Date: 2019-05-01
From: Spring and tenting mile 115.4

To: Darlington Shelter 
Miles today: 22.4

AT day 61  5/122.4 miles to Darlington Shelter Today was supposed to be a relaxing easy day with a 22 mile hike to the Darlington Shelter.  I didn¢t set my alarm and let the beautiful melodies of the birds wake me up. My plan was to hike the 8 miles to Boiling Springs and treat myself to a late breakfast at the Cafe.The day started off with a uphill hike to the top of a hill with huge boulders that you need to scramble up.  This is a very short section and I only had to hoist myself up a few boulders. I met another northbound Flip Flopper up in the boulder field.  I stopped and talked with her. She was having terrible shin splint problems. I said happy trails and then hiked on for about 5 minutes. The center horizontal support of my Zpacks Arc Haul has been popping out of its pouch.  I had to stop, take off my pack and store it inside my pack. This has become very irritating.  No matter how I pack the stuff in my pack this support comes loose. This was the point when my day went ¢south¢, and I mean I literally South. I got turned around (once again) and headed South back the way I came.  I saw the same women that I talked to minutes before and I thought she was a southbounder. I didn¢t remember the lady that I had talked with wearing a floppy hat.  I told her that she had some boulders coming up and hiked past her. I saw her again later and she said that she didn¢t recognize me either. I guess us old hikers all look the same.So I was making good time going back the way I came this morning.  I even saw a strange flat rock formation that looked like it could be used for devil worshipping sacrifices.  I thought it odd that there was two of these formations, but maybe the settlers erected these. It didn¢t even register in my brain that  something was wrong when I passed my campsite. I hiked another 0.7 miles south to a road that had an AT sign that pointed to the North and South directions.  At first I thought that the sign had been switched around. I got out my Guthook App and sure enough I screwed up again. So much for my late morning breakfast  in Boiling Springs.So what did I do? I got very mad at myself and took off running.  I wasn¢t quite sure yet how many extra miles I hiked but I knew that it was too many.  When I got back to the spot where I took off my pack I calculated that I hiked south close to 2.5 miles for a bonus 5 mile round trip.Of course now I¢m paranoid about getting turned around and I¢m frequently checking Guthook to make sure my AT mileage is increasing.Boiling Springs is another of those picturesque towns that the AT passes straight through.  The AT center was closed but the water faucet was working. I went to the gas station and payed exorbitant prices for a junk food fix.  There should be a law that requires mini-marts to clearly post the prices of their merchandise. Another thing that bugs me is you have to buy 2 sodas or Gatorades to get the discount prices. I packed out mini crumb doughnuts and Oreos for tonight¢s desert.I left Boiling Springs at 1:30 with 14 miles to hike to the Darlington Shelter.  Lucky for me the topography of the trail made for fast hiking. Guthooks warns you to bring plenty of water for the next stretch because of agricultural runoff. The last 3 miles to the shelter is uphill.  As I was climbing, my mind would reprimand me for my mistake.  I would have been there by now if I would slow down and pay more attention to where I¢m going. I closed off these negative thoughts by saying to myself; "This too shall pass¢.I got to the shelter before 6 pm and found a great tenting site.  There were 2 section hikers there that I enjoyed talking with. One guy had this tiny little Zpacks Nero pack that he was using. So I ended up doing 22.4 AT miles and 5 bonus miles that don¢t count. Happy hiking, Silver Streak