Date: 2006-01-06
To: Prep Hike #8
Miles today: 0.0

01-06-2006 Friday Rt. 183 to 501 Shelter (9.3 miles)   We were on the road around 9:00 AM, DeJaVue had made plans to meet Doulous, (Tom Bowman) at the 501 Shelter. Doulous had hiked Ga-NH in "03" before his knees gave out on him. He lives up in the area of the 501 Shelter so this would be like hiking in his back yard.   DeJaVue asked if I was getting excited? I asked about what? He said the start of the Trail, my start date was getting closer and closer. I told him I would be more excited when I reached the summit of Mt. Katahdin, lots of people start the trail, not that many finish.    It was close to 12:30 PM when we called Doulous to let him know we were in the area, and would meet him at the 501 Shelter. He said we were closer then he was right now, but he would meet us there. As we got to the parking area in front of the 501 Shelter, only one other car was there.   A minute later a gentleman came N/B and was collecting trash. DeJaVue when to talk to him, and found it was Don Youngblood, the caretaker of the 501 Shelter. He told Don of our plans to hike from PA Rt. 183 back to the 501 Shelter and spend the night. Don said that if we wanted to, being we were the only other ones there, we could park one of the vehicles back in his driveway where it would be safer. There had been no reported problems out front, but better to be safe. Doulous showed up and we put his vehicle back in the driveway.   It was after 1:00 PM as we left the parking area off of Rt. 183 and hiked up to the trail. It was not a long walk, but you have to watch for trail crossing as it is not marked.   As we walking from the car, it started to snow, that makes the last three times that I have hiked that it has snowed, hope it is not a sign of things to come on my Thru Hike. We stated hiking south on the AT and soon crossed back over Rt. 183.   DeJaVue and Doulous caught up on old times as they hiked. They spoke of different people they had met along the trail and what they were up to. It was nice to listen to them as we hiked. Every once in a while Doulous would think of something that he had learned on his hike, and share his wisdom of hiking with me. Like if you get to a road and are trying to hitch into town and not much traffic is coming one way, cross over and go to a town in the other direction.    We got to a few overlooks and viewpoints, but with the snow, you could not see much. The trail seemed to snake back and forth in some areas and when I asked why? I was told that they were afraid that I might miss a rock or two, so they made the trail so I would get to see and cross everyone here in PA..    We were hiking along, keeping a good pace up. The temperature seemed to keep dropping as the snow continued.   We got to the 501 Shelter in 3 1/2 hours. Don was there to greet us as we got to the shelter.   He told us that we would have to use the winter privy, which was down a trail behind his house. He had marked the trail with reflectors if we had to use it at night. The 501 Shelter is unique in that it is one of the few four sided shelters on the AT.   The center of the roof has a octagon shaped plexiglass dome. Don said he had some old pallets if we wanted to make a fire, Doulous was looking around for a wood stove, but Don was referring to the fire ring outside.   We made dinner, and Doulous showed off his latest alcohol stove. He had made it with the larger cans, so it was more stable. My pocket rocket had no problem heating up my water. DeJaVue used his Whisperlite to heat up his water, and was not far behind mine. Doulous had to wait with his, but that is the cost of light weight. Even with the three different stoves going at once, did not seem to heat up the inside of the shelter.   DeJaVue was first to head out to the privy, and when he came back, he said that it was not worth the walk, that it was a distance from the shelter. It was now dark and even the skylight was snow covered, so soon we were all getting ready for bed.    Tomorrow was Doulous's wife birthday, so he would not be hiking with us, but would shuttle us around so we could have a vehicle at the end. DeJaVue set his alarm for 7:30 and as soon sound asleep.   I kept hearing a cell phone going off as I tried to sleep. I found out later that it was the alarm on DeJaVue's phone, he set it for PM not AM by mistake and slept thru it for a while.   The wind could be heard as it increased during the night. I went to get some water from my platypus, and it has started to ice up, so after I was done, I blew the rest of the water back out of the tube. The wind had now blown all the snow off the skylight and stars in the sky could be seen now. It was after midnight when I got the call from mother nature and had to take the long walk. I followed the markers down the trail behind the shelter and came to a crossroad. I did not see any reflectors to the left, in front or to the right. I continued ahead and soon came to a field. I could see something in the middle of the field and thought this might be the privy, it turned out to be a tree. I went back to the crossroad and then went down to the left, (right if coming from shelter) I then saw another reflector down this trail. The privy was nothing to write home about, it had no door and a plywood seat.   When I got back to the shelter, DeJaVue said he was just about to come out and look for me. Guess I was gone a bit long. Back into my sleeping bag and to sleep.01-07-2006 Saturday 501 Shelter to PA Rt. 443 (12.8 miles)   Up before 7:00 AM. It was cold, DeJaVue went to get a drink from his Nalgene bottle and found it was frozen solid. The water in his platypus had frozen in the tube, he had forgotten to clear the tube. Both Doulous and DeJaVue had said that they were cold during the night with their 20 degree bags w/liners. Doulous said he was glad that we were in a four sided shelter, rather then a three sided shelter. DeJaVue said he was not sure, the walls of the three sided are better insulated and the floor is solid in them. He could feel the wind coming thru the shelter all night. Doulous said that he knew a place near where we were going to drop off our car, that had good food and was the home of the ten cent cup of coffee. He did not get any arguments from us this morning. We packed up and walked the packs out to his van. Don came out to see us off and said it had gone down to about 10 degrees during the night, not including the wind chill. We thanked him for his hospitality and off we went.   We drove back to Rt. 183 to pick up the other vehicle and then drove towards Swatara Gap.   We stopped at Miller's Restaurant and had breakfast. Three large pancakes, sausage and OJ for me, the others had the 10 cent coffees with their meals. We were all nice and full by the time we left.    We drove past the old metal bridge in Swatara Gap to a parking area about a mile south. We left our car here and Doulous drove us back to the 501 Shelter.   We got started hiking around 09:00 AM. It was still a bit cold, but blue sky and sunshine.   This section has it own corp of rocks. We would hit an area of flat then back into the rock fields. We passed the William Penn Shelter about 11:00 AM and saw a nice size buck scamper off the trail and down the side of the mountain.   About 2 1/2 miles from the shelter we came to an camp area that was the site of an abandon pipe line. Only thing missing was a water source here. A half mile further we came across some Boy Scouts who were hiking to William Penn Shelter. They were collecting any and all trash they could fine as they hiked, as part of the leave no trace rule. They were from Daulphin County Troop 12.    We could see and hear the traffic on Rt. 81 as we were getting closer and closer to Swatara Gap.   I was hiking along when I heard a strange sound behind me, I turned to see DeJaVue laying on the ground. He claimed that one of the rocks had jumped up and tripped him. No worse for the ware, he got up laughing. We hit our first major blow down just before reaching Rt.81. The rest of the trail thru this section had been clear.   We got to the Waterville Bridge and had to walk past it to get to the ramp that lead back to cross the bridge. Took a brief rest on the other side and then started up out of the gap. Just up the embankment from Rt. 72 was a bench too.   A few more ups and downs and we were at the parking area and the car.   In all it was a nice couple of days of hiking and was nice to have someone new along.   Hope Doulous remembered to get his wife a birthday card.   We drove to Cabala's to check out their supply of hiking shoes. EMS & REI down our way both did not carry my size.   Cabala's had several hiking shoes and the first pair I chose they did not have a size 14, the girl said they had a size 15, would that do? I thought it would if I had size 15 feet, but I have size 14. I did find another hiking shoe that looked good and they had them in my size. Merrell Ventilator II fit and felt good. I figure that after hiking the last two days that this would be a good time to try them on. I know they say that for every pound you take off your feet, it is like 5 pounds off your back, so when I change to these I will be saving 10-15 pounds.   It was now about 4:30 PM as we left Cabala's. A Burger King was across the street and was my choice for something to eat.   A large chocolate & banana shake made the meal complete. We had not even hit the NE Extension of the Turnpike before I fell asleep. Stop & Go traffic going thru Philadelphia woke me up. When we crossed into New Jersey, DeJaVue said it was my time to drive and his turn to nap, guess things do work out both ways.   I will not be hiking next weekend as I will be helping out with a Klondike Derby. DeJaVue said he will plan another one for the following week. Guess he knows when it is going to snow again.