Date: 2004-12-17
From: Tagg Run Shelter, Pa.

To: Quarry Gap Shelter, Pa.
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: broken clouds

24.6 miles todayQuarry Gap Shelter, Pa. Hippie woke up at 3am and wanted to start hiking. I told her to go ahead...I'd be along soon. She didn't trust me because I went back to sleep, so she did too. I finally woke up about 6:30am and started my coffee. We had a box of mini donuts for breakfast and got started hiking at 8am. All the water on the trail and in the ponds have been frozen for a couple days now. That makes it easier to walk through the mud, so I'd like it to stay that way. The sky was nice and blue today with only a few clouds around. It stayed pretty cool, especially when the breeze was blowing, but a couple of times we found a sunny spot with no wind, so we took our breaks then. We passed by the midpoint marker for the Appalachian Trail at 10am. I looked for a note from Frog Caller because I had found a note there from her a couple years ago...no note. Oh well, guess I'll miss you this time. Last year when I was walking down the trail here, Frog Caller was walking north to meet me. That was quite a surprise!! We hiked on down to Pine Grove Furnace State Park and I found a phone. We took a break and ate the rest of the donuts. I checked my email and heard from Grassy Ridge, She is coming out to pick Hippie and me up, so it looks like we are going to do a mini flip-flop hike in this flip-flop hike we are doing. We are going to Shenandoah and walking north for a while. Grassy Ridge is a high school teacher and she just got off for Christmas vacation today. It will be great hiking with her again. It's been about 2 1/2 years since the last time I hiked with her. We hiked on because Hippie was freezing. It was warm in the sun when we stopped, but the wind picked up and was pretty raw. We hiked on to Tom's Run Shelter and sat inside out of the wind and took another break. I ate my lunch and signed the register. I heard something coming up to the shelter and saw a dog peaking his head around the corner. I said "hey there" and he started wagging his tale and wanted to be friends. I looked around and saw a lady with another dog coming up the trail. When she got there, she introduced herself as the caretaker of the shelter by the name of Three Dog. She's a very friendly lady who would love to do a thru hike someday. We talked a while and then Hippie and I hiked on. We found a real nice sunny spot with no wind and sat down for another break. That warm sun on a cool day makes me lazy. I could have just pulled my sleeping bag out of my backpack right there and went to sleep for the night. I didn't and we hiked on. It started getting late in the day and we got to watch another beautiful sunset while we were walking. We hiked on to Quarry Gap Shelter and got there about an hour after sunset. There was almost half a moon overhead with clear skies, so we didn't need our headlamps to see. I didn't even have to worry about stepping in the mud because it was all ice. We also crossed a stream after dark on a thin downed tree. That was fun in the dark. I really had to pay attention so I didn't give Hippie one more thing to laugh at today. We got set up in the shelter. I went out and got water out of the nicest spring that I've seen in a long time. Hippie started boiling water for some pasta shells while I steamed a whole bag full of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. When the pasta was done, Hippie mixed in some cheese and we had one of the best trail meals that I've ever had!! Hippie made a few glasses of hot chocolate and I made some coffee. I absolutely love hiking this time of year. It really makes you feel alive!!Another great day on the A.T.