Date: 2011-06-16
From: Tagg's Run Shelter

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 12.0

OMG - and the saga continues.It started as a cold, wet day. All night the tree we were sleeping under kept sprinkling water on our tent. It was just a teaser foretelling what was to come. We knew we had 12 miles to do to make it to our B&B reservations so we got up at 6:00 to get ready. It was almost painful getting up so early with it being so cold. I made it, but not without trying to be sneaky and climb back underneath the sleeping bag. Brandon caught me and said, "Don't climb back under there." So, I played it off. Of course I wasn't going back under the bag I don't like being cold. I slept great last night. I finally figured out how to sleep on that sleeping pad. I have to sling my legs over the top of my pack and bend my knees. That means I have to puff my pack up give it enough body to support my knees. That seems to work. Well, we got out of camp at 7:50. We made it to Boiling Springs at 4:00. Yes, we walked all but 20 minutes of that, which was for lunch. It started raining not long after beginning, maybe after the first 2.5 miles. At first it was light so we just enjoyed the sprinkles. Then it came heavier. It started coming through the canopy so we put our pack covers on. We enjoyed sloshing through puddles and mud. Then it got so bad we had to put our ponchos on. Which was still okay, we were still enjoying it. Then we came to the heaps of boulders. This is where my day turned. Some of these things were too big for me to get on top of, Brandon had to hoist me up so I could get a footing. Even then I had to crawl up. I had 2 pretty big falls today on those boulders. The first one I ended up with my feet in the air and my head on the downward slope of a crevace between two boulders. I was more scared than anything.The next was when I slipped on a wet boulder and ended up on my back sliding down. When I finally stopped, my back felt like I had wretched it. Brandon helped me up. When he went to help, a muscle on my side just rang out in pain. I kept walking and it seemed to work itself out. Well, after that, Brandon went down the boulders first and helped me. I wouldn't have made it without him. I left a lot of my DNA on that mountain. Well, we came out of the woods and crossed several farmer fields. It is amazing to me that the AT goes right through the middle of people's farms. Amazing.Wade and Abby left camp after us this morning and passed us up. I am beautifully slow. I don't mind being so painfully slow because I am doing it at a pace that works for me. That means protecting my toes. We have 14 miles tomorrow. Our biggest day yet. Yes, it will bw slow after the first 11 miles. The first 11 miles are more fields and flat lands. Then we begin a huge climb up. We are at the Red Cardinal B&B. It is a cute house nestled between farmlands. Very nice. Went to a laundrymat to do laundry. We put it in then walked across the street to a family run restaurant. It was gooooood! No, I'm not telling you what I ate. I did have my salad though. Got to see my little Aspen. Sue brought him out for us. Wish we could have played outside with him. I love him so much. I didn't want to let go of him when saying goodbye. Brandon made me let go. He was right. I had to let go. I love you little lovebug! Alright, I am so tired. Good night everybody.Thank you Sue for bringing our food out to us for the next week, and for our Aspen visit.