Date: 2005-05-25
From: Pine Grove Furnace

To: Boiling Springs
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: overcast clouds

start: Pine Grove Furnacefinish: Boiling Springs miles: 19.4day: 79The beds at Ironmasters suck.  I want my Bears Den bed back.  Or a nice soft spot in the forest.  Or a hard shelter floor, even.We got sort of a late start today.  Tea Break made us all a cup of tea.  He also finished his ice cream from last night, for a total elapsed time of almost 12 hours.  Surely that must be some kind of record?  I ate my 4 leftover pizza slices.We finally got hiking at 9:15.  The morning was cool and overcast, not quite raining.  We hiked for a short way before coming to the "halfway marker".  It was at the halfway point when it was constructed in 1985, but trail relocations have moved the true halfway point to where we celebrated yesterday.  We took a few pictures here and moved on.  I wasn't inclined to dawdle since we wanted to hit the PO in Boiling Springs before they closed at 4:30.  I took off up the hill.  By the time I looked back Goldilocks and Tea Break weren't in sight.  I hiked the 8.5 miles to a road crossing and walked up to a gas station and bought a soda.  Moving on from there the trail changed, going over and around some car-sized rocks.  It was tough to do 3 MPH through here.  When I got to Whiskey Spring Rd. I filled up water at the piped spring and ate some pepperoni, an avocado, and 2 turnovers.  I kept hiking, wondering where the other guys were.  Eventually Goldilocks caught up with me at about mile 15 or so.  He said that Tea Break got off the trail back at the road with the gas station.  Apparently he was having real trouble with shin splints and was moving very slowly.We walked the rest of the way into Boiling Springs.  About 2 miles out we came out of the woods into farm fields - flatness everywhere.  Not a mountain in sight.  Whoa.  We walked past a pretty little trout stream partially fed from the huge springs that just well up out of the ground around town.  22 million gallons per day of crystal clear water.We stopped at the regional ATC office and saw Tea Break's pack.  We left a note saying "Gotcha again!" and went to the PO where we sent our food drops home, as we won't need them.  We pick up more food in Duncannon tomorrow.We ate a good Italian meal at Anile's, and some cheesesteaks.  It's good to be in cheesesteak country.  Tea Break came by and filled us in.  He ended up getting a taxi to town after failing to hitch (hard hitch, or just 'cause he's a furriner?).  He ran into Team Vanity who temporarily had wheels and they all went to see the new Star Wars movie.  Tea Break's really been wanting to see that.  I wouldn't mind seeing it on the big screen myself, but it may be out of the theaters by the time I'm able to go.  Team Vanity's dropping him off in Duncannon tonight, where tomorrow he'll begin making his way to Costa Rica.  Not sure where we'll see him next.  I hope his shins heal up quickly.After this we walked over to The Garman House B&B, where hikers can tent in the back yard for $1.00.  The only other place to camp in town is right next to busy train tracks.  And no camping is permitted along the AT for the next 14 miles or so.  This place worked out quite well.I just wonder if they're going to leave the big light on all night...Into Duncannon tomorrow.