Date: 2007-06-12
From: Clark's Ferry Shelter, PA

To: Peter's Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: few clouds

It was refreshing to wake up to cooler temperatures this morning. Caveman from Ohio was up at 5:30 AM and tried his best to pack up quietly. Caveman from Ohio added the "from Ohio" to his trailname because there is another hiker with the trailname of "Caveman" out on the Trail this year. Jason continued to sleep for another hour.I decided to get up early as well, to take advantage of the cool weather. I packed my backpack, went to the spring for water, and downed a couple of oatmeal bars and that was breakfast. By 6:45 AM I was returning to the trail and noticed that Mike was just waking up from spending a night in his hammock nearby.I felt good this morning. Ten hours of sleep does a body good. The hike from Clarks Ferry Shelter to Peters Mountain Shelter was a breeze. Speaking of breezes, this segment of trail follows the crest of the ridge where I enjoyed temperatures of lower 60s and a brisk wind from the west. It cooled me off nicely. The walk was relatively flat as it stayed upon the ridge. The trees were creating a nice canopy and protection from the sun.Off to my right today, there were several opportunities to view the Susquehanna River Valley which parallels the Trail for a while. In the valley are many farms with what looks like mowed pastures, red barns, and silver silos. It is a pleasant, idyllic view when contrasted with the blue sky and the wide Susquehanna River.The rest of the weather today called for high, scattered clouds, low humidity, temperatures in the upper 70s, and a slight chance of rain or an isolated thunder storm tonight. Ditto for tomorrow. It sounds perfect.I arrived at Peter's Mountain Shelter by 11:00 AM. Casey and Jeremy were here packing up and expecting to re-group with Mike and Jason. They've been hiking together for a few weeks now.Peters Mountain Shelter is huge. It is a two-story shelter that sleeps 20. I understand that the water source, a spring, is several hundred feet down and nearly dry. In fact, this is a dry section of trail, with the next reliable water source six miles away, and then again in eleven miles beyond that at the Rausch Gap Shelter.I am going to stay the night here even though it was a short day. This will allow me to rest and it will put me at a good location to get to the next shelter which is seventeen and one-half miles away. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.By noon, Jason and Mike stopped by the shelter for water and for lunch. They're going to continue beyond this shelter today since they need to be in Port Clinton by Friday.Also visiting the shelter this afternoon was Focus, Coco, Monkey, Diesel (also on TJ), Backyard Boogie (also on TJ), No Worries and Blazer. They all stopped for a long lunch and hung around until a brief thunder storm passed by at 2:30 PM. So much for the expected perfect weather.All of them were headed down the mountain to a campsite about six miles away. I sill feel like I'm wasting time at this shelter, but I think that it's good to take it easy for the first couple of days.Later in the day, around 5 PM, the Breadless Horseman showed up. He's keeping a blog at http://gmjhiker.blogspot.com About the time he arrived, yet another thunderstorm rolled through. He wanted to move on and cover some more miles, but was concerned about the lightning since the shelter and the trail is high on a ridge. Eventually, he decided to call it a night and stay here when the storm refused to let up. Pogue and Pythagoras showed up a bit later. So, there are four of us here tonight.It is now nearly 7 PM and I've made a few entries in today's journal throughout today, partially out of boredom, but this will end it for today.