Date: 2009-06-30
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.4
Weather: broken clouds

Phrase of the Day: "Wanning Love Affair"Spent the night at the shelter with Pudgie Pie and Mudslide. Great evening conversation. Got to know them a little. Nice young couple from WI. The Garage Man decided to hang his hammock instead of sleeping in the shelter.I headed to the privy around 7:30 and it looked like he was hanging right on top of a rock. I couldn't see him in the hammock, so I couldn't tell if he was awake or not, so I didn't say anything to him. I didn't want to wake him up.About 1:30 I was awakened by talking. It was the Garage Man coming into the shelter. Apparently, his hammock had an issue and he came into the shelter to sleep.In the morning he explained what happened. Apparently, he was really really close to the rock. Close enough that the hammock was touching it and when he rolled over - it cut the hammock and he basically came out. Like peas coming out of a peapod. He tried to just sleep on the ground, but it started to rain. Bummer.Up and hiking by 6:20. Scored some trail magic by 8:10. An ice cold Mountain Dew. Normally, too early to drink a soda, but it is never too early when you are hiking for free goodies. I forgot to mention I scored some yesterday from the PA section hikers. An apple and a bag of twizzlers. Yum.The trail was not as nice today. Totally overgrown with poison ivy and thorny bushes. Hit lots of patches of rocks. They didn't last long, but there were lots of rock gardens. You can definitely tell that we are entering the so called rocky portion of PA. I hope that I can do the miles that I need to do.Got caught in a hellacious storm today - thunder, lightening, rain, and hail. Getting caught in them really scares me to death. I never really know what to do. I mean I know what to do, but how do you do what you are supposed to do. Meaning I know you don't want to stand under a tree, or on rocks, or roots, or high ground. But how do you not do that when you are caught in the woods. At one point, I took my pack off and poles and sat down in the middle of the trail. It looked like it was clearing up so I started hiking again only for it to start again. It felt like the storm was right over me. So, I got under a bush and waited it out. The best part of the day was I saw four copperhead snakes. They were all sleeping in the crack of a rock at a view point. A couple of day hikers warned me about them. So, once I got to the view point I had to go check them out. I was able to get some pictures and you can really see their copperheads. Pretty cool.Found four pennies and two foreign coins. I can't tell what the coins are without my reading glasses. I will have to wait until I get home.Up to $3.36.Part IIStartrek and I were the first two people at the shelter. Nice. The shelter is basically a building. Totally enclosed with 12 bunks. No sooner had we gotten in and the care taker came in and was totally pissed off. Basically went off on us because of hikers who were there the night before. They left garbage (it didn't really look like hiker garbage) and they had left branches at the fire pit. The garbage I can understand, but the branches at the fire pit I don't. My guess is he has never said to a hiker if you bring in kindling and don't use it - throw it back in the woods. He really was pretty mad and said that he wishes they would bulldoze the shelter. He said he was sorry for taking it out on us, but he needed to vent. He actually said he would be back and would be deciding whether or not he was going to let anyone stay at the shelter that night or make us move on. I really don't know whether he has the power to do that, but I wasn't about to press him. Garage Man, Pudgie Pie, Mudslide, and Fidget showed up about 45 minutes later. We heard rumor on the trail that you could order pizza and have it delivered to the shelter. But, apparently, the ATC frowns on that and takes all the ads and throws them away. So, we didn't have any pizza place numbers to call. We did however read in the register that hikers had called a local restuarant and they would actually come and pick you up and bring you to the place and back again. Sweet.   We called and they came. The owner came (Scholls Family Place)with a pickup and we all piled in. Tonight was all you could eat wings night. You got all the wings, beans, fries, and salad bar that you could eat. Everybody, but Pudgie Pie went for it. You could get different flavored wings - hot, mild, ranch, sweet and sour - all different kinds. The sad thing is that nobody could eat more than the dozen we each started with. They were actually whole wings - not parts. I am stuffed. We had to wait for the owner to get a free minute to bring us back. Just as we started back - another storm came through. We were in the back of the pickup. I don't know what was worse - the rain and thunder or thinking I was going to die because he was driving like a maniac to get us back. Bulletin : porked out hikers die after being thrown from pickup truck which of course is probably against the law in PA. Got back to the shelter and there was a troop of boyscouts there cooking in the shelter. But, they are camping in tents.Mudslide and I picked up all the branches that were at the fire pit. Figured we would try to make the caretaker happy so he didn't kick us out. Since the shelter is full he apparently decided we were worthy of staying. He actually came in later and thanked us for picking them up.