Date: 2022-06-09
From: RalphÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Peak Hiker Shelter

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: light rain

The rain was hard and steady last night starting around 2:00. I know it was around 2:00 because that was also the time that the sleeping pad lost enough air  to be considered ¢flat¢. I thought I had solved it! The forecast had the rain continuing through noon. We were all pleasantly surprised when the rain abated with the sunrise. Forecasts changed and the day looked like it would be dry.We shared the shelter with The Nomads (a married couple flip-flopping from Harper¢s Ferry), Smiles (a fifty-something guy on his second attempt - first was in ¢99), Wings (late in, first out), and Trouble (came in at 11:30 with a screaming bright red headlamp).We packed up dry gear into dry packs, let the Frisbee - not thrown in 9 days - in the hiker box, used the privy one last time, and headed out. Destination: Corrado¢s Pizza and Mountaintop Deli 5 miles away. The boys have found their stride and really have only one gear. We have a standing rule that all regroup at road crossings or trail junctions. They¢ve started leaving one as a ¢lookout¢ for Joni or me coming who relays our approach to the leaders who continue on. The definition of a ¢short stretch¢ has gotten longer over the past few days. Three miles was a chore last week and is now becoming an easy chunk. So the 5 miles from RPH to pizza was another blur. Corrado¢s and The Mountaintop Deli are separate ventures sharing a biking about a 10 minute road walk from the trail. They¢ve got picnic tables out back with outlets & a spigot. The pizza is respectable and the resupply options (at the deli) are adequate. We stayed for about 2 hours dillying and dallying. Joni called our Camp Glisson friend and Roadtrip ¢99 comrade Ashley G in Milford CT. They hatched a plan for Ashley to pick us up in Kent CT on Sunday afternoon and take us an hour east to her house. We¢ll stay with her & her family Sunday AND Monday night and get back to the trail on Tuesday. This will be our first ¢zero¢!  We¢ll put together a 13-miler tomorrow filled by two 8s and be in Kent Sunday mid-afternoon. We¢re all looking forward to that!The Nomads were at the pizzeria when we arrived. They left and soon after were replaced by ¢Grasshopper¢ and ¢Around the Corner¢. We met this father-son duo first on day 2 at the Wallkill Nature Preserve. We saw them again at Bear Mountain near the bridge as they headed for a hotel room. They caught us again at the pizzeria. These two pairs of hikers have been on trail since Harper¢s Ferry but have had to take time off for injury and recuperation. They are near their 400 -mile mark and are about 40 days into their hike. We may be falling in with them over the next several days. We¢ll see if our mileages line up. We left Corrado¢s and hiked back up the hill. We hadn¢t been a mile before Joni struck up a conversation with a lady from Lilburn who knows Jordan (Joni¢s dad). Small world. We took pics together and walked with them for a bit until we got our 100 mile mark! Making it there felt like a bigger milestone than I thought it would. The boys said ¢now we do that 21 more times. Doesn¢t seem that hard!¢  Hopefully they¢re correct. Joni and I talked lightweight tents for a piece today. Our two tents are palatial and double-walled. They are head-turners on the trail since everyone else is pretty minimalist. We love these tents and chose them carefully with the thru hike and road-trip camping in mind. (For the gear nerds they are the 3- and 4-man Copper Spur tents by Big Agnes. Five stars). The bummer is their weight. Together with their ground cloths they might tip 10 pounds. That¢s on-par with per-person weights out here if not a little high. More to come on this topic I¢m sure. We arrived at the shelter and did shelter things. No rain tonight so we¢re headed n tents. Dinner, bear hangs, hygiene, and relaxation. I¢m sharing the 4-man tent with Jasper and Grayson. Baxter is in the 3-man with Texas Pete. Day 10 done. We¢re doing it!