Date: 2007-06-17
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I had things packed up and was ready to hike at 7:30 this morning. The Boy Scout Troop was also leaving as I filtered a couple liters of water to carry on the trail. There was also a family camping at the shelter. I was the only thru-hiker there.The day started with a 1,000 foot uphill climb to Pulpit Rock. There was a good view from there. I took a break there and met a day hiker who was getting in shape to hike up Mt. Rainier.The trail leveled off there with only small uphill and downhill sections throughout the day. I walked out of the woods into an open grassy field and took another 30 minute break. I stopped for lunch at Eckville Shelter. It was a couple tenths of a mile down a paved road. There is an old house there where the caretaker lives. The property is owned by the park service. The shelter is a enclosed shed with 6 bunks and there is a flush toilet and shower in another building. I cooked half a package of peas and carrots with a package of Easy Mac for lunch. It was pretty good.I checked my trail journal guest book and saw Beershake had left me a message. He wasn't feeling too well back at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. It turns out that he picked up Lyme Disease from a tick bite. He will be off the trail for a couple weeks. I sure hope the ticks don't get me. I can't afford to loose 2 weeks and finish in time to return to work, before my leave of absence turns back into a pumpkin.I am doing very well these days. My legs are feeling great with none of the pains I struggled with the first 500 miles of the trail.I crossed paths with another rattle snake today just after Balanced Rock. I was walking on the trail when I heard the now familiar rattle. I looked down and saw the snake about 2 feet in front of me just to the left of the trail. I stepped back and the snake stopped rattling and proceeded across the trail. At one point it was behind some brush and I wasn't sure where it was headed, but it wasn't interested in me. This was the largest rattle snake I have seen. It was about 4 to 5 feet long and its body was about 3 inches in diameter. I captured him on video. I will upload it one of these days when I get to a good computer. I met a couple day hiking a section of the trail this afternoon. They live in the area and are hiking sections of the AT in the area. The guy is planning to hike the AT in 5 or 6 years after his daughter goes to college. They had lots of questions about thru-hiking and I had lots of questions about the local trail section.I seem to have hiked myself into another thru-hiker void. I didn't see any other thru hikers from the time I left Port Clinton yesterday until Ninja showed up at this shelter at about 8 this evening. I think I have seen her a time or two before, but had not met her before this evening.I was reading one of my guide books and realized I missed the Sunday night music and dinner at the Blue Mtn B&B. It is just 4 miles past this shelter. It was too late to make it there by time I read about it. I could have pushed harder and not taken such long breaks today, but I enjoyed my day just the way it was anyway. I got water from the spring and washed clothes in my folding nylon fabric bucket I bought in Front Royal. I generally try to wait until I get to town and machine wash my clothes, but I didn't get laundry done in Port Clinton. The clothes were getting very grungy even by thru-hiker standards. I have a pair of wet wool socks on now hoping to dry them out on my feet overnight.I am having a great hike. Only 948.5 miles left until I reach the top of Mt Katahdin!