Date: 2010-06-17
From: Stream 1103.5

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 22.4
Weather: few clouds

Butt condition far improved from last night. Goldbond truly is a miraculous drug! Slept in my thermals and fresh socks. I stink horribly. Almost unbearable. Hiked out with salty caked hair despite the shower in the rain yesterday. These biting bugs were swarming me as my sleepy eyes were being pried opening in the morning sunlight. They have oval shaped wings with striations and a small body. Feels like a horse fly when they bite. I killed at least 25, most of which were caught in my hair. I¢m sure I looked comical again while smacking myself and waving frantically at the air.The uphill leading to Alec Kennedy had me sweating. Saw the White Rocks area where Lish taught a ropes course for rock climbing. The trail follows a tractor road through the most amazing wheat fields I¢ve ever seen. The trail leaves the forest and leads through a large farmland area. Golden shoulder high wheat grass on my right side and knee high lush green corn on my left. Off in the distance were silos, chicken farms and gorgeous farm houses. The wind was blowing directly at me no matter which direction I was facing. Head winds make walking harder. The plants all foretold me of the wind changes. Reminds me of the fields around Atkins and thinking about how Lish could read the wind changes on the surface of the water.Boiling Spring is definitely appealing. Instantly I fall in love with this town! The beautiful cobblestone bridges are wide enough that only one car can fit through at a time. The houses along the duck pond all have shaker siding and slate shingles. There are baby mallards everywhere around the shore of the pond. Tempted to jump in the pond, but there¢s so many people out walking and fishing that I would be embarrassed. Heavy, sagging blue conifer trees frame these beautiful houses and I can picture them covered in 2 feet of snow. Flags flapping in the wind everywhere. I wonder how Lish liked this place when she worked here in the past.Got to the ATC Mid-Atlantic center and got water. Laid everything in my pack out on the lawn to dry. We call that a ¢Pack Explosion¢. Got mail from Dr. Simmons at Butner Veterinary Clinic! I was surprised to get that because I hadn¢t heard that they¢d sent anything. I could have easily missed that package and never got it. They sent homemade granola, couscous, certs, goats milk soap, and a hand knitted wash cloth! So happy to get the card with words of encouragement. The granola was the best I¢d ever tasted! Lots of good healthy stuff! They sent close to 2lbs of couscous! I¢d been thinking about only carrying super-light food so that¢s a great thing to have! Easy to cook and tasty! Lish sent a nice letter that had me beaming while swinging on the front porch of the ATC center. Did I mention that I miss swinging on my porch at home? She sent a Blondie brownie from Fosters market back in Durham! Resisted eating right then but knew it wouldn¢t last long. She also sent banana nut macadamia cookies that were pretty well mashed up. The PO is rough on their packages. The also sent trail mix with yogurt and some kind of crunchy energy bar things in it. She also included a re-supply of monkey butt powder. Just in time! She¢s psychic, among other good qualities.Met Fish and Uncle J Bird. The volunteer there was very friendly and helpful. Got word from her that Fig might have Lyme's Disease. Bird has an eye infection. She also knew that everyone was in town and informed me that the whole Geek squad was in town somewhere. Met A.D. (Asian Dreads) and we decided to check out the Italian restaurant that Lish recommended. The AT is so great! Where else can you meet someone and 15 minutes later, you¢re having lunch together. Got a decent steak and cheese, but the waitress never refilled my water once. Caught A.D. up on the antics of BooBoo and Michigan.Went back to the ATC and 6 Course was there! He wanted to hang out and watch the Celtics/Lakers game but I wanted to move on. Wished I would have stayed because it was his birthday. Decided to¢¦wait, I talked to my Dad on the payphone. Cracked him up when I told him about my chaffing problem yesterday. Okay, I decided to leave town around 2:30pm but I missed the trail and walked to the Allenberry where I found Conan and Backwards by the pool. Conan and Funk had an epic Forrest Gump style ping-pong battle the night before. Told Conan of my plans, to return home in July and that I¢d be moving faster. Everyone¢s trying to get me to stay but I¢ve got to leave. I¢m actually thankful that I can¢t stay in towns as often. I mean I came here to camp in the woods and rough it. Besides the neon distractions of town just don¢t hold the same appeal anymore. All the fast moving cars and noise and heat from the pavement doesn¢t compare to the calm, peaceful wilderness.I didn¢t make it far out of town before that Blondie started begging to be eaten. Sitting on the edge of a field that reminded me of Harnett County, NC, I demolished that wonderful treat! I was admiring my dirty, bug bitten legs when Brooklyn and Landfill showed up! I was so glad to see them! I thought they were already ahead at the shelter. Nice to hike with friends again. They¢re hilarious. Landfill has a great sense of intelligent dry-humor and Brooklyn is really smart. I always enjoy their silly company.At one of the 9 road crossings an old man was sitting by the roadside. I waved to him and he shouted, ¢HEY!¢ We stopped for a moment to see if he wanted something. The way he shouted sounded like he had something to say. Maybe he had food?! Maybe a drink? I¢d hoped for a treat of some form but he didn¢t gesture or say anything more. A few seconds later we heard what sounded like a gun shot in the direction of where the guy had been. Sure hope he didn¢t just shoot himself! We¢d check later in the obituaries while in Duncannon to see if anyone had committed suicide nearby.We got obliterated by mosquitoes a few seconds later. Brooklyn and Landfill stopped to get their Deet, but I took off running. I didn¢t see them again for a while. It took them a while to find their bug spray. They¢d run away from their packs. Then run back to their bags and dig for the Deet some more. When the mosquitoes caught back up to them standing still, they¢d have to run away again to loose the horde. I was running across the field slapping myself. You couldn¢t stop or the black cloud would overtake you. More wheat fields and pastures with farm plantations everywhere. I was running my fingers through the wheat seeds and smiling at what a wonderful experience this is! Even with the bugs, I¢m still happy!Swampy everywhere past the fields. The drainage from several cattle farms was running right into the river there. Stopped for water at Scott Farm and Brooklyn and Landfill finally caught up.Hiking up to the shelter wore me out! So steep¢¦the trail runs right into the mountain and then straight up. I think of a train wreck because of all these rocks piled up in a mottled mess. Brooklyn and Landfill walk at about 3.5miles/hr pace. To fast for me. I¢ve got a headlamp and I don¢t mind walking in the dark. Didn¢t want to lag behind, so I kept up despite my shoes feeling burning hot on my feet. When I walk that fast my shoes feel like wet cereal boxes rather than boots. Set up my tent at the shelter even though there was room. To worn out to cook so I ate almond butter that Lish sent. AWESOME STUFF! Jason¢s almond butter! Please send more!Landfill dropped his lighter in his alcohol stove and the lighter exploded and woke everyone up! Ha, nice job!