It was a cool start to the day as the low as 42. Today is my last day of hiking. All of the walking on rocks has taken a toll on my feet and they just can’t do any more miles on rocks. Originally I planned to walk at least to Port Clinton and add miles if I could, as my flight leaves on Monday. I made it to Port Clinton - just no extra miles. I hiked 65 miles this past week and a day earlier then planned.. Considering it is part of the fourth most challenging section of the Appalachian Trail, I am taking it as a big accomplishment. When we got to Port Clinton we were looking for where Cabela's has a shuttle pickup so Julia could resupply, when a local saw me walk by and stopped us. He offered us free coffee, water, restrooms and charging outlets. It turns out it was Frank who owns the local barbershop featured in AWOL’s AT Guidebook. He said I looked pretty beat down, and that was probably putting it mildly. He referred us to an 82 year old shuttle driver named Steve who moved us to a different town so we could get a hotel room, drove us to Cabela’s, dropped us off at the 1787 Brewery in Hamburg and then picked us back up. He was a former hiker and big supporter of the hiking community. And a blessing. While in Hamburg we also walked to a second brewery, CopperZ (because I just had to get in a bit more walking). I got a head start leaving the second brewery and stopped at a Rita’s for a chocolate soft serve yogurt.
This was the moon at about 1:30 am.
This artwork was near Auburn Lookout along the trail.
Auburn Lookout.
Near the end of the almost two mile descent into Port Clinton. Impossible to get photos to show how steep it really is.
For a different perspective, this snippet from the Far Out App shows the descent into Port Clinton.
At the end of my AT hike (and the end of the descent into Port Clinton). The trail is directly behind me.
The barbershop keeps a running log of the hikers who come through. My note is on this page.
Our group with Frank, the barbershop owner.
My flight at CopperZ. At 1787 I had a pulled pork sandwich and a single local brew.
Adrian sent us this description of where we had just hiked. The description is no exaggeration. The one benefit to the rainy cooler weather we had is that we didn’t see rattlesnakes sunning on the rocks. Hikers have seen them under different weather conditions.