Date: 2011-07-09
From: Day 121 Allentown HC Shelter

To: Day 122 George W Ourterbridge Shelter
Miles today: 16.8

After a very restful night sleep we were up early and on the trail by 7:20.  It was a beautiful morning, 62 degrees, light breeze, bright Sun, but too early for it to be hot.  As we hiked we just had to stop and admire the sun beams piercing through the trees, made all the more vibrant by the damp morning air. Yesterday the trail was a real challenge and some of the hardest trail I have yet to encounter, and what did we get today? The exact opposite. The first 4 miles today I would rate as some of the best trail I have hiked so far. Of course the trail never stays the same for long and that was all too true today  Next we were scrambling over monster sized boulders, about 1/2 miles worth. I hope the pictures I took show just how demanding it was. One slip and your ride is over, your ticket has been punched, you can leave by way of the pearly gates. In other words there was no room for errors. But that was only a section (Knife Edge) of the trail today. Mostly the trail was easy to moderate but if course it was rocky, but not too rocky. We stopped at Bake Oven Knob Shelter for lunch.  This time I went for water, only to find that Spring 1 & 2 were dry so on to spring 3, Craig's Spring, this one had plenty of clean cold water, but I now was 1/2 mile away from the shelter. It was a 30 minute round trip for the water, ugh. I was feeling the rock walks in my thighs so they could use the rest. We were making good time today, just as we had hoped for last night, so we  took a nice long rest, about 2 hrs.  The trail in the afternoon was typical of tough rocky Pennsylvania AT trail. The good thing about today's hike was the perfect weather and the lack of elevation change. We basically had level terrain with minor ups and downs. It was the trail surface that was the big player today. We arrived at our campsite around 6 pm. ............Today we are on page 118 (George W Ourterbridge Shelter) in the A. T. Guide by David Miller  (the green book)Temps, it's 73* in my tent right now (9:30). With no rain expected I have left the rain fly off, so theres only screening between me and the Moon and the Stars. We're not actually at the shelter but about .1 south of it. There is really no tenting near the shelter, so this is the closest level area. The water source is close by, just a little past the shelter. We filled up and hiked back to the campsite.  The shelter is full tonight with weekend Hikers, after all it is Saturday night and with the Moon already up, a beautiful night it is.  The only drawback is the noise from the nearby roads and towns..... .....So I have a little more pain in my thighs and my feet are sore tonight. This was somewhat expected since8 I hadn't hiked enough before going back on the trail, I'll just have to hike through it. ............My recent aches and pains are there to remind me that I am back hiking the Appalachian Trail, and after a day like today, what else can I say except once again life is beautiful on my piece of Appalachian Trail.....Total AT miles hiked today 16.8.........And another 4 Advil night it is................ Nite all