Date: 2018-05-07
From: Pennsylvania Maryland Line - Waynesboro, PA

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: mist

Bite me got up and left at 8 o¢clock this morning. I also saw Wind Eagle who is having trouble with her right shoulder blade. I gave her a couple of devices to try that I¢ve been using to loosen up my muscles. She felt a little better after that and hit the trail I ran into Chattacoochie in the lobby who told me that Snickerdoodle was very sick, and had been throwing up since 3 o¢clock in the morning. They¢re taking another day for him to recover. All the staff at the hotel (Cobblestone Inn) has been fantastic. They are very ¢hiker friendly¢ and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. I¢ve heard that not all locations along the trail are hiker friendly, probably because hikers are sometimes dirty, with a hiker odor that goes with it. I finished posting journals, and headed to the post office to ship some items forward to a friend in New Jersey, who I¢ll be seeing in about 3 weeks, when she¢ll pull me off the trail for a break. I hadn¢t made any arrangements for a shuttle, so I walked the 3/10 of a mile to the Rouzerville post office. I decided I don¢t want to plan every single minute during this adventure. It¢s important to me to go with the flow, be spontaneous, and figure things out as I go. Before I retired, one of the things that I looked forward to the most was not rushing around, so I am enjoying just being. When I arrived at the post office, I was greeted at the door by John, a local farmer who held the door open for me. He asked if I was hiking trail and I told him I was. He then asked if I needed a ride and I told him yes, that would be great. He was out running errands with his mom, Beckie, who is 94 years old. John patiently waited for me to box my things up, lending me a pen to use. As I got my box processed, I chatted with the postal clerk and postmaster about my hike. As I was leaving, I received a warning about bears and snakes in the area, then received a handful of werthers originals from the postmaster for energy. I tossed my pack in the back of John¢s jeep and we proceeded up a steep curvy hill to the location I had stopped hiking two days before. John told me all about the history of the trolley system that ran up and down the hill in the late 1920¢s,until a crash of two trollies caused a shutdown of the system. As I got my pack out, I noticed water on the mat in the back of the Jeep. I was looking for the source of water, thinking my hydration pack was leaking. John advised me the water was from an open bucket of water, designated for some lilac bushes. It splashed around as he drive, sitting opposite of my backpack. I took a quick look to see if my pack was wet, then put it on. I shook John¢s hand, and thanked him for the ride,then realized I didn¢t have my trekking poles! Crap! I took my pack off and tossed it back in the car. We went back down the curvy road to retrieve my poles, and now that I was aware of the bucket of water, I found myself looking over my shoulder to make sure the bucket didn¢t spill on to my pack. John was very kind and patient about the situation and told me ¢that¢s why there¢s erasers on the end of pencils¢. He continued to provide historical information, along with other tidbits on various topics. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the area. His mom Beckie was very sweet and chimed in on some of the conversation.  He drove me back up the mountain, where I took my pack, thanked he and his mom and started back where I had left off. I appreciate their kindness very much, my second Trail angels. Today¢s hike was very pleasant. My pack felt a lot more comfortable. I felt more at one with my pack, rather than being at odds with my pack. I ran into Field Trip and Double H at Deerlick Shelter. My goal was to hike 8.3 miles into Tumble Run Shelters, but with a late start, and the sun going down, I decided I was going to stay at Antietam Shelter. As I approached Antietam, I could hear loud, male, teenage voices, shouting in unison. As I came Into camp, I saw a large group of teenage boys. At that point I decided to move on to Tumble Run.... where I was greeted with the shrill screams of teenage girls, piercing the forest. It was almost dark by now, so I really had no choice other than to stay at Tumble Run, or move on and find someplace to stealth camp. I stayed, and slept fairly well.