Date: 2015-07-15
From: Graymoor Spiritual Life Center

To: RPH Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: light rain

It didn't rain during the night and it wasn't raining when I woke up, but the air was thick and soupy with humidity all the same. I got out of camp to walk the .4 back to the trail at 6:21.Very soon I was passed by Iron Lady, who I had first met yesterday. We chatted for a while until I couldn't keep up with her anymore and she disappeared over the horizon lamenting how slow she is. Eh, sure!(She is also older than I am, so I can't even use my 'well she is 20 years younger' excuse.) I do still feel like the slowest person in any bubble I've been in. Not that it matters, I just thought I'd be faster.I *was* moving slower than usual today and I think it must have been the humidity. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! When I met Iron Lady and Southpaw for a break near a road, they excitedly told me that contrary to what we had thought, there actually was town food to be had today. The Clarence Fahnestock State Park had a concession that was only .2 off the trail. We will definitely walk .2 one way for food. As Iron Lady remarked "I walked .4 yesterday just to sleep on top of a picnic table!". It was supposed to rain all day but by 1 pm not a drop had fallen yet. By the time I got to the first signs for the state park side trail, the sun was starting to come out. The signs had been confusing me, because they said that the store and concession would only be open weekends until June 21, and it's only the 15th today. It literally took me a mile or more to realize it is July and not June. Duh. I blame the humidity for that as well... When I got I to the store/concession, Iron Lady and Southpaw were there but also Two Bad Dogs! Continuing the recent string of people I have not seen in hundreds of miles, I think I last saw them either in Georgia (!) or just across the border with Tennessee. Either way, it had been a very long time and it was nice to see them. They are camped here tonight as well.I only had a soda and a Popsicle at the park, for which they wanted five bucks (we're not in the south anymore!) and ate stuff out of my food bag. It was an extraordinarily nice Popsicle, I'll say that (mango fruit bar). We had five more miles to go to the shelter and I didn't much feel like doing them, but they turned out to be the most pleasant miles of the day. The humidity had lifted a great deal and there was a breeze to keep me cool and to keep the bugs at bay. These last five miles were the fastest of the day, not that they were super speedy or anything.The shelter here is very nice. It is more like a cabin, has bunks and is close enough to a road that you can order take-out. I was going to eat out of my bag, but Fireball couldn't finish her Chinese take-out and asked if I wanted it. Can't say no to that!There was a maintainer at work when I got here and another arrived to visit, bringing in his home brew beer. Reports say it's very good. He also just offered people a stay at his house, which I would have taken him up on if it had been earlier and I wasn't all set up already. Bummer, because I could use a shower... It actually feels like it might be cool tonight, which is always nice for sleeping. Last night was not, it was the warmest night of the hike and for a long time it looked like I wouldn't use my sleeping bag at all. I did in the end though.It's two days to Kent, where I'll be staying in a real bed at my friend's parents' house, have an embarrassment of riches in care packages, and also where I hope to hang out with Spot of Tea for some trail magic. You can see why I'm mentally skipping over tomorrow and am focusing on Friday!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?