Date: 2012-05-11
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: clear sky

This morning I was pretty slow at getting out of bed but I could hear that the hikers in the shelter were stirring so I got up as well. They were all surprised to find a tent set up at the shelter so I guess I was quiet getting set up last night. They were all surprised at what I had done and were happy that I pitched my tent and not take one of the open spots in the shelter. They were all heading to the same hostel that I was going to tonight and they all went on ahead of me. I did not get going until 10:00am because I only had 6.7 miles to do today.The trail continued on up the rest of the mountain then followed the ridge line once at the top. The trail was very rocky and had a lot of rock scrambles for the next four miles but it was a perfect day and I was really enjoying it. I was really feeling the 28 miles I did yesterday so I was going slower than normal but finally got to Dragons Tooth, which is a huge rock that looks like a dragons tooth, that also meant that I was at the end of the ridge line and was heading down the mountain to the hostel. I soon found out that the trail went straight down the side of the mountain! There was nothing but a bunch of cliffs. It was very difficult and there were sections where steel rods were put in the rocks and I had to go down them like a ladder. There was also a big section where I had to sit down and slide down sections. This went on for about half mile then turned back into a trail again.I finally got to the road that went to the hostel at 1:15pm and decided to walk down the road the other way .4 miles to a gas station to get a cold drink and some snacks. After I was done snacking I walked .7 miles back up the trail to the hostel. Once there I found that NOS, Chef, (a different Chef) Jersey, Sweet and Low...a hiker couple from Chambersburg PA. We all decided to go to a local restaurant called The Home Place at 4:00pm. Right as we were about to leave Teflon, Connect Four and Tickle Monster showed up and they joined us for dinner.The Home Place is an old farm house that was built in 1907 and was turned into a home style restaurant. When we got there it was packed. There was cars everywhere and people standing around outside on the lawn, in the gazebos and on the porch waiting to eat. We put our name on the list and were told we had an hour and a half wait so we hung out with some other hikers who were also waiting to eat. Our name finally came up and we headed in to eat. The way it work was we picked three meats and all the sides came with...oh and it was an all you can eat so they would just keep bringing food to us until we were stuffed. We all picked fried chicken, ham and beef roast and the sides were: green beans, baked beans, peas, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, cole slaw, mac and cheese, biscuits and apple butter & to drinks we had fresh squeezed lemonade and sweet tea. For desert we had cheery cobbler and ice-cream. We all ate too much and waddled outside and waited for Joe...the hostel owner...to pick us up.When we got back to the hostel, we found that Sipsey, Catfish, Big Sky, Medicine Man, Featherman, Big E and DK showed up and they all went to go eat after us. For the rest of the evening, we hung out on the farm and went fishing in the pond, played with the dogs and relaxed with each other until it was time for bed...night all!