Date: 2003-05-29
From: Rausch Gap Shelter 

To: William Penn Shelter 
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: broken clouds

Aloha! Yeehawwwwwww! Say it with me. Yeehawwwww! Effective today, as of 1.1 mile before this shelter, I hit the 1000 miles remaining mark! As of this shelter I am now only 998.9 miles from Katahdin, Maine. Yeehawwww! Pretty cool, huh!   Right after hanging up with you last night we had a surprise arrival - Pathfinder. He appeared out of the rain in the dark of night with nothing more than a pair of shorts, poorly fitting shoes and his pack. One of the Lion Cub's original starting partners, he's also doing big miles - 28 yesterday alone. Another nice young guy (20 years old) with tales of the trail to tell. He was fun.   Besides meeting Pathfinder and the mile marker, today has been a day of UPs, downs, flat land, rocks, snakes and a bit of everything else thrown in. It's been a long but mostly decent day. Why don't I just tell you about it, shall I?   The morning portion was pretty awesome. Not only did the sun come out but also it stayed out all day long. My country path walk actually continued for a mile or so more and the dabbled sunlight through the trees made it even more pleasant. The trail crossed a stone bridge over Raush Creek and into the former Village Raush Gap (dated 1825 - 1910). During its peak population the village consisted of 1000+ people and specialized in coal mining and railroad equipment repair. With the mines not producing and the railroad moving its main operation in 1872, the village died a slow death. It seems to have taken everything with it too because there is nothing there now but an old family cemetery. Still, a pleasant meandering walk to start the day.   The mileage count above is based on the information from either the ATC's data book or Dan "Wingfoot" Bruce's book but I'm not sure how accurate it is in regards to the actual trail. Shown on the map is a "pending relocation" section that is no longer pending; it's in place. It's not bad either if you exclude the jets doing some type of maneuvers or the helicopters buzzing the treetops directly over your head.   Rumor has it that Camp David is located somewhere close which might explain all the air traffic. Maybe I should stop in and chat with the President about the noise. Yeah, right. Anyway, after that it was your normal walk in the woods. Nice!   Not long before lunch I had another first for this trip. My first big stream crossing. This constituted taking off the boots and wading across. Too much rushing water. Thigh deep at parts, it was somewhat of an exhilarating crossing. Partly for the adrenaline fun rush of it all and partly for the rushing water - it was cold! But all in all it was fun.   The last of the morning brought lunch with Quasimoto while sitting on the Waterville iron bridge above the Swatara Creek. The bridge, also known as the Union Canal Bridge, was built in 1890 and relocated here in 1987. It is being meticulously maintained with no rust and fresh paint. Nice spot for lunch.   From that moment on my next 2 hours was hell. After crossing beneath I81 the trail went UP. Not a horrible UP but not a pleasing UP either. It went UP and with it went my blood pressure. "I thought I was going to die!" Maybe it's because this was the first time without the cooling misty rain or maybe because cardiovascular I still suck but for whatever reason the mountain was pure hell for me. I huffed and I puffed and I moved ten feet. My legs felt like lead weights had been attached. I almost began to wonder if Quasimoto had added a rock or two to my pack! Everything weighed a ton. And I mean everything! Needless to say I finally did make it to the top. I really don't know if it was the heat and humidity after all this rain or just lousy cardio. A major dash of Gatorade to my water seemed to help. As did hitting the top and flat land but that's beside the point.   Along the way this afternoon I had the opportunity to add new critters to my critter count. Besides the normal array of squirrels and chipmunks I also get to add a startled deer to the list. Earlier in the day I saw deer tracks but nothing of the deer. The afternoon brought me startling a deer from her afternoon nap. She did stay long enough for me to chat with her briefly before moving on into the woods.   The second critter sighting came as I was walking along listening to the bird songs. A strange noise attracted my attention off to the right. (I stop at all noises.) Lo and behold I thought I was witnessing one very large black snake with two heads! That obviously wasn't the case. Instead it seemed I interrupted two amorous black razor snakes! When I realized that they weren't going to coil up and rattle their tail I stayed to watch. Such a voyeur! What I learned is that no matter how busy two snakes can be they will still try to get to you. As I moved to one side to take a picture they moved in that direction also. Thinking that I was in their path I moved another way only to find they followed. As they did on my third move. With each move they moved closer. I did take pictures but I'll be honest, if you can't see them in there somewhere - tough. I wasn't going, or letting them get, any closer! You'll just have to believe me that they were about four-plus feet long, black and were having a good time until I came along!   Upon my arrival here this afternoon, Quasimoto was packing up to head on over to the next shelter. I opted to stay so this was Quasi¢s and mine final aloha. (Didn't I say that last night?) As I've said many times, he's a super guy and was a pleasure to spend a couple of shelter nights with. Hopefully we'll meet again in the future.   Also here this evening is a south bounder called Beast of Burden. As always, another nice young (29 year old) guy walking to see his sister in North Carolina. He thought about taking a bus but a walk sounded so much better. I certainly agree. Especially since he makes a great campfire!   We did have a couple join us for about an hour or so just to talk story around the campfire. They hiked out of here and back to their car after dark so I'm hoping that that means the rocks are nominal tomorrow. A cute couple that has just quit their jobs to go have their own Grand Adventure by rock climbing the big ones out west - Yosemite and such. Excellent for them. I wish them complete success.   Alrighty then... it's late and I can barely keep my eyes open. Combine that with the moth that won't leave my headlamp alone and whatever it is scratching on the outside of the cabin wall and running across the top, tells me it's time to turn off the light and hunker deep down in my bag. Let's hope that only moths make it to the upstairs portion of a two-story shelter! (Yes, I'm sheltering again.) So for now and until tomorrow night, enjoy the journey. I sure am!BS&T: hot, humid and UP = lots and lots of sweat!A&Ps: surprisingly none. Even the feet feel good.M&Gs: bugs/gnats that dive-bomb your ears for miles on end. Grrrr.... and waah!Critter count: 2x large black razor snakes, 4x chipmunks, 1x squirrel, and 1x startled deer