Date: 2021-05-05
From: Wolfsville Rd, MD 17

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: light rain

First successful hitch hike First fording of a river. First item lostFirst Tahquamenon sightingSo I took my fourth taxi/Uber in two days back to Ye Olde Poste Office in Smithsburg only to strike out again: no package. They had one more delivery to check in so I waited in the lobby as it rained. About 5 minutes later I see a hiker walking up to the door. She went to the counter and picked up a package that had been sent here for her. New shoes. I was happy for her. Ecstatic.  Giddy even. I revel in others triumphs. As long as one of us had new shoes I was content. This is fine.  But really, the poor lass came in wearing her camp shoes because the shoes she had been hiking in were too small and she had the sores to prove it. I bestowed upon her my hard won knowledge of all things Smithsburg and she went on her way. Last delivery checked in: no package. They checked my tracking number again and it still showed the box was in Baltimore where it had been since Saturday. They kindly offered to forward it up trail once it arrives, but when questioned they said it would have to be routed back through the Baltimore hub I gave them my cell number and they¢ll call me when they have it so I can decide what to do.It was about this time I realized my glasses were not in there spot on the outside of my pack. Back at the hotel as I was leaving, another guest had run into me with one of these suitcase caddies you see at hotels. His was so loaded he didn¢t see me in the vestibule. Thinking back, I wondered if they popped out there. So I called the hotel and they did have them turned in at the desk. They are mailing them to me (uh oh) about 90 miles up trail to a spot I picked. Here we go again. So please forgive any grammatical errors or misspellings for the near future. My phone is a little...fuzzy. So, time to head out for the 2 mile road walk back to the trail. About one half mile in at a road crossing I saw a handful of nails in the road. 30 seconds later, I turned around and walked back saying to myself ¢clearing those out of the road will put some good karma into the world.¢ So that¢s what I did, collected them up and put them off the roadway. Not 1/4 mile later a Ford Ranger was coming down the mountain and slowed, then made a u-turn. Up pulls Slippers! I hadn¢t seen him since Shenandoah! He¢s been using his truck (stored at his brothers place near Harpers Ferry) to slack pack the last few days with Sweetcorn. He said: ¢need a ride to the trail?¢ I said ¢does the post office have my package?¢  And off we went and he dropped me at 11am. Too cool. The rain had stopped by now but was failing heavily off the trees. The birds were all in full throat after the storm and the woods were lively. I saw two new flowers - wild geranium and pink lady slipper. Then I met a SOBO section hiker named Sugar Bear and chatted with him for a bit. It was very nice to be walking back on the trail after almost 48 hours.About an hour later a came to a rain swollen creek that had spilled its banks pretty significantly. Sugar Bear had said he was able to ford across, so I waited 5 minutes just to watch and make sure the water level wasn¢t rising precipitously. Once I felt sure, I used my trekking poles and legs to slowly cross the knee high creek, always keeping three points in contact with the creek bottom. Then about 30 minutes after that I got caught out in a 15 minute deluge of rain. It hit so fast I didn¢t even have time to grab my rain jacket. At least my shirt and shorts now matched my socks and shoes.Just after the rain a saw a Tahquamenon (Chipmunk, in the common tongue) sitting on a fallen log, regarding me with what I read as indifference. We just looked at one another for a few beats, but as soon as I made a move for my camera, he was gone. Chipmunks don¢t cotton to the paparazzi. Three hours and one long and tricky boulder descent later and I crossed the Mason/Dixon line into Pennsylvania. Two states now completed.I intended to hike about 14 miles on this short day, but then I arrived at the target shelter at 6 pm it was very, very sketchy to my eye and there was nobody there. Just a lot of non thru hiker trash in the fire pit. No bueno. I kicked into my fastest hiking gear and made for the shelter were I am right now which was another 4 miles up trail. Though I couldn¢t find quite the right trees from which to hang, so I¢m making the best of what I gave here. Said hi to some thru hikers I haven¢t yet met and crawled into my less than ideal hammock hang. I hope to get good news on the morrow about a certain package from a certain post office. But if I don¢t, so be it.