Date: 2006-06-27
From: William Penn Shelter, PA

To: PA 183/501 Shelter, PA
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: moderate rain

Today takes the cake for worst day on the trail. I¢m sure you can guess it has something to do with the weather.In this sort of weather, you really need to try to stay at shelters, even if you wanted to do more or less miles. In many sections, shelters are 6-10 miles apart, so it's reasonable to do two shelters a day. Also, it spreads us out a bit and there's room for everyone. However, here they've been 13-17 miles apart, so it's really a push for the next shelter and there likely won't be room for you when you get there.Now that that's clear...my options this morning were 4 miles to the next shelter, or 19 to the second one. I had an awful 4 miles. The trail was flooded again, I was getting a painful rash from my skin being so wet all the time, and I took a face plant into some mud. When I got to the shelter, Old Drum commented that I'd gotten pretty muddy, and I started to cry! I took some time at the first shelter, regrouped, and considered taking a nero day of 4 miles. But the rain had lightened up and I was still stuck on reaching a certain spot before Leon visits.So silly girl, I headed out at 3:45 with the intention of tenting after about 10 miles so I could make it to town the next day. It started raining at 7. Not a light rain, not just water falling from wet trees, but a bone-soaking rain. The trail was a river, shin-deep with other rivers flowing in and out of it. All of the normal spots I would pitch a tent were pools, so I walked off the trail to higher ground to see if pitching a tent was possible. My feet sank into the ground, it was so saturated. It occurred to me that I¢d be hiking all night because there was no chance to pitch a tent, and town was another 16 miles away!I was getting pretty scared when Mercury showed up. I pretty much attached myself to him; I really needed someone to be with me. This guy is crazy...he started in May and planned to be done by August! His initial suggestion was that we hike to town together, but I told him I wouldn¢t make it. We walked on, the water up to my knees. So Mercury is in a rush to make miles, I¢m just stubborn, and it got bad enough that we decided to hitch at the next road (Thank God there was a road!). I think our fear was that soon the water would be past our knees...rising to our waists, and we¢d drown and wash up downstream. Really, I felt almost claustrophobic with nowhere to go. Also, we were concerned that a descent would create a raging river and we¢d be bushwhacking for miles.I really thank Mercury for staying with me. I stuck out my thumb, a soaking wet hiker at dusk, and got the first ride that came by. Maryanne brought us back to the shelter I¢d been at earlier in the day. Even on the ride back, we had to take different roads because everything was flooded out and you could see the water level above peoples¢ basements. It reminded me of the flooding in New Hampshire last fall. Apparently they have shelters set up for evacuated people in towns, and I was stupid enough to hike out into the woods.I¢m happy to be in a shelter, even though I probably don¢t have a chance at drying out for days.Chardonnay