Highway 850 to Clark's Ferry Shelter

Day 10
Thursday, April 7 
Highway 850 to Clark’s Ferry Shelter
13.3 miles

As we were driving to the trailhead, Wait-up said he had been thinking of Psalm 23 and wanted to see if he could quote it.  We spent several minutes quoting it together and I looked it up on my phone to see if we had it right.   This scripture would soon prove to be comforting to me.    

We met Mike at 8:00 at Highway 325 and he took us to 850 to hike north, started hiking at 8:45.

 

We had heard bad things about the rocks coming down into Duncannon but they were not bad at all. They were actually rock steps all the way down. We went into the famous Doyle Hotel for lunch and had a scrumptious 1/2 pound Black Angus beef burger and sweet potato fries. The trail then runs along the street in town before crossing the Juniata River Bridge and the Susquehanna River along U.S. 22/322.

 

It took us 45 minutes to get through town, then 2 hours to get up the mountain 2.6 miles to Clark's Ferry Shelter. There was a large amount of boulders to maze through on the ridgeline before getting to the shelter. We arrived at the shelter at 5:00.  I immediately searched the register for any clues about the suicide and whether the body was found here at this shelter. 

 

Shortly after we arrived, a man walked up who was obviously not a hiker.  He carried only a water bottle and a camera.  He introduced himself as the President of the Duncannon AT Community organization and we began to talk about the recent suicide on the trail in this area.  I told him there was no mention of it in the trail register.  He was searching for signs of damage to the trail due to the ATV’s used to remove the body of the deceased.  The conversation developed into talk about a 25-year-old murder which took place at a shelter just south of Duncannon.  The Cove Mountain Shelter replaced the murder site, Thelma Marks Shelter in 2000.   

 

As we prepared for the night, I chose the platform on one side of the shelter while Wait-up set up on a platform on the opposite side.  He asked me if I felt I would sleep alright on the other side of the shelter and I responded affirmatively.  However…. In the middle of the night, I awoke in terror!  If thought I heard something, like someone breathing loudly outside the shelter.    I began to have tormenting thoughts about me being separated from my husband by middle expanse of the shelter floor and what would we do if someone came into the shelter right now?  How would we defend ourselves?   I woke Wait-up up and asked if he heard anything.  He didn’t. I asked him if he had the bear spray with him.  He did.  He went back to sleep, but I spent the rest of the night in my sleeping bag listening to the distant rumble of a train reciting Psalm 23 – “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.”