Date: 2014-06-21
From: Days Inn, Lickdale, PA

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I ate waffles and other goodies at the Days Inn and headed out to see if I could get a ride to the trail. I put my pack down by the driveway to the Hess station and took out my sign. A black SUV pulling out of the station stopped, and the woman offered to drive me to the trail. Betsy is a sherrif's investigator from Virginia, who is taking a polygraph course at the nearby military base. When we got near the trail, I said to pull over where it seems safest. She said not to worry, she had lights, and on went the blue flashers. Cool. And I enjoyed our conversation about her work and the trail.After crossing over a wonderful old bridge, I stopped to adjust a shoelace, and a man I had passed earlier by his car asked if we could hike together. His trail name is Jax, and he is day-hiking the AT on Saturdays. I said sure, if our paces are similar. He set a fairly good pace, and I walked behind him. It was hot, he is somewhat overweight (said he had lost 200 lbs.), so I suggested breaks. Eventually, his back was bothering him, I knew his girlfriend, Carmen, would be coming in from the north to meet him, so I gave him some of my water and headed on. I stopped for a break at the William Penn Shelter, where I chatted with Lamb Chop and Cabbage Patch. Lamb Chop did much of the trail last year but skipped Pennsylvania and the Whites. She lives in Phoenix because of family but much prefers her previous home in NY. She has a fun sense of humor. Cabbage Patch left to get water, but we met again at the 501 Shelter. I very much enjoyed talking with him and learning his story. He lives in Southern Pines, NC, and had been a game warden in the federal system for 20 years but now administers storm water permitting. He started the trail with his son last year and is trying to do about 400 miles a year. His son has cystic fibrosis. He graduated from community college and will be going to UNC to study pharmacy and ultimately get a doctorate. Cabbage Patch is very proud of him. Cabbage Patch himself has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and is learning to manage it.When I got to 501, Trail Head, a former thru-hiker was there with trail magic -- donuts and vitamin water. A group from New Jersey was there using most of the tent sites, so I decided to join Cabbage Patch in the large shelter. It has a big skylight over a long central picnic table. After dropping my pack inside, I rejoined Trail Head and Cabbage Patch, ate a donut and drank a bottle of water. Someone told Trail Head there was another thru-hiker in the tent area, so he went and found Freeman, and the four of us went to Trail Head's car and continued conversation over beer.Freeman was wearing the Ecclesia Ministries cross, a distinctive cross made for the ministry with the homeless that Debbie Little Wyman started on Boston Common about 20 years ago. What a surprise to see it on the AT. Freeman hiked much of the trail last year, and is back to do the whole thing. He got the cross from "Pastor Steve," an Episcopal priest in Lewiston, Maine, at a time when he was homeless. The group from New Jersey had ordered pizza -- this shelter is known for the chance to order pizza, since it is close to Route 501 -- and they offered us some. Between the pizza and the donut, I didn't have to cook. Even had donuts left for the morning.Swash Buckler, a young man, came I later and joined me, Cabbage Patch, and a woman from the New Jersey group in the shelter.