Date: 2014-07-12
From: Deer Lick Shelters

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 23.2
Weather: scattered clouds

I was up and out of camp before anyone else was stirring, about 6:30. I like to hike while it's cooler and the birds are talking to me. If I can get 10 miles in before noon it makes my afternoons less stressful. I got to the Old Forge Picnic Grounds, a lot of nice campsites. I got to the second shelter pretty quick but then I had a long uphill climb. It was early but it was humid and I was soon soaked through again. It has been like this since Memorial Day and will probably last until I get to New England. I went up on Chimney Rocks but the rocks themselves were better than the view. I ran into Dos Equis when I came down and he said that him, Rocky, and Sweet Tooth stayed at the last shelter last night. The person that takes care of the shelter even brought up drinks and apples last night. I am catching up to people that I figured were way ahead of me after taking two days off. I crossed US. 30 and briefly thought how easy it would be to hitch a ride from here to my Mother-in-laws house probably an hour away. Freddie probably wouldn't recognize me when she answered the door anyway and I really needed to be hiking. It didn't take long to cover the 12 miles to the park. I followed a nice stream into the park and found that a craft fair was going on, tents and booths everywhere. A local church was selling food so I had a sloppy joe, cheeseburger, and a Pepsi. Later I found a booth with Amish baked goods and bought 4 caramel sticky buns. I ate 3 and gave one to Rush, a hiker from the Seattle area. He was wanting to hike all the way but felt that he would be going home soon for family reasons. Lucky me, my family says that they wouldn't come and get me even if I wanted to go home, I had to finish this hike if I want a ride. I talked to Serenity for a while, she hiked the whole trail in 2012 and was giving me plenty of encouragement. I filled up with water and left the park, following a green tunnel of Rhododendrens in full bloom as I hiked up. They were also there on the hike into Caledonia State Park, I felt like I was back in the southern states again. I stopped at Quarry Gap Shelter run by Jim Stauch, twin shelters joined together with a picnic table in the middle. They had wooden raised platforms for tents and flowers and things to make you feel at home. I met Bethany and her family hiking for the day. She gave me a bag of treats and I told her that was called Trail Magic and that people that hand out Trail Magic are Trail Angels. I took her picture and said that I would put it in my trail journal and she could go online and look at it.The family was asking me questions about my hike just as people had done earlier in the park. I finally had to go and thanked Bethany again for the goodies. I had thought earlier as I left the park with all of the people cooking food everywhere nobody offered me Trail Magic and then I get to the next shelter and Bethany brightens my day. The next 7 mile hike takes about 2 and 1/2 hours and I am done for the day. The Birch Run Shelter is empty and I have the whole thing to myself. Birchy, the trail maintainer for the shelter shows up and introduces himself. I think he actually named himself after the shelter. He is camping across the stream with some other hikers and I go over later for a Mountain Dew. Balou and Axman are camping there and Dos Equis, Rocky, and SweetTooth are close to the shelter. I did some laundry and took it easy since I got done earlier than usual.It felt strange having the whole shelter to myself although I did hear a few mice during the night.