Date: 2005-05-30
From: Midpoint Marker

To: US 11, Harrisburg Pike
Miles today: 26.4

I woke up feeling refreshed. We had a two mile climb right away this morning. We met a section hiker named Montezuma who was going south. I judged his pack had to weigh at least 60 pounds. But he seemed to be enjoying himself, so more power to him. The terrain wasn't bad at all in the morning. There was a set of railroad tracks that paralelled the trail for a while. We stopped to take pictures on the train that was parked there. Stick and I invented Brown blazing, which is following the wooden railroad ties. Brown blazing, the only way to travel!!At the next road crossing, the guidebook stated that there was a convenience store just two-tenths of a mile down the road. Without hesitation, we headed down to the store. Boy, I am glad that we did. This store had everything!! I ordered a roast beef sub sandwich, a bag of chips, and a big bottle of pop to wash it all down. It was the best roast beef sandwich I have ever eaten, even better than Arbys. They even had ice cream, but both of us decided to pass on that, since we ate our fill of ice cream yesterday to last us a long time. Back on the trail, the going was slow. Big suprise there. The trail started to get a bit rocky. Luckily, it wasn't the little baseball-size rocks that twist your ankle every which way, but the bigger, boulder size rocks that you have to climb over and around. Right on the side of the trail, we found a fire ring that still had hot coals glowing in it. Some careless people did not make sure that there fire was cold out. We both did our civic duty and took a leak on it and covered it with some dirt. It was the best we could do since there was no water source nearby. A few miles down the trail, we ran into a snake. A big, black, 7 foot-long snake. It was sitting right smack in the middle of the trail. To the right, was very thick bush that was impassable. And we couldn't go around on the left either, unless we wanted to fall of the side of the mountain. With the mindset that maybe rocks would make it go away, we started throwing rocks at it. The only thing we accomplished was pissing it off. So what do we do next? We poke our Leki poles at it. Luckily, this did the trick and we hurried passed it before it could change it's mind. Around 4:30, after a long eighteen mile day, we reached the town of Boiling Springs, which is directly on the trail. As we were walking into town, we passed a house where a guy was out doing yardwork. We exchanged greetings, and Dave, invited us up for a beer. We sat on his porch and drank beer as we told him about our adventures. In Boiling Springs, they have the ATC Mid-Atlantic Regional office, which was closed, big suprise. There, we found Buckwheat, Snail, and Woodpecker, who said that Bee had gotten lost. I don't know how but she managed. After a little debate, Stick and I decided to push on to US 11, where there is a Super 8 motel. It is another eight miles, but it is practically flat, so off we went. It took us right at three hours to do that last eight miles. It was the longest eight miles of my life. This was the longest day on the hike and I don't plan on doing any more days like this for a long time. We checked in to the motel, did laundry and went to eat at the overpriced diner.After a day like this, I am hurting in spots I never knew existed.