Date: 2003-05-21
From: Caladonia State Park 

To: Birch Run Shelter 
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: light rain

Aloha All! Here it is 4:30 in the afternoon and I'm sitting here enjoying a nice hot cup of raspberry chocolate coco and a Ghirardelli (thanks Skipper!) chocolate. Yum! Rough life but since someone has to do it I guess it can be me. Tee Hee!   Actually the chocolates are dual purpose. First, because I'm rather cold. The temperature has hovered around 50 all day and that's fine while I'm moving but sitting in a cold and drafty shelter next to a stream with the wind blowing through is a slightly different story. Oh yeah, I'm a weenie when it comes to cold but that's beside the point.   The second and most important part is that I'm treating myself. Yepper actually did what I said I was going to do and have stopped at Birch Run Shelter. A mere 9.6 miles for the day. A day in which "they" have called for rain but it hasn't happened... yet. It is completely overcast and foggy and has been all day but not a drop has fallen on me...yet. You don't know how hard it was for me to actually stop here in the middle of the afternoon on a great hiking day. Trust me, it was hard and I deserve this chocolate!   I need to back this up though and start from the beginning so...rewind.   As you already know, I spent a rough night in a hotel room with hot and cold running water. And a coffee pot. Rough. After another hot shower this morning I was raring to go. (Btw, in case you didn't know, hotel soap sucks for giving your hair that squeaky-clean feel and body.) The kind proprietor happily transports hikers back to the trail for a mere $1.00 per mile. Five miles and five minutes later I was on the trail. I was hiking by oh...10:00a.   The first stop was a short 1.9 miles UP a slightly rocky trail to the Quarry Gap Shelter. Nice shelter! Two four-person sides with a picnic pavilion area connected to and built between them. The builders had even thought to include a roll up windscreen on the patio portion for those windier days. Not only that but a lovely babbling brook is located no more than ten yards in front of the shelter surrounded by mountain laurel. There's also a stone bench alongside the brook for your sitting enjoyment. Something I hadn't seen before were the two wooden tent platforms built nearby. Those were a first for me. But the topper of the whole place was the light fixture on the corners outside each sleeping area. Not electric of course but set up for candles. Such a cute idea! I've now incorporated it into my future log cabin. (A story for another day. After seeing the shelter a part of me kind of wished I had made it up there yesterday as originally planned. But... only a small part of me. Still much prefer seeing Skipper.   While there I had the opportunity to chat with two gentlemen out for a short 13.5-mile trail run. They seemed to be having a blast. They were telling me of their love for trail running and how they enter the 50 miler from DC to Williamsburg, PA every year. These were two gentlemen in about their mid to late 60s so I was doubly impressed. It was a pleasure chatting with them.   The hike itself was pleasant enough traveling through what would be impressive thickets of mountain laurel if they were in bloom. Soon. Anyway, some rocky UPs (umph!), some mild knee pounding downs (argh!) and some pine needle soft flat land (ahhh..) kept the hike interesting. I did begin a new tradition on the UPs too. Teaberry eating.   On Part I of my Grand Adventure I was introduced to teaberries. Small little red berries on a low growing vine if you will. They taste like teaberry gum if you've ever had it. I haven't but I can get the distinct gum flavor. I've found that I can feel better about stopping on the UPs if I tell myself that I didn't stop because I was gasping for air but was instead searching for teaberries!   Works wonderfully and I get the teaberries too! They seem to be in abundance right now due to the rain. Works for me! Yum yum!   Lunch was spent leisurely beside a four-way intersection of unmarked dirt roads. The driest spot I could find. I'm such a silly lass. Had I bothered to check the map I would have found that the Milesburn Cabin (owned, operated and rented by PATC) was a short 1/5th of a mile down the trail I would have headed there. The cabin is locked but the front porch is available and dry. It also sits alongside another lovely meandering stream. Oh well, silly me. Live and learn!   So now I'm here. It was a hop, skip and jump from there to here. After a late start, leisurely picture taking walking, and a long lunch I arrived here five hours later at 3p. It was hard to stop.   Admittedly it's a nice enough place with its two shelters and babbling stream 40 yards in front but still... It'll be even nicer by this time next year I'm sure since a new shelter is in the process of being built between the current two (pilings are in place) and looks to have a deck/dining area also. That'll be nice since the ground is the only cooking spot outside the shelter floor now. Someone else will have to let us know next year.   No matter how nice though, knowing that the days of summer are right around the corner something in me really wants to walk when the temperatures are this good. I admit that I had considered going on another couple of miles and finding a good campsite but with the weather so iffy I used that for further justification to stay. And to top it off, I'm even in the shelter again due to not wanting to mess with a wet tent tomorrow if I don't have to. So it's all good! Particularly since I bet I ate more teaberries than anyone else because of it!   See what happens when I have to much time on my hands - you get longer entries. With that said I do believe it's time to shut this down and fix some dinner. I'm thinking chili sounds good tonight. Tomorrow I'm in to Pine Grove Furnace so I'll chat with you then as I do my laundry. I know you'll appreciate my doing it. In the meantime, try to have a good day at the office. I know I will be!   BS&T: none today. All in working order and happy!   Critter count: 3x adorable chipmunks. The birds didn't even get up today.