Date: 2018-05-10
To: Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Miles today: 10.3

I awoke to the gentle and quiet sound of bells softly ringing at 6:00 a.m.. It¢s not a sound typically heard in the wilderness, unless Buddhists on a pilgrimage are at camp. It was their wake up alarm. A short time later, the aroma of incense wafted into my tent through the screening. It was a wonderfully relaxing way to wake up, which I would gladly use to replace my alarm at home if it was feasible. No heart pounding after hitting the snooze too many times then realizing I¢m late, or worse yet, accidently shutting the alarm off altogether.  I haven¢t set an alarm at camp yet. Waking up has been a natural process. This morning felt even more natural and relaxed. I layed on my sleeping pad, enjoying the sounds and scents. No Doubt took off and said he was headed for the half-gallon ice cream challenge. He knew he wasn¢t going to feel well afterward, but was going to do it anyway. Noodle came into the shelter as I was packing up. She decided she was going to spend the day there. She¢s also a flip-flopper.  After eating breakfast and packing, I left going the opposite direction of the Buddhists. I was disappointed that I wouldn¢t have another opportunity to wake up as I had this morning.I could hear some thunder in the distance, but the sky didn¢t look threatening, so I left and shortly thereafter, and took my morning climb. After the climb, it leveled off and started raining, so I put my umbrella up and went to take a drink of water out of my hydration hose and.,.nothing. I didn¢t check my hose to make sure it worked before I left. I didn¢t feel like stopping to fix it as I had just attacked my umbrella to my shoulder strap. I also had a bottle of water to sip from if needed. I stopped a while later and took a look in my pack, moved a couple of things, checked the hose and it worked  I put my pack on and started hiking, it didn¢t work. I eventually stopped at a stream and basically unloaded almost everything in my pack  I had changed the configuration from what I had been packing things, so I put it back to how I had been doing it. As I leaned over my pack I smelled something stinky and thought ¢what is that smell?¢  As continued my unpacking and re-packing, I kept smelling it.  I finally realized it was me! I try to keep myself clean with wipes and wiping myself down at streams, but the sweating and no consistent, daily ahower was finally catching up with me,and i was gstting ¢hiker stank¢. It was bound to happen sooner or later.There was trail magic along way in the form of tapwater, blueberry donut holes, and Gatorade bottles in the stream. Each was at various locations in the woods.The terrain varied throughout the day, but was nothing extremely difficult. I stopped at Tom¢s Run Shelter pavilion to eat lunch and free my feet from my boots. I went to the shelter to sign the log and met Liberty, a woman from California who was inside the shelter journaling. I signed the log after some small talk, then packed up to leave. I could hear thunder in the distance and prepared accordingly by putting on gaiters and a light DWR jacket. As I was getting ready to depart, I decided to check the weather forecast as the sky looked more volatile than it did in the morning. There was a storm warning with hail up to dime size possible, and wind gusts up to 50 miles an hour. I immediately moved to the shelter to wait it out and informed Liberty what was headed our way. We conversed as the wind picked up and it began pouring rain. A hiker came from around the corner of the shelter, sprinting to get out of the storm. He apologized for his abrupt entry and climbed into the shelter. He was Red Bird, a thru hiker from California who had started in Georgia. The three of us watched the rain turn to hail, bouncing off the picnic table. After about a half hour, the storm began to let up and the sun started to shine through the trees. I saw what I thought was a rainbow, but it disappeared quickly. I thought I was seeing things and mentioned it to the others, when suddenly a rainbow appeared in the woods. I¢ve seen rainbows, but never anything like this. We all sat in amazement at the beauty of it. I took several pictures and videos. After it disappeared, I departed the shelter and continued my hike through the fresh air brought on by the rainfall. I came to the half way point of the trail, mileage wise and had thunder nipping at my heels as I came down the mountain, trying to get to the campground ahead. I arrived at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park main office, which was closed. I texted Puddles and Ambassador with no response. Based on my experience at Caledonia State Park,I thought I should find the campground before I paid. I called Puddles and a polite young man named Kyle answered the phone (which I later found out was her son). I immediately remembered that she said her calls were being forwarded to her real estate business. He said she was away and that he could help. I explained that he wouldn¢t be able to help me, as I was trying to find her ¢in the woods¢. I pulled my phone out and started following my Guthook app to what it indicated as being the State Park,4/10 of a mile away. When I arrived at the destination,there were no signs for the campground, and no one around.i texted Puddles,indicating I was near the snack bar and asked where to go. She didn¢t know where I was and said she would walk out to the road and look for me. I crossed a bridge I thought would lead to the campground, with no luck.Puddles called me and did her best to try to direct me into the campground. Because she didn¢t know where I was, and I didn¢t know where she was, it wasn¢t working. She mentioned the general store and told me where to go from there, so I headed back that direction, which was about 1/2 mile away from me.  A short time later, she texted me said someone was coming to pick me up. It was Wind Eagle! She was slack packing with a home base at the campground. Trail Angels,even among hikers!  She took me to the site next to Puddles and Roaming Ambassador Dorothy. I set up camp, ate dinner and showered. The shower was incredibly frustrating. It was a push button, which released a burst of warm (not hot) water in 8 second intervals. I get the idea of water conservation. I try to do it myself with efficient appliances,and not running it unnecessarily, but eight seconds?  It¢s barely enough time to wash or rinse any body part. At least the shower at Caledonia ran for 30 seconds at a time, and I thought that was short! To add to my exasperation, the button was about a foot above my head, so I had to hold my arms straight up over my head and push it in. I was getting cold so I pushed the button multiple times, like I was performing CPR, in hopes I could build up time by adding the eight second intervals together. As soon as I stopped, the water lasted...eight seconds. The water wasn¢t very warm anyway, so I stopped once i was clean. After drying off with my miniature towel and banana, I went to the sink and brushed my teeth. The sink was also a push button with automatic shut off. I pushed the button to wet my brush. I brushed my teeth, rinsed, and left to retire to my tent, the water in tbe sink still running...