Date: 2018-05-08
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Caledonia State Park
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: broken clouds

I slept in and missed Bite Me and Puddles leaving camp before I got up.  Apparently I need the sleep, so I¢m just going with it for now. I¢m sure I¢ll be getting up with the birds soon enough. I was enjoying my breakfast when the screaming teenage girls, who were no longer screaming, came by.  They were walking in a single file line, packs on, headed to get water. Their packs swallowed them up. They looked so big compared to the girls¢ small bodies. George, the volunteer caretaker of the shelters came by. He and his family have been caretakers since the 1990's. He comes to the shelter every day to fill toilet paper (a majority of shelters do not have toilet paper - it's bring your own) and tend to any issues that need to be addressed. His son built the privy (otherwise known as an outhouse). It's very good quality, just like everything at this location. It includes a pavilion, a snoring and non-snoring shelter, fire pit, clothes lines, and food hanging pole. I would have to say in my limited experience on the trail, and from talking to other hikers, it's one of the best locations on the trail. George takes great pride in making it the best, and it shows.Double H and Field Trip came by before I left. Double H is using Instagram to document history along the trail. Field Trip is a retired elementary school teacher from Ohio and looking for Lady Slipper flowers. He has also been featured in the Mighty Blue Podcast. They are both great guys.The hiking was very peaceful in the morning hiking this morning. It started off sunny and became overcast with a light rain, but not enough to get wet. I stopped at Chimney Rocks for a snack and a great view. In the afternoon I came across a box in the middle of the woods with a trail log. It was a pleasant surprise. I stopped and signed the book. I chatted with "Lefty" who was going SOBO (southbound). Mid to late afternoon I got into my trail cadence. The sun had come back out so I had my umbrella deployed and was moving along a good pace, the exertion almost effortless. Off trail, just to the right of me, I heard a distinct sssssssss.... for a split second I scanned the ground, looking to see what it was. Up to this point in my life, I've never had an encounter with a rattlesnake. My understanding of rattlesnakes is that they don't rattle unless they are threatened. I'm sure the sight of my umbrella coming down the trail looked like a giant cobra to him. I don't know if rattlesnakes and cobras are mortal enemies, but I wasn't willing to stick around and find out. My natural instincts kicked in, and I ran until I couldn¢t hear the rattle anymore. My heart was pounding and my hands were trembling. I finally calmed down and was on a relatively smooth part of the trail, with a few rocks. I started to get a drink of water, glancing down briefly to look at my hydration tube. My boot tread got caught on a rock, and down I went! Up to this point on the trail, I had stumbled over rocks, stubbing my toe guard, or sometimes pulling my toes back, stretching the front of my ankle. I looked back and saw the culprit, a triangular shaped rock, pointing straight up. It had caught me mid-tread on my boot. I didn¢t hit my face, but I did get a nice lump and scrape on my left shin. As I continued on, I encountered some boulders and a climb took a while to get through. I was approaching a road that led to Fayetteville, PA. One of my hiking buddies suggested I stop at Timbers Restaurant to eat. It¢s a mom-and-pop joint 1/2 mile west of the trail off US 30 in Fayetteville Pennsylvania. It was around 7pm, and I only had 4/10 of a mile to get to the state park to bed down for the night, so I decided to take advantage of a burger and fries. Tim and Wanda are the owners, and are absolutely fantastic. They welcome hikers with open arms. They have a hiker log to sign, poster boards for hikers to sign, a charging station, and a hiker box. They serve breakfast all day, lunch, dinner, and ice cream! I had a burger and chocolate milk. The burger was made fresh and was great. I chatted with Tim and Wanda for a few minutes and left after the sun set. I hiked to Caledonia State Park with my headlamp on. I had called earlier, and got an answering machine. The message indicated that late arrivals should go to the office, and follow the instructions, using the honor system, paying with a payment envelope. Not wanting to break any rules, and wanting to stay in the park, I arrived and saw a sign indicating the direction of the office. After that, there were no signs. I wandered around for about 40 minutes, trying to find the office. I had a map on my phone, but it was dark and hard to figure out where I was since I couldn't see any landmarks beyond whatever location I was. The maps didn't do me any good since I didn't know where I was, so I couldn't figure out where I was going. I eventually found the office and saw map of where the campground was. I pulled it up on my phone and tried to get an interactive map so I could figure out how far it was. I figured it couldn¢t be too far so I picked a site, put my money in the envelope and put it in the payment box. I wandered a little bit, then saw a sign that pointed to where the campground was, down Route 233. I walked to the road and looked in the direction of the campground, seeing nothing but darkness. I checked on my phone, trying to figure out how far it was, coming across information that indicated it was a quarter-mile from that intersection that I was near, so I started walking, and walking, and walking, and walking...in the dark with my headlamp on. When I knew had easily gone more than a quarter-mile, I started to regret my decision, thinking that I should¢ve called a shuttle while I was at Timbers to take me to a local hostel. I was in too deep now, so I kept walking. It ended up being at least a mile. I went into a driveway that I thought may take me to campsites, but ended up near what appeared to be vacant buildings. I felt like ghosts were watching me from inside, so I quickly went back to the road and continued on. I finally arrived at the park, trying to be quiet and not to disturb any of the campers. I quietly found my campsite and started setting up camp. A few minutes later, a truck pulling an RV pulled up to a campsite near me. The driver kept trying to maneuver the RV in the place, as his wife was outside the vehicle, trying to help him navigate. He was hollering at her, and was obviously frustrated he couldn't get the RV to go where he wanted. He ended up in a position where his headlights were pointing directly across at other campers who were sleeping. The campers across the road started yelling at the driver to shut his headlights off. After 25 minutes of unsuccessful parking of the RV, they left the site and went to the other side of the park and disturbed other campers. When I returned from the showers, they were either gone or they had parked and just went to sleep. I went to sleep happy... I had a Timber's burger in my belly!