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1/5
July 19, 1983: I felt terrific as I followed the Appalachian Trail along streets through the town. Duncannon was a small city with a downtown business district consisting of a few square blocks of mid- to early twentieth-century buildings like the Doyle Hotel quickly giving way to tree-lined residential streets.
2/5
It was a fine summer day for most outdoor activities other than backpacking; the locals were out in force working on their homes and yards. They were among the friendliest people I have met on a very congenial trail. The people of Duncannon take pride in the fact that their municipality is the closest trail town to the halfway point of the AT, and they make a special effort to make backpackers feel at home.
3/5
The AT crossed two major rivers, the Juniata and the Susquehanna, on highway bridges along the roadwalk just past the town. The Susquehanna, in southern and central Pennsylvania, is a broad river with few bridges. The Clarks Ferry Bridge was almost a half-mile in length and packed with slow-moving automobiles belching more smoke and heat into the dead, sultry air.
4/5
Reaching the hundred-degree mark was going to be a cinch again today, if we weren’t there already. On the eastern bank, I had to run across a busy four-lane highway, US 22. The Appalachian Trail paralleled the highway and the river for a quarter-mile along a set of railroad tracks.
5/5
The air was becoming equal parts steam and thick summer smog, graying out the sun. It was possibly my gloomiest sunny afternoon on the AT. My good feeling was rapidly evaporating.
From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike). Available in paperback, audiobook and eBook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6
You can read or listen to my book for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited eBook or an Audible Plus audiobook subscriber. Both options are available from Amazon, where the paperback, eBook or audiobook can also be purchased.