Date: 2010-07-01
From: Deer Run Campground

To: Boiling Springs, PA
Miles today: 6.6

Having a short mileage day planned, Hanso and I took our time breaking camp. Rather than hiking .5 miles back to the trail on the road, we bushwhacked about 100 yards through the forest and found the trail. We had a bit of a climb at the start which took us into some non-technical rock climbing which was rather fun although I had to take my pack off a couple of times to clamber up a rock and then pull my pack up behind me. Came across a large, flat-topped rock with a black cross painted on it (see photo). The ground around it was stamped down and appeared to have seen many feet. Before I let my mind wander too far with visions of sacrificial chickens, I checked but didn't see any blood stains. For a change we hiked together for awhile but got separated when I stopped for a break. When I continued I came across Power Nap and two other hikers using a cell phone to make reservations at the Allenberry Resort. I tried my cell phone so I could make reservations too, but couldn¢t get a signal. So I power hiked for about a mile to catch up to Hanso as his phone usually gets service. I caught Hanso at the ridge top which is the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains and my phone beeped that I now had a signal. So I called and got reservations for both of us. We made our way down the ridge and walked out of the forest and into farmland with hay, corn, and soybean fields. The trail took us through the middle of the fields with butterflies flitting everywhere in a dance of light and color. The most startling thing after all these weeks in the woods was seeing the full expanse of the sky again unobstructed my trees.A couple of miles later we were in Boiling Springs and the AT took us right to the AT Regional office where we stopped for a break. We went to the post office across the street and picked up our mail drops.My right heel was really hurting again so I let Hanso know that I was seriously considering doing a ¢fast forward¢ and skipping the 200 miles of nasty, pointy rocks for which the next portion of Pennsylvania is known. Hanso said his girlfriend was driving down from Maine to pick him up at the Allenberry that night and he was going to Maine for a few weeks before getting back on the trail further north. He offered to drive me up to Vernon, New Jersey (235.7 miles up the trail) the next day and we¢d stop in Duncannon to pick up my mail drop that had already been sent there. I also put a forwarding order in for my Port Clinton drop to be sent to Massachusetts.So we hiked the half mile to the Allenberry and checked into our rooms. I paid for his in exchange for tomorrow¢s ride. Awesome hotel! My room had a whirlpool bathtub and a four-poster bed I actually had to climb up a couple of steps to get into. I had a great night¢s sleep.Doing this fast forward has me finishing in Maine no later than mid-September which takes the pressure of rushing to finish in time. After I climb Katahdin, the north AT terminus, I¢ll come back and finish the 235 miles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey which, though not done in a strictly linear hike, still retains my thru-hiker status.