Date: 2009-07-03
From: Pine Grove Furnance State Park

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 19.4

WAHOO.Including an emergency bathroom run to a distant shelter .3 off of the trail and the walking Transition and I did into Boiling Springs, I hiked almost 21 miles today. Quite a different day compared to the last three 10 milers. Up until the last 4 miles or so, I truly believed that we were only hiking 18 miles today. Why would I think that? Maybe because Transition messed up on the math and miscalculated the distance (!). I know, Matt and math go hand in hand, but for some reason he came up with 18 miles. It ended up being 19+. But that's OK, because once you get past a certain point (16 miles I would say), it doesn't really matter much to you anymore about how much further you have to walk. We left Pine Grove Furnace State Park around 10:00. We walked. And walked. And walked some more. 7 Miles in we hit the first shelter, which was ridiculously far off of the trail. I had to use the facilities (you would think Matt would have too after his ice cream eating episode yesterday) and so I took the path to the shelter. Let me tell you, it was the longest .2 I have ever walked. There is something about .2. Weekenders and locals have been known to pull pranks on thru hikers by telling them that anything they are looking for is just .2 away. The nearest town? .2. The spring you are desperately looking for to refill your water blatter? Oh, it's just .2 thatta way. Even the trail signs to the shelters that are made by the people who maintain the trail lie and are always .2. What people have figured out is that .2 is the magic number, the one that any hiker will traverse in order to get somewhere. It's just far enough so that you can't see it from the trail, but it is supposedly no more than 5 minutes away. Sometimes shelters really are .2. Sometimes they are more like .3 or .4 straight down a hill, or straight up. Regardless, you stick .2 on any sign and we are far more likely to take a side path to get to it than if it said .3 or .4, even if it really was further. So, I took this .2 trail to the shelter, only to have it take me up and over 4 mountains and back. No, seriously, it was NOT .2. Then when I finally did reach the shelter I couldn't locate the privy for the life of me. This is never fun when time is of the essence. Finally I found an old sign on a tree pointing straight uphill to the hidden privy at the top. Fabulous. After that break, we trudged on, stopping a few times more to mix juice and eat some snacks. I think that Transition set another record today. I watched in horror as he consumed 6 snickers bars. For some strange reason, I found this to be more appalling than the 1/2 gallon challenge. He ate 4 of them right in a row, ripping the wrapper off of the next one before he was even done with the one he was currently eating. AH. I don't think I will ever get that hungry. For the past 2.5 weeks I have watched and heard about this hiker appetite that everyone seems to have, but I just don't think I could EVER be that hungry. He eats 4 Snickers, I eat fruit snacks and a Pop Tart. We then move forward.It was getting to be later in the day. Surprisingly, my feet don't hurt yet. I realize that it must be because we were going over relatively flat terrain and that up to this point hasn't been a lot of rocks. This is when (always) things start going downhill. Or should I say uphill.So Transition carries the companion. The "book of lies" as everyone loves to call it. What happened today was a perfect example of how this companion can ruin your entire afternoon. So up until this point, it was relatively smooth sailing. Then we get to a road crossing. Matt pulls out the companion, looks it over and exclaims that we have 3 miles until the next road crossing, and that from the looks of it we should stay flat, considering the elevation gain from one road to the next was the same. We should have known better.The companion left out one of the biggest, more strenuous mountain climbs I have encountered yet. I don't know how tall it was, but it was a killer. We cursed that stupid hill all the way to the top and then back down again. Not only was it straight up, it had rocks, rocks and more rocks. Rockslyvania this state is nicknamed by hikers. Wow, I can see why. After that lovely climb, we hiked all the way back downhill to the road, only to find another hill in our path. AWESOME. This hill wasn't as high, but the rock outcroppings the trail made us weave in and out of were absurd. We ended up becoming very frustrated when the blazes had us climbing these rocks only to come down 10 feet away from the last blaze. We could have easily walked in a straight line over even ground to get from each blaze, but no. Instead the trail maintainers felt like playing a cruel joke and purposely made the trail go over every single rock along the entire ridge line. Let me tell you, it feels absolutely wonderful on the feet. My feet that didn't hurt before, definitely hurt now.After those two climbs Matt realizes that we have to go 19, not 18 miles, and questions whether or not we should just stop at the next shelter, which is 4 miles out of town. Surprisingly, I wanted to keep going. So another couple of Snickers Bars down, and we head on. Boiling Springs is located in a valley, and so we came down out of the mountains and got to walk a mile or so along farmland to get to the campsite. It was absolutely beautiful. With visions of a town dinner in our heads, we finally made it to the campsite at around 8:00pm. Absolutely exhausted, we set up camp, change into cleaner clothes, and wobble into town to the find the tavern open and inviting. YES. What a rewarding day. 21 miles of ups and downs, rocks, cornfields, and a lovely night's sleep 20 feet from the train tracks. AH. All in all, amazing.Kick: The "surprise" mountain. Hard climbs are much easier for me if I know about them ahead of time. Kiss: 19.4 trail miles, 21 altogether. It feels really good. Even though every single muscle in my body aches. It was worth it. Especially since we are zeroing with Matt's family tomorrow for the 4th! YAY! Much Love,Bow