Date: 2021-05-06
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Birch Run Shelter
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: broken clouds

What a nice shelter last night. I heard from a section hiker that the same man has been caretaker for the Tumbling Run shelter for 30 years. There were flowers at the covered picnic table and the privy was fully stocked with 2-ply toilet paper. TWO PLY!!!! It was 38 degrees when my alarm went off so I opted to stay lazy and warm in my quilt for another half hour. After packing up I was on the trail at 6:45. There were a few somewhat technical boulder scrambles early in the day and more than few ¢ouchy¢ moments (Dudley still demands attention but Harry is back for the holidays with troubles of his own), but by and large the trail was pretty kind today. I kept checking on my delivery status for the ongoing Saga Of My Lost Shoes. About midday there was an update that the package was at the Frederick, Md post office - which is not where it was supposed to be delivered. Current plan is to just send that box back home and hopefully find some new kicks either in Boiling Springs, Pa on Saturday or Carlisle, Pa on Sunday. Oh, and I forgot what post office my glasses are being sent to as I forgot to write it down. Oops. I¢ll be making some phone calls on Monday to post offices up trail that seem like places I may have picked. This is fine  I had 10 miles in by 11:30 and came to a road crossing. The Guthooks AT app listed a burger joint .9 miles down the road. I should note that included with my shoes was three days of food resupply. So I was down to roughly 2500 calories in my food bag. As I contemplated, two other hikers emerged from the woods and we all decided to make the road walk. One hiker is called Happy (he¢s vlogging on YouTube) who started in Georgia in January and the other was Grumpy Cat who I met back in Glasgow, Va. GC has been on trail 75 days and is just shy of halfway. I had a double cheeseburger that was not bad and not great and some cold fries. All in all: acceptable is acceptable. The road walk was actually only .4 of a mile, so the walk back to the trail 90 minutes later only took 10 minutes.I met one couple out day hiking who highly recommended that when I get to Vermont, just across the river from Dartmouth college, that I take a side trip to the King Arthur Flour headquarters and eat at the company store/deli. So noted. They told me their son lives in New Hampshire and has as a goal to trail run all the presidential range in every season of the year. I asked which one of them was responsible for producing such a wacko, and she immediately pointed to her husband, he just slowly nodded. For the first time in a few weeks, I decided to call an early end to the day¢s hike at 5pm. I wanted a leisurely set up and to rest my feet a bit before the cold rains arrive tomorrow morning. I ate a 400 calorie dinner and talked with Grumpy Cat, Happy, and another hiker called Skippy who will all hit the halfway point of their hikes tomorrow. Quite a feat. I am in an area with no cell service, so this post for Thursday might not go up until Friday afternoon sometime.  So I¢m going to listen to the Audiobook version of Watership Down - which is not about a seafaring disaster, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with the title.