Date: 2017-04-02
From: Lisburn Rd. (southbound)

To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 22.6

This hike was long ¢ 22.6 miles ¢ and the most difficult of the three days of our last prep hike. So we got up at 5 and left at 6. It was very hard dragging myself out of my sleeping bag. I was cold overnight from not wearing enough layers inside my sleeping bag, and it was 35 degrees when I got up. I ate three of Tony¢s breakfast biscotti and then packed up. I couldn¢t bring myself to drink anything because it was so cold. (I was already somewhat dehydrated from not drinking enough the day before for the same reason.) I wore a lot of layers ¢ underwear, wool long underwear, long pants, fleece, down jacket, rain jacket, wool hat, and mittens ¢ basically, everything I had. Scott, Paul and I left together and were soon joined by Rennie and Patti.  The first part of the hike was through farm fields. As dawn approached I heard lots of birdsong: my favorite, the white-throated sparrow, rufous-sided towhee, and lots of other songs I didn¢t know. At one point when we were in light woods headed toward a field I saw something dart across the field in front of us. It was large but too dark to be a deer. When we got closer it stopped and faced our direction. Scott said it was an Eastern coyote. It was so big I would have taken it for a wolf. (I¢ve only seen coyotes in Arizona, where they¢re typically scrawny and about the size of a fox.) It ran ahead, stopped one more time, then darted into a wooded area in the middle of the field.  About 4 miles into the hike, the trail passed through the town of Boiling Springs. Scott, Paul, and I detoured to eat and take a bathroom break at a convenience store. We drank our coffee outside at a picnic table where three locals, one the mayor of Boiling Springs, were also having coffee. They told us some of the history of the place. An iron foundry made cannon balls for the Revolutionary War there, and a house in town was a stop on the Underground Railroad. As we left one directed us to ¢the Bubble,¢ one of the springs for which the town was named. From there we joined the trail beside an office of the Appalachian Trail Conference. The trail in town overlooked a body of water, on the opposite side of which were colorful old restored buildings. It was the first day of fly fishing season, and folks in waders were trying their luck. For once it was sunny. Hallelujah!  The men at the convenience store had told us that there was a good store for sandwiches at Hunters Run Road, 10.8 miles ahead. We decided to go there for lunch. The trail in between, however, was slow ¢ continuous ups and downs with no overlooks, in trail terminology PUDs (pointless ups and downs). At some point Scott got ahead, and I was again hiking with Paul. The temperature quickly warmed up, eventually to 60 degrees, and I began shedding layers and adding them to my day pack. The last to go was my wool long underwear bottoms, which I took off right on the trail. At this time of year there are no leaves anywhere, and except at shelters there¢s no private place to change. So Paul just walked ahead while I changed.  Around 1:00 we reached a place called a rock maze. At the top of a ridge, the trail was marked both in blazes and arrows. It directed us over and around rocks and through some very tight places. At one point we had to jump down about 5 feet, and I smacked my right knee quite hard on a rock beside where I was slithering down. We finally reached the crossroad to the store around 2:30. We were really dragging by then, so we walked the .3 mile there to try to rejuvenate ourselves. A burger, fries, and a Mountain Dew, although junky, hit the spot. We left the store at 3:00 feeling quite refreshed. We still had another 8.8 miles to go, so we hurried on the downhills and tried to keep the best pace we could on the uphills. In the last few miles there were more sections of rocks that we had to be cross very carefully.  We arrived at Pine Grove Furnace at 7:30 and headed for the Ironmaster¢s Hostel. This is a nice old mansion that¢s been restored and is used both as a hiking hostel and for weddings and other events. For $25 you get a real bed, a hot shower, and breakfast ¢ awesome! A shower never felt so good! I was clean and in bed asleep before 10:00. I later learned that Bill, Arlene, and Lizzie arrived about 11:10. I can only image how tired they must have been spending so much time out on the trail.