."
Unaware of the conversation that took place moments before, I finished the descent and came into Port Clinton three minutes ahead of schedule.
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I walked over a bridge and part way through the small town.
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The trail made a right hand turn down one of the streets. I touched the telephone pole which had a double blaze on it and decided that was as good a place as any to stop. I'll be back in the spring.
Before leaving town, we stopped at the Appalachian Outfitters which is only two blocks off the trail.
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This is a great resupply point for hikers. I bought some more maps so I could start planning next years hikes. I also picked up "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Great book.
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