Date: 2017-06-15
From: Tagg Run Shelter

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 26.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I got up late... I woke up at 530 with the sun and then rolled over until 7. On the trail it wasn't long until I hit a road that AWOL said had a store and deli 0.2mi down it, so I took a right and headed that way. The store was nice, I got a breakfast sandwich to add some extra calories to my breakfast and picked up a new roll of TP (I was low and that's not a good thing you run out of). It's annoying, a roll of TP is just barely too large to fit in a quart sized sandwhich bag. #hikerproblems #irealizehashtagsdontworkhereThe next couple miles of trail weren't hard, but the heat was brutal and it felt like I was melting. My backpack started chafing my lower back, my shorts started chafing, my shoulders started to get rubbed raw from my backpack straps... It wasn't fun. Taking a look at AWOL, I had a new terrain feature coming up, a "Rock Maze", which was potentially ominous sounding. It turned out to be partially fun and partially annoying, the trail wound back and forth through a bunch of large boulders with arrows pointing the way in most places. Navigating the labyrinth required a couple of mild scrambles which were fun, but there were obvious side trails where people had bypassed obstacles... Not cool people.I stopped at the shelter for a lunch break, enjoying... well, eating, my PB and KitKat tortilla, in solitude. Leaving the shelter committed me to either hike another 18mi or stay in a town, as camping was prohibited on the next section of trail and there were no shelters. Even if those restrictions hadn't been in place I probably would've ended up doing a 26mi day anyways, but it is a little bit annoying to be forced to do that many miles.I set out, and not long after I reached Halfway knob, apparently the original halfway point of the AT. I took a picture of the plack embedded in the boulder and then moved on, not much to see with the trees as dense as they were. The trail descended down into Cumberland valley and started winding it's way through fields, taking long rectangular paths around instead of through the crops. It wasn't long before the trail started crossing more roads and a couple buildings, and it wasn't until I was almost in town that I realized I was entering a town and should probably redon my shirt. Boiling Springs appears to be home to an unusual number of fly fishermen who were wandering the banks and bridges across the river coming into town. The town is centered around a lake, only a couple of feet deep and filled with crystal clear teal water, apparently fed by hundreds of springs "boiling" up from the ground which had been redirected to form the lake.I stopped by the ATC center there and grabbed a muffin and an ice cream cookie-wich from a gas station and kept moving. Before I left town I came across TRAIL MAGIC of a cooler full of ice cold drinks on the side of the road. I chugged a Gatorade and chatted with 2 SOBOs as they did the same before continuing on my way. The trail continued to wind through fields and then duck back into narrow strips of trees which seperated them, but both were very warm under the afternoon sun. The trail, hard packed mud/dirt as hard as concrete, was tougher than I expected on my feet and I stopped a couple of times just to get off my feet. Though I passed multiple streams I couldn't/didn't fill up as all the agricultural runoff wouldn't be removed by my filter, so I rationed my water as best I could as I treked on.I crossed I-81 and I-76 and I won a staredown with a group of playful cows... Well, I assumed playful, but they could've also been mating... Either way, not something I wanted to be a part of... and as I crossed the stile out of the pasture was treated to some fresh mulberries.The next couple miles were pretty uneventful... I had to lug 3L of water up the other side of the valley because the next shelter had unreliable water, but I finally arrived at about 6pm, grateful to be at camp before dark. Zorba, Chops, and Gray Eagle (hikers I had met in Shenendoah) and Walkie Talkie (who I had met in MD) were already at the shelter and we all agreed that the Cumberland (Death) Valley was not the most fun section of trail we had done.I decided it was a 3 ramen night and supplemented them with olive oil and a couple tortillas to round out the meal. This shelter is apparently known for it's privy, called the Taj Mahal (presumably because of how large the building was), but it really wasn't anything special and I'm kinda starting to wonder who comes up with these names.Tomorrow I'm aiming for Duncannon, only about 12mi away, and then am going to take the rest of the day off and enjoy town. I'm thinking I'm going to try to do this sort of thing at least once a week because it allows me to still make some miles but also to get a full half day of rest in, which I think my body will need. Also, I'm thinking I might redefine a nero as any day where I finish hiking by 12 or 1pm, because I don't really ever do any days which meet the old definition (<~10mi) anymore. Also, whereas the terrain is going to be getting harder, milage is not the best indicator anyways, so we'll see how this new definition works.