Date: 2004-12-16
From: Rt 11 trailhead, Pa.

To: Tagg Run Shelter, Pa.
Miles today: 20.2

20.2 miles todayTagg Run Shelter, Pa. Today started off pretty slow. Hippie and I were both enjoying the warmth of the motel room. I didn't wake up until about 7am. Hippie was already awake, but just laying quietly in her bed. I said that I needed coffee, so we got up and walked next door to the restaurant for breakfast. I had my usual two eggs, homefries and toast and Hippie had another Belgium waffle, topped with strawberry ice cream, whipped cream and syrup for breakfast. I always get a kick out of watching the waitress' face when Hippie orders her breakfast. We also get alot of comments for what we are wearing...Hippie's short hiking skirt and my hiking shorts. People just aren't used to seeing bare legs when it's 20 degrees outside. We finished breakfast and went back to the room. We weren't in any big hurry because we were only planning on going to Alex Kennedy Shelter for the night. That would be about 12 miles. We started talking about it and decided to go 20 miles instead because it was pretty easy walking most of the way and we could do a 25 mile day tomorrow so we could meet Grassy Ridge at Rt 30 on Saturday morning. We still didn't get on the trail until 11:10am. It was completely flat for the first 10 miles. Boiling Springs was just 8 miles away. When we got walking, I had tons of energy stored up and I took off when we hit the trail. I was hiking as fast as I could which was a little over a 5 mph pace. I was having fun with Hippie because she had to run most of the time to keep up. She was yelling at me, calling me names and giving me a hard time. Each time I would round a corner on the trail, I took off running until she saw me and yelled at me. One time I hid in some brush and when she came around the corner, she said to herself; Oh sh__!!, slow down, I know you're running!!" I came out from behind the brush laughing my head off. She couldn't see me and thought she was getting way behind. She was real glad that she didn't have to run anymore to catch up. We got to Boiling Springs in less than two hours and had already covered eight miles. We stopped by the A.T.C. office and signed the register and talked to Ean for a minute. We headed over to the Italian restaurant and ate lunch, then stopped by the convenience store and resupplied for tomorrow. We headed back out of town and walked at a slower pace. We both knew we would be walking in the dark tonight to get to where we were going. We were walking out of town near the road over the bridge and Hippie took her Leki and charged me like she had a sword. I started defending myself by using my Lekis and a car came by. I saw the guy looking at us in his side view mirror as he went by. He looked like he was going to come out and help me, but he kept driving. I was on my own against Hippie!! We hiked on and got into the woods. We enjoyed watching the sun go down through the trees. The pink skies lasted for over an hour. We could watch it through the leaveless trees while we were walking and thinking about how lucky we are to be out here hiking. Life really is good out here!! It got dark and we walked for over an hour with no lights on until we got into a rockier section. We walked with our headlamps on for the last hour of the hike. When we got to the shelter, I made hot chocolate for both of us. I ate a small cherry pie and a small peach pie that I packed out.Another great day on the A.T.