Date: 2014-07-13
From: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

To: Leroy A Smith Shelter
Miles today: 33.5
Weather: broken clouds

Well I wanted to do a big day but I didn't think I was going to have my biggest day yet. The biggest reason was a simple act of kindness I received on the trail that gave me the motivation to keep hiking. There was a lot of rock and bouldering climbing today and a good chance of rain so I wanted to get as much of that out of the way before the rain it because going over these rocks when they're slippery is dangerous and wanted to avoid that at all costs. I didn't have a lot of water so I wanted to get to the next shelter as quick as possible to refill. The problem was I had to hike a across Knife Edge and Bear Rocks which were jagged rocks along the ridge of the mountain so that slowed me up a bit but it wasn't as bad as I thought.    I finally got to the shelter and hiked down the trail to the springs and as I went up to each one, they were bone dry. The trail spilt off in different directions and it got a bit confusing as some were overgrown but eventually I gave up on it. I sat dejected in the shelter and came to the realization I would have to hike the next seven miles without water and hopefully the next shelter would have water. My morale was low and no honey bun or candy would help out, Pennsylvania is a hard state on the body and mind. The rocks beat you up physically and the lack of scenery makes you go a bit crazy. With a heavy sigh, I put the backpack on and started hiking again. About three miles in, I was coming up to a road and I spotted a guy filling up coolers with food and putting out jugs of water. I never expect trail magic but I was hoping for some at this point and there he was. His trail name is Starman and he lives in the area and puts food and water out for hikers on the weekends. I loaded up on water which was ice cold and he even had fresh doughnuts which I inhaled in about two seconds. I talked to him for a bit and then was off in good spirits and motivated to keep going. It's amazing what a simple act of kindness can do for ones soul, it's something we all should do in our lives.   I got to the George W Outerbridge Shelter a few hours and checked the weather to see if there was a storm coming. The reason I was obsessed with the weather today is because right after this shelter was a steep 900 foot climb over loose boulders and then hiking along an exposed ridge line and this is something I didn't want to do during a thunderstorm. I was happy about this because I didn't want to sleep at this shelter as a section hiker told me a huge rat snake is living behind the bulletin board in the shelter and I don't want the snake slithering into my quilt at night to cozy up with me. The weather was holding off so I decided to go for it and it was probably one of the hardest climbs of the trip so far, it was literally climbing up huge boulders on a very steep side of the mountain, it was fun but exhausting. After getting to the top, my only options for camping were a campsite or a shelter eleven miles down so I said lets go big and I kept on going. At about mile thirty I was feeling the effects of the day and was getting delirious, I felt drunk. Those last four miles were the longest miles and I was going crazy and just wanted them to be over with and finally they were.    I sat the at the shelter for a while before someone delivered the bad news of the water being down a steep hill, I sighed and got up and went for it, if I waited I wouldn't have gone and gotten it. My body was hurting but I was proud of myself for doing such big miles over tough terrain. The rain finally came that night and the thunder and lightning put on a show and gave us the gift of cooler temperatures for the night which we were all thankful for.