Date: 2007-06-18
From: PA61

To: Rte 183
Miles today: 15.1

Monday, June 18, 2007PA61 to Rte 183, 15.1 miles, north to south.Hot overnight. I can¢t sleep. We¢re a little late getting underway today.Steep up. Humid, a thick haze covers everything. Air is close.Hello to NOBO Green Hornet.Hello to NOBO Beach Bum from King¢s Grant, Virginia Beach. He lives about 7 miles from Purple Rose!Hello to Stretch! I met her April 12 with Memere and Gray Feathers back in April on Big Bald. She¢s got the nastiest case of poison ivy behind her knee. The flesh is bubbled and very inflamed, almost necrotic. She¢s going to have it looked at in Port Clinton or Hamburg. She was wearing Crocs back in NC, now she¢s wearing sneakers and has cut little holes in the shoes beside her little toes, ¢for air-conditioning¢.Hello to NOBO¢s Pony Whisperer and Alpine.Hello to Mountain Goat! She¢s hiked in on a side trail from Bloody Springs Rd. She¢ll hike with us back to another side trail, farther south, that leads back to her car.Hello again to Toto! Hello to Symbol. They are slack-packing with Dragonfly and Spunky, who I met June 20, 2006. All of us chat for 10-15 minutes.Not to miss Stubble, who's behind Toto, we eat lunch sitting on a log at the side trail to Eagle¢s Nest Shelter.Hello to NOBO Wolf, from Hastings-on-Hudson, started March 30. Wolf seems a little worn down today. It¢s hot.Hello to NOBO¢s Yorkie, from Yorkshire GB and to Knifey-Spoony from Bristol GB.Hello to NOBO BBBBeat Box, started March 17.Hello to 2 local men who hike 3-4 times a week in the area, 15 or 20 miles each time. They warn us to watch out for rattlers. There was a black rattler across the road. Also in Plot 23 ahead in a rocky area there¢s a rattler den.Hello to NOBO Dude.Hello to NOBO¢s Packrat and Lucky, 2 brothers from Tampa, who I met April 12. Stubble¢s ahead of us. You missed him, they say.Not sure how we could have missed him since we didn¢t leave the trail at all today.Hello NOBO Stubble!!! After seeing Toto, I was hoping to see you too!   Stubble is behind Packrat and Lucky because he took a wrong turn and got off the trail for a mile or 2 in a poorly-marked section. His wife Diane is coming to meet him at Wind Gap and they will slackpack together for 3 days. He hasn¢t seen her for 6 weeks and is really looking forward to her meeting him at Wind Gap. He wants to hike part of Maine and summit Katahdin with his sons, who won¢t be free to do it til the middle of September. He¢ll have to figure out how to slow down or take a break so he¢ll finish at that time. I¢ll let them carry my pack, he says.Now I get lost. Don¢t see a blaze. Walk back. Here¢s one. No other one for a while, but nowhere the trail could go other than where I¢m walking. OK, here¢s a blaze. Good.Purple Rose, Zig Zag are ahead, they walked on while I was talking with Stubble. I¢ve lost time walking up and back. Gotta hurry to catch them.Hello to a young couple out hiking for a week.Hello to NOBO¢s Yard Sale who I met April 12, Waffle, wearing a little umbrella hat, and The Mystery Chicken.Hello to Scott, Phil and their dog Libby.Hello to NOBO Bonnie Carolyn.Catch Purple Rose and Zig Zag just before we¢re out.Tonight as I lay my head on one of the down pillows, I feel something sharp, like a blackberry thorn. I brush it away. I lay my head there again. It¢s still there. It doesn¢t brush away.What?Turn on the headlight. A bristly caterpillar! Probably in the car since the Catskills.