Date: 2014-09-06
From: 501 shelter

To: Raush Gap
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: few clouds

We planned to hike a much more reasonable number of miles today, something my body was eternally grateful for. This lovely SOBO bubble though took its first loss in the morning. Chicken Fat took off flying down the trail early in the morning. He was trying to knock out crazy big miles everyday to make it home for his brother's birthday. I was sad to see him go but completely understood. Didn't want to interfere with his hike but will definitely miss his smile and jokes. That kid is absolutely hilarious!I set out before everyone else though. I knew I could make it to the goal destination that day but was still tired from the day before and not moving as fast. Less than five miles later, just after the William Penn shelter, I took a break though. I had reached the 1000 mile point for SOBOs. As I suspected, there was nothing commemorating this huge milestone. I guarantee there is something at the 1000 mile point for NOBOs. NOBOs get all the love. SOBOs get shafted on the regular, especially with markers. I decided to stop and create a little something to help mark it. Not much. Just a few stones that I gathered. But still a physical reminder of reaching that point. 1000 miles. I have just hiked 1000 miles from Katahdin in Maine down here to Pennsylvania. Awesome sauce. I even did a little dance!I kept expecting the guys to pass me all day but they never did. I knew that I had left first and felt like I was hiking at a decent pace, but still they should have passed me fairly early, especially with me stopping to make my little rock sign. I know they are all fully capable and self-sufficient, but after a few hours and no sign of them I started to worry. I hiked on with no sign of any of them. Weird. Towards the evening clouds moved in. I began to hear thunder rumbling. There were some really cool ruins that the trail goes right by. I spent a few minutes reading the signs but with sunset close at hand and the thunder growing louder I pressed on. If time had allowed I would have loved to explore the ruins more thoroughly. That stuff is cool. I pressed on though knowing that I was close to "home" for the night. About half a mile before the turn-off for the shelter I felt the first drops fall. There was a perfect spot for tenting there, and I was tempted to just throw up my tent. Being so close to the shelter though I decided to press on. I might have walked 10 steps before the rain started coming down in earnest. I pulled out my headlamp so I could see in the dusky light but digging out my rain gear once it was already raining was pointless. The last half mile of trail and then the three tenths of a mile to the shelter were not fun. I hate hiking in the dark. Hiking in the dark in the pouring rain I hate even more. There was nothing to do though but suck it up and hike toward home where I knew a roof waited for me. When I got there I was completely dumbstruck to see Latin, Stack and Thor there. They even had a fire going! Turns out they had taken a blue blaze from the shelter to the trail and been ahead of me all day long. They welcomed me in and gave me props for hiking in the downpour. I tried to keep all my wet gear on the edge of the shelter so all of their stuff wouldn't get wet too. I wrung out everything I could and draped it over every available hook and nail. I knew it wouldn't all be dry in the morning but was hoping for at least mildly damp. Knives and Unplugged never showed which made me sad. Turned out they had thrown up their tents when the thunder started. I did not envy them though. The rain that night was ridiculous. I was really glad I had pressed on to the shelter rather than stopping short. With rain like that a shelter is always the ideal place to be. I'm not sure my tent would have withstood it.