Date: 2019-06-29
From: Carlisle, PA (Bernheisel Rd)

To: Stealth campsite
Miles today: 8.1

June 29: We are back!! Today the girls drove us to Carlisle, PA and dropped us at the trail. We had planned to leave the house by 8am (Carlisle is a little over 3 hours from us), but didn't actually get on the road until 9. David kept saying "Let's just go out to breakfast and leave tomorrow. " I think the fact that he's become addicted to the Netflix series "Ozark" has a lot to do with it.I enjoyed the time to sit and read and got through two James Patterson books while home. On the trail there are folks that load books on their phone or bring their Kindle with them, but I honestly don't know when they find the time to read. At the end of the day I am ready to sleep! I have my addiction too though, i have to admit. I spent a lot of time tending to my farm on Townville. I asked the girls to make sure my animals are "fed" while I'm gone but I don't think it's a high priority in their lives. Lol!We found a smaller, less busy road that the trail crosses in Carlisle and we parked there. We said our goodbyes to the girls. Told them to text when they got home and waved as they drive away.Well started out walking through a field so that was a nice, gentle way to start our first day back on the trail in a month. One of the Cindys is not far behind so we will probably be seeing her soon. Diesel is also going to be joining us sometime in July so we'll have a tramily hiking together!There were a lot of wooden boardwalks and bridges to cross today. Of course, to welcome us back to the trail, it rained! It lasted about 30 minutes. We were able to get our pack covers on and then David held the jacket of my Frogg Toggs over the both of us. When the rain finally lightened up we started walking again. Within 30 seconds we came upon a beautiful stone bridge overpass! If we had kept walking we could have stayed under a nice dry bridge while it rained! Argh! We dis meet and chatted with Nate who was doing an overnight hike. He is also a member of the trail group that maintains the trail in this area.The rain finally let up and we hiked up to the Darlington Shelter and stopped for a snack. Nate was there and so was a flip-flopper named, appropriately, Flip. The shelter was really amazing. It had 2 sets of bunk beds so you didn't have to sleep on the floor. And let me tell you about the privy! It was a 2-seater and big enough to have a party in! The hole covers were nice wooden covers with handles on them. The door of the privy even had a crescent moon on it! Have I been hiking too long that I can get excited over a privy? Lol!After chatting for a while and enjoying our snack, we decided to try and make the next shelter (Cove Mountain). It was only 4:00.We hiked until 6 and David had just commented that he hadn't seen many stealth campsites, when we came upon one. My feet were beginning to hurt so we decided to camp here, 3.6 miles short of the shelter.We set up camp. David went back to the stream for water and met K-Town, who had camped by the water. After dinner, just as we got into our tent, it started to sprinkle. Then we heard thunder. There wasn't supposed to be anymore rain for the next 4 days.Even starting late in the day, we hiked 8.1 miles.