Date: 2017-06-13
From: Foxville Rd

To: Rocky Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 23.4

I started my morning off with a shower (showering daily is a very nice perk of normal life) and then headed out (in my car). I grabbed breakfast at a diner with Classy during which we got to catch up on recent happenings over the past 3 weeks after the end of her LASH (Long Ass Section Hike).After breakfast I went food shopping, realizing upon arriving that I had no idea where my next resupply would be. Glancing at AWOL, there were towns I could resupply at almost daily, so I just grabbed some food (since most food comes in fixed sizes, ie 8 granola bars per box, 6 oatmeal per box, etc) and a couple dinners and called it good.While home I had made a couple minor gear swaps... I got a new food bag (same model) since my current one had 4 holes in it and wasn't really waterproof anymore. I traded my raincoat for a light weight shell since I hadn't used the rain jacket in a couple weeks and only wanted a windbreak layer. I also got rid of my old peanut butter jar water scoop and cut the bottom off my old smartwater bottle to use as a scoop.The weather this weekend had been in the mid 90s each day which was bad enough in the modern world with AC, so I was very glad to have not been on trail this weekend. Today was supposed to be the last day in the 90s and then it's supposed to cool down a bit, which will be more bearable. This weather is good motivation to get farther north where the summers are cooler and less humid.I got dropped back at the trail at 1pm and headed out, unsure of how far I'd end up going today. When I got dropped off it was 91deg, and I was sweating even before I had walked away from the car. Yay summer...I headed uphill from the road and after a couple miles came to Raven Rocks (which didn't have much of a view) and then the shelter, which was super nice. It had stained hardwood floors, a fire pit with benches, a covered table, and even glass windows on the second floor. I cooled off for a few minutes before moving on, the rest of Maryland was all downhill from here!I stopped at high rocks and admired the view, both of the landscape below and of the layers upon layers of graffiti which covered every rock and tree in sight. There are some downsides to places being road accessible...The downhill to Penn Marr park was pretty rocky, which slowed progress, but eventually I arrived and took a bit of a break, sitting in the pavilion and watching the landscape. Unfortunately the concession stand was closed today, so I couldn't get a treat, but fresh off my long weekend I wasn't dying for one either. Though the park had water I didn't bother filling up since I probably wouldn't like the taste and there was a steam coming up shortly. A hiker was bringing his buddy who had apparently just finished the 4 state challenge and was extremely dehydrated some water, but he was well looked after so I moved on.Just down the hill and across the train tracks I came to the MD/PA state line marking the completion of my 6th state of the 14 total. I crossed the Mason Dixon line and moved into PA, finally in the "North"! The afternoon was still scorchingly hot, so much so that even the stream that I drew water from wasn't very cold. I crossed PA16 and after a little while longer came to a multitude of blazes pointing in non-sensical directions. I got a bit lost for a second before managing to find a blaze correlated with the actually path worn into the dirt. I noticed that most of the blazes we're a bit messy... it looks like someone painted gaps in the tree's bark with a white substance (perhaps to protect them from insects or something?). With more careful inspection it's not hard to distinguish real blazes, which are rectangular and at eye height, so I continued on.I stopped at Deer Lick shelter and had my lunch at 5pm while I chatted with some section hikers tending their fire. I also figured out why AWOL had started pluralizing "Shelters" and indicating a capacity of "2x4" in the guide... This shelter was actually 2 small shelters side by side. Neat!I moved on, the next couple miles coming easily. I stopped at Antietum shelter to get some water and accidentally slipped into the stream while filling my Sawyer bag... I mean, decided to cool my feet off by stepping in the stream. Whoops. At least my shoes will dry as I walk. I headed up to Tumbling Run shelter and stopped in to talk to Ontario and Goddess, who I had last seen halfway through Shenandoah, for a few minutes. This shelter was setup similarly to the last, 2 shelters side by side, but at this shelter one building was labeled for snorers and one was reserved for non snorers. Now that's useful! I was kinda at an awkward milage... 29 miles to Pine Grove Furnace and the half gallon challenge, which was a very long day. If I did a shorter day I'd hit the park early in the morning the next day and I had no desire to eat that much ice cream for breakfast. Doing a couple more tonight would put me in range of the park tomorrow, so that's what I decided to do. I tanked up on water for the night, there was no water for the next 7mi if I wanted to camp and the next shelter's water was 0.5mi downhill anyways. Heading uphill with full water was definitely harder than with a lighter pack, but not as bad as it had been climbing up the Chestnut Knob shelter for whatever reason. I stopped at Chimney rocks and chatted with Gotcha, an injured thru hiker turned section hiker, for a couple minutes and enjoyed the view. It wasn't spectacular, just eastward over to the next ridge, but with the exception of the rumble of a motorcycle in the valley before it was peaceful as the sun started to set. I had some dinner and then reluctantly moved on. I was tempted to stay here, but the 1.3mi I had hiked didn't really improve my milage situation and it was supposed to rain overnight which would obscure any stars I might see and sunrise tomorrow. At 830pm I hit the trail again, headlamp at the ready. I managed to hike until about 930 with the fading light of day before the risk of tripping on the rocky trail became too great and I had to turn on artificial light.As they always do, the miles seemed to pass slower in the dark. After passing a road I found myself in a relatively thick bank of fog, surprising since the temperature hadn't changed or anything... Until I realized that I was walking through the remenants of the dust cloud left by the headlights I had watched drive down the road a couple minutes before I had gotten there. I crossed another couple roads before heading up onto another ridge which pretty quickly became unpleasantly rocky (though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised with a name like Rocky Mountain). As I walked I ended up scaring off a couple of... large things... which I didn't linger long enough to identify.I finally reached the shelters a little after 10pm and since the tenting area wasn't immediately obvious (in the pitch black, anyways), I decided to just sleep in the shelter tonight. As quietly as I could I had a quick dinner and setup my gear in one of the shelters next to the other occupant before dropping off to sleep.I did trade a few texts with Lookout today. The original plan was that, since both Lookout and I would be off trail for similar amounts of time, we would hike while the other was off trail and hopefully end up relatively close to each other when we both got back on. Well, for whatever reason, Lookout didn't make very many miles while I was off trail this weekend and tonight I'm only about 3mi from where he got off trail for the next 5 days, which means that by the time he gets back on the 18th I'll be 80-100mi ahead of him. That's a lot of distance, so if we meet back up it probably won't be for at least a couple hundred miles, so for now I'm solo (but not alone, not even if you only count people I already know, as meeting up with Ontario and Goddess earlier today should demonstrate). Should be an adventure... I'm not entirely sure who's in front of me, so we'll see who I meet/catch up with!