Date: 2016-06-11
From: ATC Office in Boiling Springs

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

What a great day! Long day = long postFirst off, a celebratory announcement... I hit 100 miles today!!!I'm feeling good. My feet ache like crazy at the end of every day. Well, it usually starts just a few miles in. But other than that, my body is really holding up. Plus, I've dropped about 15 pounds since I started. The last couple of days I have noticed the hiker hunger starting to peek it's little head up, though I still don't really want to eat while I'm hiking, even when in hungry.??I survived my night in the top (third) bunk last night. Though it was awkward climbing up with only about two feet of room between the bunk and the rafters. I didn't want to deal with my sleeping bag, and the extra blankets provided were undersized, but I made it work. And the bunks were passed, but hard none the less. So, not my best night's sleep on the trail, but I was content with it. I did bang my head on the rafters when I got up, but all was well. I got up at 5am and got packed. We had farm fresh eggs that were collected yesterday cooked in the microwave. :-/ Too bad. But they weren't awful. Lisa ran us back to the ATC office to continue our journey, and we decided to leave our packs and go to Cafe 101 for coffee. We got there at 6:30. They opened at 7. We decided to wait. Eventually we did get our coffee, then sat around for a bit before heading back to the ATC. While getting ready, Ed noticed the scale on the front porch and weighed his pack, so of course we all had to do the same. I had not yet weighted my pack. With (too much) food and three liters of water I was at 38 pounds!!! Way too much! A quick shakedown was in order, so I went through all of my gear. Now, I actually have used everything that I'm carrying so far, except for the emergency gear/first aid stuff. But, I was still able to pull out a few clothing items that I don't absolutely need, and about half of my food. The food and a couple of other items went into the hiker box. [Hiker boxes can be found at various places including hostels, outfitters, some post offices, and some shelters. Basically it is somewhere to discard items that someone else might have use of. And they are great to check out before you resupply. You can find various food and clothing items, half full fuel canisters, bits of gear, you never know.]. Everything else was going to be shipped back to Louisiana, and much of it I will get back with my winter gear. Got my pack weight down to a reasonable 32 pounds with three liters of water and about three days worth of food. I had to keep all of the poor arts because I think one of the packs is watermelon (awesomeness!!) but they aren't marked.I headed over to the post office directly across the street at 8:30 to find that they didn't open until 9! Geez! So I sent Ed, Lyle, and Kritter on their way and I waited for them to open. I was on the trail by 9:05. If you read my post yesterday you might have picked up that I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to all of the field crossings or dreading them. At this point I was kind of dreading them. But it all ended up being amazing. I had pictured walking through nothing but fields for miles and miles. But most of my time was spent in the stands of trees between fields. Occasionally the trail would follow along the side of a field, and a few were crossed over. It was a hot day, but there was enough intermittent shade and water sources that it was very manageable. As I was walking alongside one of the wheat fields this morning, I hear a bleating sound. I pulled out my earbuds to get a better listen, trying to figure out if it was some kind of bird because surely there wouldn't be a lamb in the middle of a wheat field. A few seconds later a tiny, shaky legged fawn wobbled into a rocky clearing. It couldn't have been more than a couple of days old. When it saw me it just crouched down and stayed very still. I expect I could have approached it without it fleeing. But, I didn't want to stress it out any more, and I wanted to respect the farmland, so after a couple of photos I was on my way. I never did see mom. I was chastised by a trail angel who fed me hotdogs, deviled eggs (I could gobble up a couple more of those right now!) and cupcakes about carrying too much water. According to her there isn't really anywhere that I would need to carry more than two liters. Ah well, I'm getting the hang of it and I started with much less water than I would have two weeks ago. In fact, I started the last big climb with only two liters, and I could have done it with one. It's really a bit of a science, and a bit of an art. Ideally I would get to a water source with no more than half a liter left. But, I'm still a bit afraid of being thirsty.Ed and Lyle got off the trail at a road crossing today. Ed was pretty caught up in hiking and went a couple of miles too far, but Lyle found him and picked him up on the way back out to drop off Kritter who he had shuttled into town to run an errand. They are going to meet us about 2.5 miles up the trail tomorrow morning, pick up our packs, and slack pack is to the Doyle in Duncannon. I had planned to take two days for this 11+ mile stretch, especially after the long day today. But you just can't say no to someone willing to help you hike rock scrambles without a pack!Throughout all of this I was concerned about the climb at the end of the day. Sure, the first 13 miles were relatively flat, but that's a long day, and that last mile and a half was far from flat with about 800 foot elevation gain. Eventually I realized I was being pretty silly. I've done plenty of climbs thus far, and if worse came to worse, I have a head lamp and can night hike. Near the top of the climb there was an epic view point right on the trail. It was the golden hour and the valley below was beautiful! Really helped to settle the mind for the last half hour.There were several times when the trail would climb a bit, just to go back down. A couple of these times I thought to myself how I could be really perturbed about loosing the elevation I had just gained, especially considering how far up I knew I had to go. But I just didn't have it in me to be bothered by it. I'm pleased that it's still so easy for me most of the time to remember why I'm out here and that it's not just about getting where I'm going for the night. It's not really about that at all. Now I'm lying in my hammock, spent, and thoroughly satisfied by the day. The wind is singing through the trees. The temp is perfect. And it's not supposed to rain tonight.I've got quite an early morning tomorrow, and I'm pooped!"I don't want a never-ending life. I just wanna be alive while I'm here."The Strumbellas, Spirits