Date: 2018-07-14
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: William Penn Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

Last night it didn't get too cold. The stars shown brightly though the tree cover. I woke up at 5 am but slept in until 7:30 am. I didn't feel like getting out of bed but I needed to make some miles anyways. I packed up then headed over to the shelter to make breakfast. A hiker named I walk with Jesus was there. He had been sectioning the trail for some time. He packed too much food and offered me some ramen, oatmeal, nuts, and jerky. I gladly accepted the free food. I made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. I eventually headed out at 9 am.  The trail was flat again and a little rocky. Not like the crazy rocks we were promised. I hiked a mile then came to a beaver dam. Beavers had made a barrier of sticks and mud to create a shallow swamp. They use the swamp to build the their beaver lodges which keeps them safe from predators. The whole trail was flooded from the dam. I had to jump from log to log to keep my feet from getting wet. At the last section my foot fell in the swamp. Luckily it dried in a few hours. In another few miles I came to a log bridge about 5 feet in the air. I initially tripped on the log then fell on it. My trekking poles fell in the water below as I straddled the log. I got up and kept moving. At the gap a man named Mike was giving out trail magic. He had soda, beer, and candy. I had it all. His wife was in Texas and told him to get out and do magic. Rosie and Lupine showed up. They mentioned the trail magic from yesterday was only at night. We hung out then hiked out together.  We came to the next road crossing and planned to hitch into Lickdale for some grub. We tried for 10 minute to get a car to stop but they all zoomed by. Many were only filled with one person. Rosie tried showing some thigh but it didn't work. We moved up the road to give the cars more runway to stop. Eventually a man in a pick-up stopped. Lupine and I jumped in the back while Rosie sat in the cab. I love the feeling of wind blowing over me while in the back of a pick-up. He dropped us off at the gas station where we got iced coffee. I walked over to Subway and got a footlong with all the veggies. I met them at the Wendys and we all hung out for awhile. Rosie was picking on Lupine about a bet he won and got to use Lupine's inflatable pillow for the night.  We all got a hitch back to the trail at 3:30 pm. The humidity was really high. The climb up to the ridgeline was brutally hot. My elbows turned into faucets as sweat dripped off them. We got to the top and was greeted with a flat trail. After about 5 miles we came to a view and ate snacks there. We were going to shelter about 8 miles from there but settled on one only 2.7 away. It was getting late and we didn't want to hike through the dark. We pushed for an hour then arrived at the shelter area. I setup my camp and ate ramen for dinner. A hiker named Giggles camped in our same area. Rosie asked eat of us what was our thorn, our bud, and flower for today. Thorn was what didn't go well. I said I didn't get moving as early as I did today. A bud was what went well. I was happy to go on the food excursion to get Subway. The flower was what are looking forward to tomorrow. The shower at the 501 shelter. At 9:30 pm we called it a night. Tonight I'm listening to small animals scurry around in the woods.