Date: 2015-05-25
From: Campsite at Little Dogwood Run

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: broken clouds

Happy Memorial Day everyone. I had no idea it was today and, consequently, had not factored this in when I ordered merchandise online. The post office was closed today!We slept very well last night and got up rather late, though we felt quite rested. We had decided to camp about 0.1 mile before the shelter as we had seen many, many section hikers heading for the shelter. There are also quite a few "flip-floppers", that is, hikers who wish to hike the entirety of the Trail in two sections. Usually they start in Harpers Ferry around this time of year and head north, then, once they have finished Maine, they hike the remaining southern portion in the autumn (although there are many other ways to do a flip-flop!) I presume Memorial Day weekend incited many people to go out on a short hiking trip. It was interesting to see this increased section hiker population, though I felt bad for some of those hikers. For example, we passed a family of four as we climbed up the steep entrance to the Rock Maze. I greeted them and asked how they were doing. The father forcefully responded "DYING". "O-ohhh...well, g-good luck..." was all I could muster as a response. What else can you say? I remember being in the same situation, struggling up a rocky climb and having a thru-hiker breeze past me. It was a bit discouraging, so dying man, I understand. Another man commented how I made him feel inadequate as I rushed past him notwithstanding my ankle, which he could see was not healed as I am still wearing my brace. Sorry! Anyway, we arrived quite early in the small town of Boiling Springs, PA. Everything, excluding the gas station store, was closed. We went to said store to buy Honey Buns and other individually-wrapped "pastries", food items which I am (somewhat) ashamed to admit are becoming the basis of our diet. We sat around and watched the numerous aquatic birds that live around the lake in town. Boiling Springs is a charming little town and actually quite noisy on the account of all the ducks/geese/swan. I really would have enjoyed spending the entire day there - the gas station sold bags of corn and assorted grains to be given to the clearly accustomed and demanding birds. We had a trio of ducks waddle up to us, quacking noisily for food. Shrugs said we couldn't stay - sorry little guys!The terrain today was the flattest we have ever had. We hiked along the Cumberland Valley and traversed multiple fields and farmland. The area is highly developped and it took multiple land acquisitions by the ATC to maintain the Trail's historical and pastoral scenery; otherwise, the Trail would have been set on paved roads. We hiked through narrow hedges of trees which provided some welcome shade, though we would sometimes have to cross an open field. Not an easy task under the bright, glaring sun! The unavoidable manure odor (we were in farmland after all) hung in the air and mixed with the flowery scent of some unidentified plant. The Trail smelled as if someone had gone to the bathroom, then, embarassed by the resulting stink, decided to aggressively spray the bathroom with an air freshener, not realizing that combining both odors creates a synergistic effect which leaves any unsuspecting passer-by suffocating. It was pretty funny!We made very good time today and arrived at the shelter relatively early for an 18-mile day. Tomorrow we will hopefully be in Duncannon. I hope I can get my package soon.The shelter here has an enormous privy appropriatly named "the Taj Mahal". It's big like a small house and can accomodate two users at once! - AxonPS: I think I managed to embed photos in here - there should be one here:  Cute Ducks