Date: 2016-05-10
From: Clarks Ferry Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 24.7
Weather: few clouds

The next morning, I woke with my feet already sore. Roller and I agreed to set up camp 13 miles north, since there were no convenient shelter options. WannaChair wanted to go further and hopefully catch Timeout, so we said our goodbyes.The trail was rocky, it was cool and rainy, and my feet were killing me. I did not want to be hiking.We stopped at Peters Mountain Shelter for lunch and ended up staying there for hours. It was a gorgeous shelter, two stories, with an enclosed dining area and a deck. I told Roller that I might just stay the night there, given how sore my feet were, but the shame of only hiking 7 miles in a day would be too great, so I begrudgingly shouldered my pack and soldiered on.As it turns out, my shame was also self preservation. A few hours after we left the shelter, as he tells it, NOBO hiker Blues Brother was headed for Peters Mountain when he heard cursing and shouting. A man, headed south said, "Sorry you had to hear that," as he ran by. Blues entered the clearing to find the shelter and surrounding forest ablaze, apparently 5-6 separate fires had been set around the shelter. Thankfully, he was able to put out most of the fires by beating them with a broom and called 911. In a comedy of errors, he was transferred to several different emergency departments, none of whom knew where he was, what the AT was, or who had jurisdiction. Eventually, the state troopers shouldered responsibility and told him they were on the way and to sit tight. The ground was littered with shotgun shells and Blues didn't know if the crazy man in the woods was planning to come back, so he sat awake in the loft, knife in one hand, trekking pole in the other for FIVE HOURS until the Rangers arrived at 1 am.This whole story was recounted to Roller and I 17 miles later, when we stopped the next night and encountered Blues napping there, trying to make up some sleep before he continued on.We had passed a pretty unremarkable night, camped on a ridgeline north of Peters Mountain, then slowly hiked the 13 miles to Rausch Gap Shelter. Blues was a fast hiker who routinely hiked thirty mile days, which is how he ended up at the shelter before us.While Blues Brother's story took the cake that night, he wasn't the only one to discover a case of arson in this section of PA. About 4 miles before reaching Rausch Gap, at a campsite easily accessible from several roads, I noticed a acrid smelling, smoky fire in a clearing 200 feet from the trail. Worried that the fire would spread, seeing no one in the area, and blissfully unaware of the attempted arson of the night before, I went to check the fire and put it out.What I discovered was a charred bear bag, completely filled with a weeks worth of food, including tuna packets, rice, and oatmeal, paracord for hanging from a tree still attached. Someone had covered it in leaves and sticks and attempted to set it alight, but only the plastic and paper packaging caught. The oatmeal and tuna steadfastly refusing to catch. I quickly stamped out the coals and took off down the trail, creeped out and eager to find other humans who weren't arsonists. I scribbled a note in the trail register at the campsite, warning the hikers behind me to keep their eyes and ears open, then scurried on, not stopping til I caught Blues and Roller at the shelter.