Date: 2013-07-05
From: Backpacker's Campground, Boiling Springs, PA

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: clear sky

The train came through a few times last night. The ground rattled, and I could feel the percussion of its power shake in my chest. I put in my ear plugs to help drown out the sound. I was so exhausted from the heat of yesterday, that I slept well regardless. I got up when it was time to get up. My phone showed that it was already 85 degrees. It was going to be another hot one. I ate a piece of left over pizza and set the box outside of Davy Crockett's tent. I was packed up and headed out by the time he emerged. I walked the mile into Boiling Springs and dropped my pack outside of the ATC Mid-Atlantic office. I went inside and talked with some of the ladies there. They were nice and gave me a run down of the trail ahead of me today. It would be a cake walk, albeit a cake walk in the heat, so hopefully the cake wasn't made of ice cream. I ran to the convenience store across the street and grabbed a Snickers bar and bottle of Gatorade. I knew I would need the sugar and electrolytes before the day was through.And then I set off. I played scavenger hunt with the white blazes to get out of town and into the woods. The elevation profile showed the day would be as flat as a pancake. And it was. The trail skirted corn, wheat and potato fields. And boy was it hot! Fortunately, the trail was angled as such that I spent much of the day in the shade. I had my sunglasses on hand. I hadn't worn them in hundreds of miles, so finally I got some use out of them! I stopped frequently to pick handfuls of blackberries. I picked a nice place in the shade and plopped down to catch up on some phone calls. I had only planned to do 15 miles, and even with the breaks the trail was so easy that the miles just melted away with ease. I hiked with Sandman for a bit. The trail took us within 5 miles of Carlisle, PA. I felt a little guilty for my friend driving an hour to scoop me up when few days later I was so close by. Whoops. The trail also took us over I-81. I looked north towards home. I wondered how long it would take to get there if I were in a car. The temperature continued to rise. You could feel the heat wafting up from the asphalt. The trail cut back into a cornfield, and I found a little patch of shade tucked in a cluster of trees. There was a flat area beneath a cluster of old boulders and dry coppery colored grass. I shed my shoes and socks and pulled out my food bag. My lunch options were limited, so I made due with the drudges of my food stash. Just as I was finishing up it started drizzling. It's been so hot lately I was surprised we haven't had more showers. I heard someone calling my name and looked up to see Johnny Thunder and Burgundy heading my way. I hiked out with them, but their long legs move a lot faster than my shorter version. So I slowed to my normal pace and watched as their figures got smaller and smaller. I caught up with them a few miles later at the Scott Farm Trail Work Center. I filled up water and ran into HoBo and Hat Trick. We three hiked together for the rest of the afternoon. The sky really opened up, but the rain was a nice change. It didn't last long, and by the time we got to Darlington Shelter it was over. I had planned to stay here for the night, but it was only 3:30, too early to stop. We utilized the "Taj Mahal", as the shelter's privy is named, and we got the trail low down from Shoofly, the ridge runner. I've come to realize that if I know what to anticipate from the trail, I can cover a lot more miles. Even if the trail is going to be tough. I'm mentally prepared for what I'm about to encounter rather than being taken by surprise. I exert a lot less mental energy trying to coax my way through. Shoofly also let us know of the local porcupine problem. Apparently, they've been eating eating the shelters and going after the salty boots of hikers at night. This is certainly not a hazard that I had anticipated!I hiked ahead of the guys. I got to an opening in the trees. There was a wide vista to the east and west. I walked to the east. The view opened up on to a lake miles below. I wished that I had more water with me, because it would have made a great place to camp for the night. But I as down to less than a half liter. I would need much more to make dinner and breakfast. Plus, I was dehydrated and could use a good liter just to drink. So I took a few pictures and headed on. The directions said the trail would start to get very rocky. And there were certainly rocks, but they were no worse than stretches we had faced in Virginia which had not been noted in the directions. I had been dreading this section for the last several days, but my fears didn't really come to fruition. But at this point in the day, I already had covered more than 20 miles, so my feet and legs were tired. They ached. My toe caught on rocks, and I didn't pick my feet up high enough, so as I result I would take awkward steps and make awkward foot placements. One rock caught the ball of my right foot, and I lurched upwards trying to keep from falling. In doing so, I felt my right knee strain. Damn it. The bugs were out in force and my salty clothes chafed my inner thighs and under my armpits. I was ready to be done. The shelter was .2 miles down a steep, rocky side trail. It's water source was another .1 miles down an even steeper, rockier trail. But I was out of water, so I had to go. The shelter was really nice and clean. But apparently it too suffered from a porcupine problem, so the steps up into the shelter had been removed. The shelter floor stood above my waist. I hoisted my pack off and climbed in. I could see teeth marks on the floor of the shelter and on the bunk I would claim for the evening. I really hoped I wouldn't wake up with a porcupine in my bed. I changed out of my sweaty clothes. My tender bits burned, not with passion, but with rawness. Large areas of skin were the color of a ripe raspberry. And in other places the skin was simply gone. It had been rubbed off. Hat Trick and HoBo showed up soon after. I hiked down to the spring to fetch water and wash some of the salt off. The cold water felt so good. I got back up to the shelter and climbed in. I was a bad hiker and cooked in the shelter. It was dark, and I was too tired to try to stand up. I was starving. I dreaded having to fight the mosquitoes all night, but the shelter maintainers seem to have treated the shelter with some sort of animal and insect repellant. They didn't dare enter. Hallelujah! I crawled in my bunk and thanked the heavens for the light breeze that blew into the shelter. Within seconds I was asleep. If a porcupine crawled in bed with me, I'm not sure I would notice.