Date: 2015-07-07
From: James Fry (Tagg Run) Shelter

To: Scott Farm 
Miles today: 22.3
Weather: scattered clouds

I was up early and on the trail as there was a very long hike between shelters. The trail was nice and I came to the bypass to the Rock Maze, which I took and skipped the Maze because of my shoulder. I found that there wasn't any climbing afterwards and that I would have been fine, which saddened me. The trail into Boiling Springs was fairly easy and fast. I passed by a new thing to me. Farms owned by the Appalachian Trail! I walked a good way around the corn fields run by the conference and filled up on berries as I went. Just across a bridge over a stream there's the remains of a steel mill, all that remains is the chimney of the forge. Looking at it I saw a groundhog, living in a hole in the stone structure and I gave it a handful of trail mix and snacked while it ate the treat. Walking on a trail along a large pond, I stopped at the regional AT HQ to charge my devices and check it out. I walked across the street to the post office where my trail angel - Lady Unicorn, had mailed me a food drop from her supply after she had to leave the trail. She sent me homemade dehydrated food along with great prepackaged snacks. I had to throw away the Walmart boots as they were destroyed, but luckily I found a heavy duty pair of leather boots that I thought would take me all the way to Maine, but would wear blisters to build up calluses required to wear such a heavy pair of boots. This was the second pair of hiker box shoes that were my size in a row! (True Trail Magic as they were also the only pairs of boots in the hiker box!) I packed up and hiked on towards the Scott farm where I hoped to be able to cowboy camp for the night. Walking out of town I passed by a walled and private cemetery which looked ancient. There were many rock walls along the trail and an eerie cemetery right off of the trail with a wrought iron fence. At a parking lot after crossing a road I found 2 packages of Knorr Side dishes as trail magic! I tucked them in my pack and then hiked on. There was a great distance that camping wasn't allowed which really sucked. The trail was a narrow corridor of woods between farmlands on both sides. In a field before the railroad crossing, I saw a group of rabbits that watched me and posed for pictures. The foliage created a dark tunnel at the end of the field, looking like a menacing cave waiting to swallow unwary hikers! I was tempted to cowboy camp under the railroad bridge but a train and it's deafening roar disabused me of that notion. The trail goes through a real tunnel at one point and passes the frame of an abandoned vehicle and a tree with a knot that looks like a keyhole. It was getting towards dusk and I was tempted to cowboy camp under the I-81 overpass but decided to press on through the cow pastures and into the woods. I was exhausted and overshot the farm by .8 miles and believe that I saw a ghost on the way. It was about 10:00 at night and pitch dark when I came upon a man sitting on one of the wooden bridges across a stream. It was strange as he was wearing casual clothes and didn't have a flash light. He called out letting me know he was there as to not startle me and I said "Hi!" He seemed sort of odd like he didn't belong out here and I got a weird feeling near him. I crossed the small footbridge, checked my gps and realized that I had passed the bridge to the farm earlier, I turned back and the man was gone! I saw no lights or heard anything. There was only a foot under the bridge so he couldn't me hiding there and were no side trails! He had just vanished! I didn't see him again or even footprints as it had rained and my were the only footprints that I could see. I figured that it had to be a ghost! I found the place where I had missed the turn at the bridge and was soon at the farm. There were no lights on in the farm house so I didn't want to bother them by knocking at such a late hour. I was so tired that when I reached the Scott farm I washed up at the pump and cleaned up myself and my clothes.(Sure enough I had blisters on my heels from the new boots but other than that they fit well and were looking good.) I cooked dinner which consisted of a Chicken Knorr side dish and a package of Spicy Chicken Ramen noodle and olive oil. I ate at the picnic table, and had a well deserved and needed safety meeting. Everything ached from the long hike but the medicine soon kicked in and I was feeling better. I just threw down my sleeping bag on a platform of planks under the overhang of the barn and went to sleep.