Date: 2014-06-07
From: The Doyle

To: Peter's Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

In which I had a 15 minute snake delay.After a fair night's sleep I got a late start this morning. This late start was motivated by food of course as we went to Goodies for breakfast where I enjoyed many cups of coffee and omelet, toast and hash browns. Oh so good! Then I made a few phone calls and finally to the Quick Mart for a snack resupply. I finally began the road walk through town around 1000. It was Saturday morning which meant yard sales. So as we walked we browsed and talked with a few curious people as to what we were doing. A couple of guys doing roofing hollered down some questions and we fired back as we strolled through, good entertainment. Then we continued our walk over 2 bridges over the Susquehanna River and another river whose name escapes me at the moment. Finally we began our steep ascent up the side of a mountain into the woods where the trail finally had some switchbacks on the second big ascent.Then we came to a screeching halt. Our first unscheduled stop for this morning. A black snake was in the middle of the trail apparently in no rush to cross either. This has become a not so unusual event lately so we patiently waited a few minutes expecting the snake to scurry along. Well not so today...It just lounged in the middle of the trail with it's gaze and head cocked towards us. Hmmm. That's unusual, so I decide to help it more by throwing a stick or two at it. Well, that didn't help it move either. What's up with this snake? Eventually, which seemed like an eternity, it began to slither off the trail towards the plants, however, it just lingered on the side with its head facing us ready to strike. So we backed off again and waited some more. Finally, the snake slithered further into the forest and we seized this opportunity to slither by also.So finally we're back to hiking and stop at the first shelter for an official break. We met a ridgerunner there, a couple of dads and their son, collected 3l of water for the next 6miles and had a snack. The water source at the next shelter was 300 steps down the side of the mountain and I was not going there so it was worth carrying the weight.Next we passed a creepy dude dressed in black jeans and a cotton black shirt headed SOBO. He also wore a black bandana, had a small day pack on and one broken tent pole in his pack. We said "hello" as we passed and he continued to look straight ahead making no eye contact and saying nothing. Well, to each their own but something was not right in this picture. Now my mind did an immediate flash to the loose killer in the woods....I've got way too much time to think out here. Still creepy so onward quickly I went and was very grateful not to be hiking alone at the moment.Cornwall and Cowboy passed us by as we were approaching the shelter. They went on and we set up shop for the night in the shelter, which was quite nice and large. There were some weekenders out from a meet-up group who treated us to two s'mores! How delicious and wonderful. So the remainder of the evening has been spent lying in my quilt listening to the many conversations happening in and around the shelter this evening.