Date: 2018-05-04
From: Waynesboro, PA

To: North
Miles today: 25.0

At 6:00 a.m. we waited in line for the Continental breakfast.  As I took in my first mouthful of Raisen Bran, in walks a thin gent in silk shorts, tie, and straw fedora hat, who queries, "Does anyone know hikers named Bob and David?"  We said, ¢Yes, sir, we will be right with you.  He said, ¢Eat up,boys, day light is burnin and adventures await you!¢ ¢Naw,¢ he said, ¢I¢ll be out in the car.¢  Roger was a gracious fellow who enjoys doing his lift service with wife, Francis.  We hit the trail at 6:36 a.m. with a goal of water at a spring in Old Forge Picnic Area.  When we arrived, a sign on a building read, ¢Year-Round springs flow from a pipe."  But it was dry.  So, we saw a building with a parking lot and thought it must be there.  As we began to walk, a gentleman leads out and asked, ¢You lost?¢  We tell him we guess so as can¢t find the water.  He directs us to go to the next shelter about a mile on that has a good stream there.Yes, we were lost but not anymore.  Found Tumbling Run shelters and a Katz-look-a-like who greets us with, ¢Glad to meet you.  My name is I Don¢t Care. I¢ve been here since yesterday afternoon.  You¢ll see there is a big hill up ahead and, you guessed it, I don¢t care to climb it.¢ We laughed!Felt good to put feet up and eat fresh fruits from the first day on the trail.  Must get rid of it and pack right, you know.  We went on and about 16 miles decided to soak our feet in a clear, cool, fast flowing stream.  Up walks a hiker we recognize from Day 1 who had hike it half way last year before throwing in the towel but back again.  We call him Anchorage.  He says, ¢Hi Guys!  Where you headed?¢  We told him, ¢North.¢  He said, ¢Nice shelter up ahead but big hill before it.¢  We thanked him for the intel.  He said he was slack packing (day packing) and had been dropped ahead and would be picked up for lodging that night.  We trudged on, chins up, facing a steep ascent of about a 1,000 feet in 3 miles.  We reached the shelter, out of gas.  The phone mileage app read 19.5 miles.  It was around 4 p.m., so we lit the ever-new, alcohol heet burner stove and ate beef stroganoff by the stream.¢Should we go on?¢ we asked ourselves.  The answer was, ¢WWRD?¢ = What would Ray do? Ray is a textbook author on lightweight backpacking whom we use as our mentor. Neither David nor I have ever distance packed anywhere! So, we trust Ray Jardine¢s advice. He described a hiking method called ¢pyramid hiking¢that describes eating the big evening meal earlier (around 4 p.m.) and then hike more before settling in just before dark.  David and I agreed to do it that way and go on after having been energized by the food.  We set up camp later when we find spring water about 5.5. miles up the trail.  Thanks to Ray¢s Way, we put in a 25-mile hike and rested peacefully to the sounds of children playing at dusk.   This must be our style.  We go out and give her and then rest.  They say that everyone has to "walk their own hike".  Everyone is different.  This pyramid style works for us, plus by building in a reward system, knowing there¢s a nice place up ahead waiting just for us -- keeping that goal ahead -- we can go out and eat up miles! We¢ve already chewed up 5% of the trail! Pretty happy. No cell service from the campsite that night.