Date: 2014-09-09
From: Duncannon, PA

To: Cumberland Valley, PA
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: broken clouds

In the morning I got up and started to pack. Latin, Stack and Thor had planned on going to Boiling Springs that day which was over 25 miles away. I had been dreaming about the Allenberry for a hundreds of miles though and wanted to nearo there. I knew that our days of hiking together were coming to a close. Even if I made it to Boiling Springs with them today I wanted to stay tomorrow to see a play, not something three hiker dudes wanted. Latin came to my room and delivered news that shocked me. In anticipation of the rain in the forecast the three of them had decided to yellow blaze and shuttle up to Boiling Springs this morning. Latin wanted me to come with them. He spent nearly an hour trying to persuade me and delivered some extremely compelling arguments. Honestly, if the length of the shuttle had been ten miles or less I would have actually considered going with them. But cutting off over 25 miles of the trail was just something I couldn't do. I can't become a yellow blazer. I just don't have it in me. Staying in a group with other SOBOs would have been nice, but the guilt would have gnawed away at me for the rest of the trip. In the end I hiked out and left them at the Doyle. Ironically, the rain never came.The decision to hike instead of yellow blaze turned out to be a good one. The trail rewarded me. Not only did the weather hold for me all day, but I even got a nice view from Hawk Rock leaving town. Plus I got the chance to bank some trail karma! A couple of miles into the hike a came upon a day hiker named Lynn. She had been doing some trail maintenance in West Virginia and then decided to tack on a couple of days hiking around here before her vacation was over. We chatted for a few minutes while hiking. Just as I was about to pull away and hike on I heard her fall. When I turned around she was on the ground and crying. She had hit her head and knee on rocks. A chunk of her hair had gotten pulled out. It was a nasty spill. I knew right then that I was supposed to be here to help her.I went back and helped her take her pack off and sit up. She was worried about her knee being broken, but after a few minutes the pain subsided and she could move and bend it just fine. There was a small bump on her head but no blood or blurred vision. The body has a remarkable ability to heal if just given the time to do so. After a while she felt good enough to stand and walk about. When she was ready we began hiking again. Lynn was slack packing back to where she was staying for the next couple of days which was about 12 more miles from where we were now. I decided that even though it was going to slow me down I couldn't leave her, just in case that bump on her head turned into something more serious. I would never forgive myself if I left her and then found out later she had suffered another accident or worse. So we hiked together at a slow to moderate pace, one she felt comfortable with, for most of the day. The day turned out lovely. Lynn has a PhD in physics and is wicked smart plus is very insightful. We chatted easily all day, and I really enjoyed her company. Around 5:30pm I hugged her goodbye as we arrived back at where she was staying for the night. With only a couple hours of daylight left I had to book it to get some miles in. There really isn't anywhere to camp in the Cumberland Valley so I knew my options were going to be limited and I was going to have to stealth somewhere. The valley is full of farms and roads; super flat with little to no woods but lots of boggy muck near waterways. Not ideal for camping plus pretty much all private land. Just as the sun was setting I found a spot that would work in a clutch, a small copse of trees in the corner of a corn field. It was way too close to roads for my comfort but was mostly hidden from view, and with daylight fading fast I decided to throw up my tent and settle in for the night. I had hoped to get a lot farther that day, but in the end I know that the day had progressed exactly the way it was supposed to. The point the of trail is not just to pound out miles. It is about the human interactions we have along the way. Today I was meant to leave the bubble I was in, meet someone new and then continue on solo to find my next adventure!