Date: 2005-12-03
To: Prep #5
Miles today: 0.0

DeJaVue woke me at 4:00 AM for our drive to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. It only took me a few minutes to load up as my pack seems to always be packed lately. One good thing about getting on the road at this hour is there is not much traffic.   We got off the PA Turnpike onto Rt. 11, the Carlisle exit. Drove up to the Middlesex Diner for breakfast. I had the meat lovers omelette and orange juice, good size portions.   The trail crosses over Rt. 11 about .03 miles north, so I will have to remember this place when I hike thru here. I also noticed that there were several people here all decked out in the color of the season, ORANGE!, must be deer season.   Stopped at the Ranger's Office at Pine Grove Furnace State Park and left a note with the info requested for those parking at the Park, and hiking the AT.   DeJaVue put his cell phone number down too, but not sure how good his reception will be.   Rode by the store and thought about the Half Gallon Challenge. I hope the variety of flavors improve from what was there in October when I stayed at Iron Master's Hostel. I learned that Iron Master's Hostel was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Pat the caretaker was very friendly towards hikers. I was thinking of stopping in, but DeJaVue just kept on hiking, can not give him that big a lead. We are hiking south to Birch Run Shelter today.   Seems like as with all my hikes, we started with an incline. Another bright and sunny day, but the forecast is for snow overnight. We had hiked only about a half mile when we heard the fist shots echo thru the hills. As we started our decent we came across a few hunters standing on the sides of the trail. Rifles with scopes, so if they take more than one shot to get the deer, the deer should get a free pass, only seems sporting. Crossed over the first stream we came to, and the slot seemed to be spaced far apart with a 4 inch gap. came up to a road in the State Park and trail follows it for a little then back off and past some old ruins. It was only one side of a wall left, and appeared to be from back in the 1800's. Guess it was part of the Iron Works in the area. Back on to the road and we turned left off the road onto a forest service road. This road lead all the way back to Toms Run Shelter. This shelter is maintained by the PATC and they seem to do a very nice job. There are two shelters here. The trail leading up to the shelter was a little flooded as was the trail leading up to the privy, may be part of a spring. Read the journal entries as I had a snickers bar. Seems like a lot of Boy Scouts use this area from the entries. Passed by an old chimney and the dirt had covered up the bottom part. All that is left of an old homestead I presume. Crossed over a new looking bridge over the stream just past the chimney. Started up the trail on the other side and soon found water flowing down the tail, another stream trail, but the ice made is more challenging. It was cold enough that ice was forming in the tube of the platypus. DeJaVue said that if you blow the water back into the platypus that is would not freeze up in the tube, I tried this, but with an internal frame pack with gear pressing up against it, I would have to huff and puff and still not get it in. DeJaVue still uses an external frame pack, so it is easy for him. This area in general is not too hard of a hike. The trail seemed to level off a bit before we got to Shpipenburg Pike. It was just after noon and we only had a little more then a mile to go.   Got to Birch Run Shelter at 12:30 PM. This is a larger shelter with a covered deck out front with a table. Two sets of bunks on each side of the entrance way, and a upper and lower bunk across the entire back of the shelter, room for eight. Bunks were wide too, I put my pad down in the center and had 8-10 inches on each side. I think this was just finished being built in the fall of 2004. No one else was at the shelter and I changed out of my wet clothes into so warm and dry clothes. We started a fire, and collected some firewood. The wind seemed to swirl around the fire. Several day hikers stopped by and came and warmed up by the fire. I was out collecting firewood when I notice that I had changed out of the orange that I was wearing, so I started to sing. Hope the hunter know that deer don't sing, at least not this bad. DeJaVue went to get firewood next and was not gone long when a shot rang out and very close to the area he had gone. Hope he did not scare a hunter. He came back a few minutes later and said that he did not see the hunter, but was not staying around to see if it was him he was shooting at, orange on and all. As we were standing around the fire, DeJaVue reached into his pocket at one point and found a pair of ear plugs. He tossed me the package and told me it was for when the Boy Scouts came, so I could sleep.   Had lunch of tuna with relish (packets from rest area on turnpike) on tortilla shells. The shells tasted too floury, found a small branch and then cooked the shells over the fire, much better taste.    It was just before 4:00 PM when the Boy Scouts arrived. I asked DeJaVue how he knew that the scouts were coming, but he just laughed. There were about 12 of then and they were on a shake down hike. They had been dropped off at the parking area at Shippenburg Pike and hiked the mile to the shelter. Most were setting up tents, and a few asked if we would mind if a few came into the shelter with us.   Once they had their tents set up, they went off collecting firewood for their own fire.   Keeping an eye on the sky, could tell that the snow was coming.    I would have to say I made dinner, instead of saying cooked dinner at 5:30. Freeze Dry Stroganoff, just add water and wait. Darkness has closed in around us and the wind continued. Ate dinner by the fire. Swirling wind kept the smoke changing directions, but felt so good. Thought back to the Trail Mix and a statement that Circuit Rider had made about only having two campfires during his Thru Hike. Will have to keep count when I do the trail. DeJaVue said he had more then two, but several were just for bug control.      It was about 6:30 PM when we started to get ready for bed. The Scouts were now using the table to cook their dinner. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard one Scout telling the other to keep quiet, saying the hikers are going to sleep,      Swirling wind brought snow into the shelters entrance and covered the deck and table. I had to get up to answer mother nature and not sure that my crocs were the best choose for footwear here. As I got back into the shelter, one of the youngest scouts said "Mister, my socks are frozen." holding out two frozen socks. Told him to put them under his pad, they may not dry out by morning, but they would not be frozen, and easier to park.   Up at 6:30 AM and to about an inch or two of snow. Breakfast was oatmeal and hot chocolate. Packed up and ready to hit the trail before 7:00 AM. We were going to hike to Rt. 30 just past Caledonia State Park and then hitch a ride back up to Iron Master's Hostel. Not the best of days to try to hitch a ride, so we decided just to turn around and hike back to the car, about the same distance anyway. Said our goodbye to the Scouts, and let the Scout Master know that the Scouts in the shelter did live up to the Scout Law, a Scout is Courteous.   The fresh snow and lack of hunter behind every other tree made for a very nice hike. We did not even get to Shippenburg Pike before we were peeling layer. Could see deer tracks as they crossed the trail. Rabbit, squirrel, and racoon tracks could also be seen as we hiked. Stopped several times just to enjoy how quiet it was. Had to be careful at spots as the water on the trail yesterday was snow covered ice today. Some of the trees looked funny, as if they had hair, the way the snow and ice clung to them. We got to Toms Run Shelter in no time. We followed one deer that seemed to be following the trail for over quite awhile. Did not see any deer, but imagine they were a bit shy after yesterday. When we passed by the old factory ruins and came out onto the road again, we started to follow fox tracks. He seemed to be crisscrossing the road as he went. When we got to the bridge with the wide slots, we notice that a racoon had used the bridge to cross the stream too. A short distance from this bridge we started to see deer tracks along the trail, and they seemed like some type of dog size and pattern tracks started to track the deer. They were over top of the deer tracks and keep on following it for a quarter mile at least, then both sets went off into the wood. Not sure if they have anything larger then coyotes in this area. When we got to the top of the last ridge, DeJaVue noticed he had a voice mail, When he listened to it he smiled, then held it up so I could hear it. " Rich, Ranger Dave here, just wanted to know if you need me to come dig you out this morning or if you would just want to meet for breakfast, It got kind of cold up in those mountains last night. Well see ya." He said he thought it was nice that the Ranger was checking up on us. We were coming down the hill to Iron Master's Hostel, when I told DeJaVue that I was getting hungry. He said he was thinking of stopping at Cracker Barrel on the way home. He was surprised when I picked him up, pack and all and said well lets get going then. Food is a motivating factor for any hiker.   Back at the car, we were clearing off the snow, when the Ranger went by and waived. DeJaVue decided to drop off a thank you note at the office for him. Called SONGBIRD to let her know we were on our way home and told her about the phone message. She laughed and said DeJaVue needs to play the message again and listen to the voice. Turned out to be on of his friends named Dave who was just messing with him, Hope the Ranger got a laugh out of the note, thanking him for the offer to come dig us out, and that we would take him up on the offer next time.      Back to Zoo Joisey and day dreaming about March 14th and the start.