Date: 2019-06-27
From: Raven Rock Shelter 

To: Stealth Site - 1081.5
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: broken clouds

Last night was sticky. It did not cool off much and the humidity remained high. I slept with my rain fly half off of the tent to try and get some air circulation. It helped some and I slept good. I heard someone up and packing before sun up but I fell back to sleep.I got out of camp on time today, 706. Today started out very humid and sticky. Normally I only drip sweat when climbing but, I was dripping just moving. At about mile 5 there was a municipal park. It was a very nice park with clean water and clean restrooms. I also found some phone power. The park had what seemed to be an excessive amount of garbage cans, so I got rid of all of my garbage. In the next mile I found many blackberry bushes and ate many blackberries. I stopped at the 1st shelter, NAP time?. I believe I was asleep for about 1/2 hour. Some other hikers came in to the shelter and I chatted with them for a while.I continued on and it was getting hotter and more humid, my shins were dripping sweat. There was a bigger climb mid afternoon and I needed some water. I crossed a creek and splashed my face, hair, and neck. I thought about getting in but the park was close and I figured I could run my head under the spigot. I crossed the next foot bridge and saw a sign for trail magic. I practically ran to the park, I was so overheated and tired. A gentleman who did 1000 miles last year and had to quit because of shin splints was doing magic. I had: Three hotdogs, one bag of chips, two hostess snack cakes, Coke, Mtn Dew & two Gatorade¢s. He also made me take an additional snack cake to go. People along the trail are so nice, and he wanted me/us to take more! While sitting at the picnic tables with about six other hikers the gnats were bad. Two younger girls maybe late teens came and sat down at the picnic table next to us because there was a group outing going on at the park too.  One girl said, what¢s with all the gnats? I jokingly/truthfully said it¢s probably because of us, we stink. One girl kind of laughed and said it could be her. The other started to get a look on her face. I said seriously, it¢s probably us, most of us have not showered in 2-3 days. The second girl made the most disgusted face. They got up and moved as the 1st girl said, at least you guys are doing something really cool. I was fueled with calories and Gatorade for the afternoon climb. I made it up the climb and was going to hitchhike into a small town for a beer and dinner. They also let you camp on the property and have an outdoor shower. I saw 2 cars in 10 minutes, and they didn¢t stop. I knew there was a shelter not far. I got to the sign for the shelter and it said the shelter was .3 off trail. Guthooks doesn¢t say anything about a .3, and AWOL says .2, Guthooks says the shelter water is an additional.2 past the shelter and AWOL says .5. My point is accurate information would be helpful. I peruse AWOL for and overall of the day and rely on Guthooks throughout the day as it¢s on my phone. The shelter was every bit of .3 steep downhill and the water was close to .5! I could have walked 1/2 way to the state park further up the trail. Additionally, there were terrible tent sites there. I ended up packing out 3 liters of water back up the .3 to the trail and I went north .3 until I found a nice stealth spot. Wildlife update: I did not see any wildlife today except squirrels.