Date: 2005-07-01
From: Shelter, Alec Kennedy Shelter

To: Tent, Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

Today was part 2 of troll's most embarrassing moment. We were at the ATC center in Boiling Springs. I went next door to the outfitter to look for some supplies. Guess who was manning the shop. He asked me "where's the bearded man in the kilt?" He tells his co-worker "yesterday I was climbing such and such mountain when William Wallace jumps out from behind a rock and yells at me. I about had a heart attack." Of course I made Troll go and talk to the guy.    Boiling Springs looked to be a cute little town with good ice cream. We had homemade orange-pineapple, ginger, and raspberry. A lot of water goes through the town. We saw a duck couple with 11 ducklings.    We did a lot of field walking today. Luckily it was overcast most of the day. We would have baked if we had been in the direct sun all day. Even so the heat and humidity was pretty brutal. I snacked off and on all day. I sampled mulberries and blackberries. I saw some cherries but could not reach them.      There was a long stretch without water today. But some wonderful trail angel put out a cooler of sodas, on ice. That certainly came at just the right time.    Tonight we had trail magic at the shelter. Beatbox ('04) and Indie (?) brought up a small cooler in search of Socks. The cooler had sodas, fruit, doughnuts and ice cream. Beatbox had been hunting Socks. She gave him trail magic last year on his hike. She actually had him spend the night at her house and met him at Katahdin and drove him back home.         While we were talking, we started talking about trail magic in general. If you read Wingnut's book, you know his opinion on "trail catering". Jerky boy. Since we left Harpers Ferry, we had trail magic several times from Popsicle ('03). She was out doing a section with a friend and got hurt. So she started leaving a Styrofoam cooler with ice and sodas at different trailheads. She would retrieve it and any trash each day and move the cooler onto a new location. I certainly appreciated it. I know that those crazy fools doing the 4 state challenges were really happy to see that sugary calorie laden liquid. She wrote her name on the cooler and other folks wrote their thank you¢s on the cooler. When she got better she stopped doing the trail magic and went back to hiking. All good things must end. She was at Boiling Springs today where she got a lecture. An idiot ridge runner had seen the cooler and had been offended. It was ruining the nature experience for everyone because the cooler had (gasp) a Wal-Mart logo on its side. Yes, they were aware that she has a lifetime membership in the ATC and is a former thru hiker, but she needs to be more considerate of other people's nature experience. What a crock! If helping bring a smile to another hiker's face is being inconsiderate sign me up.   Tomorrow Troll heads out early for Duncannon. He will try to get to the post office prior to noon. Oblivious and I will follow shortly behind. We will be staying at the infamous 100 yr old Doyle Hotel. I think it is all of a 1/2 star hotel.   Take care and we will see you on the trail.