Date: 2020-07-31
From: Pine Grove Furnace General Store

To: US 11 (Carlisle)
Miles today: 27.3
Weather: light rain

Still a lot of pain in my thigh and especially below the knee this morning, particularly going up and down stairs. I'm fairly sure it's just acute soreness from bruising the muscles in yesterday's headlong flight into the rocks, though it's certainly unpleasant. We'll see how hiking goes today. To make things more interesting I'm out of cash. There was an ATM at the general store, but my bank card just expired and I won't get the replacement until I see my family in a week. Everyone wanted cash the last two days. I literally have one penny in my pack. Looking ahead I should have non-cash options where needed, but it's disconcerting not having a backup. So I left Ironmasters around 10 and limped the first nine miles to the Green Mountain Deli. The trail here was thankfully very level with only one mild climb and few rocks. I have been lucky to have no serious injury in all my time on the AT. A few ankle rolls, some blisters, and a mild shin splint is as bad as it's gotten. Feeling regular pain anywhere near the knee is a new experience. It helps me better appreciate what many hikers I've met - old and young - have gone through.After a Reuben sandwich and half a gallon of iced tea at the deli, the next eight miles were hillier. But my leg felt stronger. Uphills were easier than downhills. On the last climb I passed Center Knob, the original halfway point of the AT, and left the Blue Ridge for good. I've spent about 900 of the first 1100 miles in this massive range. It reinforces the transition to the northern half of the trail.At the bottom of Center Knob the trail empties into level cornfields in the Cumberland Valley. There I called home to make arrangements to hike with my sons next week as I near Philadelphia. By the time we were done I'd reached Boiling Springs and was walking past bobbing ducks in the fishing pond that dominates the village. The regional ATC office here is closed, but I fueled up at the convenience store. I find it hard to "camel up" on water - that is, chug a liter when I come across a good spring in a dry area - but I had no trouble downing 80oz of iced tea in fifteen minutes. In the evening I hiked out of Boiling Springs eight miles across the valley through a narrow green tunnel, corn and soybean fields mere yards away through the trees. The background roar of trains and turnpike traffic gradually made room for the cacophony of crickets.The last couple of miles I walked in the dark, and surprisingly encountered a large group out walking as I reached the pedestrian bridge over route 11. A dirt scramble down to the road and half a mile of asphalt shoulder brought me to a motel. The lot was packed - the Ford Discovery car show is in town. But rooms they had, and within minutes I was at the Middlesex Diner next door getting takeout ravioli before they closed.With three stores or restaurants in less than twenty miles this is definitely part of the deli run. And here I am carrying a pound of peanut butter around like a schmuck.The leg is still sore, and contributes a new dimension to my typical end-of-day hiker hobble. But after 27 miles I think it passed the test. I'm more confident it's just a bad bruise and nothing orthopedic. Hopefully not famous last words.