Date: 2015-06-08
From: Port Clinton

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained early morning. We packed up and went to the barbershop where the Post Office had left my package. Frank has been a barber since 1966. We had to pay the entry fee which was: state our trail name, where we were from and our job. We chatted with Frank and his two customers while he cut hair and i unpacked the huge box my mom had sent me to resupply. It was impressive! She thought of everything including a giant bottle of Nutella! Thanks mom and dad and my sister Jenni for shipping it. Frank offered us cookies and let us recharge our phones. His wife came by to drop off one of his guitars and he introduced me to her and his Great Dane. It was really nice of him, and we reluctantly left. It was already 9:45 and we wanted to cover 20+ miles and severe weather was forecasted later in the day. Today the trail was much kinder than yesterday. We had several good climbs but they were fun climbs. Nice uphills and still Rocky, but not tedious. We leapfrogged Goochi and Blodge whom we had briefly net the day after we finished the 4 States Challenge. We hadn't expected to see them again but they came up behind us. The climb to the Pulpit view was a good one, challenging but big boulders. I love these climbs because you feel like you are getting a workout and the boulders mix it up. It's the smaller Rocky trail that hurts your feet. At the Pulpit we enjoyed the view and met another thru hiker Ox. We have met mostly section hikers and flip flippers lately so it was nice to meet another northbound thru hiker. He is named Ox because he always carries a lot of food. Uh ... I can relate. We moved on a couple more miles to the Pinnacle which is another cool overlook. Great views and there were three vultures circling nearby. I wonder if they hoped we would drop dead. By then it was nearly 3 pm and even though it was sunny blue skies, the forecast was 100% thunderstorms at 5 pm. We had 5.3 miles to go to the next shelter so we had to move. Fortunately the trail wasn't too bad. We had just under two miles to go at 4:30 and we could hear the thunder rumbling louder and more frequently. Ox had caught up to us and we picked it up. Finally we hit the paved road where the shelter was 0.2 miles away, and I broke into a jog to the shelter. The Eckville Shelter is really nice compared to most shelters. It's a six bunk building behind the caretaker's house. He even built an indoor shower and flushing toilet building in the yard. I took advantage of the shower before the downpour started. Fortunately Ox, Crafty and I claimed the last 3 bunks. We originally didn't plan to stay the night since we had only hiked 15 miles. We thought we would wait our the rain and then hike a few more miles. However with the thunderstorm downpour and relative niceness of the shelter bunks, we decided to just stay and keep dry. Goochi, Blodge and Loon arrived after we did. Finn, Wayfarer and Prime were already at the shelter in the other 3 bunks. We have seen Wayfarer's shelter register entries. He is an older gentleman who started hiking from Jacksonville, FL in October. He has hiked the Florida Trail and several other trails. He carries a chess set and likes to play speed chess with anyone who will play. Ferris and Five returned. They had left their packs and were rumored to be tubing but had just gone swimming. We haven't seen them for a week as they have been a day or two ahead of us. It was a full house. Several people tented and three people slept in the floor. But we were dry!