It was a gorgeous morning! We got moving earlier than normal. Our goal was to leave around 8a. After a visit to the privy, we were leaving at about 8:30a. The privy was probably the best yet. It had it’s own toilet paper and the rolls were even on dispensers! On the outside door there was a doorbell. Inside, they mounted a light switch, which obviously wasn’t hooked up to electricity. Written on different ends of the switch were the words “solar” and “lunar”. On the door the maintenance club wrote, “Phi Beta Crappa” or something like that. There was a sense of humor to this shelter area and it had me cracking up the whole time we were there. I like it when people don’t take themselves too seriously. It makes it a whole lot more fun for everyone else!
We hiked about nine or ten miles this morning to the road crossing that would take us to town. It was 12:45p(ish) when we arrived there. It took probably fifteen minutes before someone stopped to give us a ride. They were actually heading the other direction and were willing to take twenty minutes out of their day to take us. It was incredibly kind. The couple was from Pennsylvania and were heading to their sons place for the holiday weekend. They stopped because Warthog apparently looks like their youngest. Their son is named Sean Patrick – same as Snow Monkey. Oh, and she is a nurse – same as Wonder Woman. The husband has section hiked Pennsylvania with his son. We asked how long we have until the rocks start. He said maybe one or two days. Bummer. Well, we knew we had to go through them at some point.
They dropped us off at Walmart and gave us their phone number should we need anything when we get up into their part of Pennsylvania. I told them they were welcome to come out and join us for a few days if they’d like.
In the same parking lot was a pizza place and frozen yogurt shop. Our plan was to eat pizza first, resupply, then end with froyo. That way we don’t over buy in Walmart. It worked. Warthog and I left the pizza place with rolling guts so we certainly didn’t over buy on food. Even with the gut bubbles, we still went and grabbed froyo. I was excited for it because it’s something Warthog and I will often do at home. It was also Snow Monkey’s first taste of froyo. While we were walking into the building, an older gentleman called Warthog over. He asked if we were hiking the AT. Warthog said we were. Then he proceeded to talk about how he section hiked it in the 1960’s – well before the trail was even close being popular. He certainly wouldn’t have had as easy of a resupply route. Not to mention the gear he had must have been at least five times as heavy. I hear about people like that hiking the trail and I’m always really impressed with their accomplishment. They had so much more against them than we do now.
After froyo, we walked back to the street and threw our thumbs out. A man in a van picked us up and took us back to the trail. He was a kind man. He asked us all kinds of questions and told us about his daughters who are grown now. One is finishing nursing school, the other is coaching college volleyball. One of my favorite things about this trail is meeting people and learning their stories, if for no other reason than to realize that we are all so much more similar than we may think we are.
Doug dropped us back at a state park. It took off less than half of a mile from what we were supposed to walk. I thought about going back to the busy highway and hiking that .3 or .4, then I decided that it was a bit much to do that. I know we’ve hiked that in extra distance just to overlooks and back. That line of thinking works for me. For others, they have to go back. They want to be sure to hit every single blaze. Then there are the ones that might skip huge sections and still call themselves thru-hikers. That’s why they say, “hike your own hike.” Everyone does this differently. At the end of the day, it’s just you that you have to answer to.
Before hitting the trail again, we grabbed water at the park. It was a rough climb immediately out of the park. We summited it like champions. I was actually really starting to get nervous about it. It was tough, but not horrible. Which surprised me considering the temperature was in the 90’s.
After two and a half to three miles, we hit the shelter. Some said it is supposed to be the nicest shelter on the AT. It was beautiful. We decided to take a quick break and while we were there looked at the weather. The sky was rumbling as if a storm was coming, but it was all blue. Sure enough, the radar forecasted some storms. We hunkered down in the shelter until it had passed. By then, it was after 7p. We still hoped to get in around five more miles for the day, making it a 9:30p arrival. Plus, we still had quite a bit of an uphill push to go! Toying with the idea of staying and leaving early tomorrow, the group finally decided to push on.
The next two and a half to three miles went by quickly. It was still almost 9p when we hit that point. We had another two miles until we hit the campsite with water. We were stopped at a campsite and decided to stay because it was so late already. That put us at 15.5 miles total for the day. Considering we fit in a resupply, we were very happy.
A quick dinner and fast camp set up, it was 10p when we were ready for bed. Tomorrow will be an early morning. We hope to hit the trail by 7a. Blah. But… if we do, that means we’ll get to a hiker feed at a local park. Free food? That’s the only motivation a hiker needs!
-ansel