Date: 2009-06-13
From: Tumbling Run Shelters, PENNSYLVANIA 

To: Birch Run Shelter, PA 
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: few clouds

Cell noneOG notesWe hiked almost 20 miles today and I still feel good. We arrived at this shelter and immediatly saw a huge group of Boy Scouts. Those of you who know me know I, too, am a member of the Boy Scout family. It breaks my heart when I hear people trash talk Scouts. The majority of the Scouts out here are doing everything right and are a pleasure to meet and talk with. The problem with some Scouts are they have so much energy that they run around the site and yell a lot. Most backpackers, both thru-hikers and section hikers, get to their destination site and want to unwind as they do their camp chores and go to bed. They also want to find a good flat spot to set up their tent for a good night's sleep. When a large Scout group shows up at a shelter they tend to find neither.Scout leaders should limit their backpacking group size to 10 people, both boys and leaders, if they plan to camp near a shelter. I may sound a bit snobish about this but I'm not. As I said earlier I don't like hearing people talk badly about Scouts. When we pass southbound hikers and there are Scouts ahead of us we usually hear "You have a group of Scouts ahead of you" and it usually is said in a negative tone. Fellow Scout leaders please remember that you and your boys are ambassaders for Scouting. Whatever impression you leave with fellow hikers will reflect how they feel about all Scouts.The reason I'm on my soapbox is because this group has over thirty people in it, which is way too much for a backpacking campsite.On a good note when we arrived we were treated to some trail magic by a 2008 thru-hiker, PEANUT. Thank you for doing the Trail Magic and for carrying it the mile to the shelter.With all that complaining we did find a relatively flat spot to set up our tent and we're safely in it. The rain that is predicted is coming, we can hear the thunder and it's coming our way. C6 notesWe were alone in the shelter last evening, so we had time to talk things out and we're okay today. I was too upset last evening to write anything. I was still upset over things that were said last evening when we started hiking this morning, but after a couple of hours my being upset disolved. I was concerned this morning about how I seem to be seeing mostly the negatives about this hike lately. I've been disturbed about something in particular (something I won't go into), and as I've been upset about it, it seemed that I was feeling negative about many things. I thought about that a lot this morning as we were hiking and realized I need to have another attitude adjustment and try to focus more on the positives. Once I had that thought, I suddenly started seeing and thinking of many positive things about this hike and I began to feel much better. As an example, it was sunny all day today as we hiked, but shortly after I had the thought of looking at the positives I became very aware of the sunshine. And after that we had some fun encounters that don't happen every day.First, on a whim we decided to walk .5 mile down a road to an Italian restaurant for lunch. The food was delicious (and the leftovers were a fabulous late afternoon snack!) and another customer started asking all sorts of questions about our hike. That was fun.Not too long after we got back on the trail we came across a woman who recognized OG..."Just Joan" from his 2006 hike! She is hiking for 2 months (started 6 days ago) and thought she might see us because she has been following our Trail Journal. We had a lovely conversation with Just Joan. Throughout the day we've been seeing Boy Scout Troops, and had some delightful conversations with some of the leaders. Lots of questions about our hike. It's apparently a very busy Boy Scout camping weekend around here! There are two troops at this shelter tonight (30 people all together). They stay in tents, so the shelter is nearly empty. We thought tonight would be clear so we're in our tent, but a thunderstorm just blew in...how wrong we were. Oh well. We like the tent over the shelter anyway, and I need more time in the tent in storms to become less anxious about that. I'm not anxious at all right now. When we got in the tent it was hot in the tent. It's about 30 minutes later and the storm already sounds like it may have passed and the temperature has dropped drastically. Not cold, but there's nice cool air coming in the tent now.Another good thing that happened today was that I didn't step on a rattlesnake. WHAT? We had stopped at a unique shelter (Quarry Run Shelter) and I wanted to take a picture of it. I stepped back to be able to get more of the shelter in the picture and immediately heard a rattle behind me. Part of my mind thought rattlesnake rattle, another part wondered what the kids had that would make that sound (there was a Boy Scout Troop there). I immediately stepped forward again and the rattle stopped. When I looked behind me, I saw a 3 ft long Timber Rattlesnake there. We all watched as it went from where I first saw it to across the trail and into the woods on the other side. No one did anything foolish, and I'm thankful I didn't step on it or get close enough to make it strike out at me!The last real good thing that happened today was trail magic when we got to the shelter. "Peanut" (thru-hiked last year) was here with fruit, desserts, and left over hot dogs and hamburgs from trail magic she and a friend did at a road a mile North of here today. They had 17 hikers come through at the road, and then Peanut brought what was left to this shelter for any of us who stopped here. Cool! Thanks so much, Peanut!Old Goat & Check Six