Date: 2018-07-07
From: Yellow Springs

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 22.1
Weather: few clouds

I kept my fly off again overnight, trying to get some airflow. Well, it stayed dry but cooled off a ton and I woke up freezing. I was the last one out around 8. I even had to keep my beanie on for the first few miles, good thing I didn¢t send it home!The morning was pretty easy until I passed Rausch Gap and Stony Creek. I guess beavers made a dam that flooded the trail about four inches deep, and there was no walkaround for half a mile. This wasn¢t like clear river walking but muddy, branches, swampy etc. For some stupid reason (laziness?) I decided to keep my shoes on instead of wading in my sandals. Well, it wasn¢t hot enough for my shoes and socks to dry out and they kept rubbing against my foot. I didn¢t have my toe liners in either, which I usually do for rain.So that was awesome. At least the sun was out and weather was great. When we got to the next creek before PA 433, I filled up water and was debating taking lunch even though it was early to dry out my feet. It had a weird tree bridge to cross, so I decided to figure that out (my balance isn¢t the best) and then reevaluate. When I had gotten over, a guy comes running up and said they had trail magic so don¢t eat lunch yet. I guess Crawdaddy and Smiles, a real nice father/daughter duo I was leapfrogging, had told them I was behind and they hadn¢t seen me come through yet.We get to the parking lot and there is a tent and grill set up with quite a spread - burgers, fruit, veggies, homemade cookies, cake, etc. It was put in by. a young couple that thru hiked last year. I think her name was Switchback and his was Trail Name. They had each of their parents there, plus some other locals. They knew exactly what we were craving and were so nice. I think I must have sat there for two hours and don¢t even want to think about how much I ate. They even let me take some to go!Putting my shoes back on was not fun, nor was getting back on the trail. I realized a bunch of bumps on my leg I had noticed earlier now burned like fire. I especially could feel in my knees and feet, so you know nothing important. I don¢t think it¢s poison ivy because I had a rash on my arm that I think was poison ivy and it looked completely different. At first I thought it was bug bites but who knows.It¢s funny because I had just listened to the Sounds of the Trail episode on pain/injuries, and they talked about how you need to decide if it¢s something you can push through or need to re-evaluate. This was definitely the former. I was thinking how apart from blisters and an overused right tendon pain that went away, I have been pretty lucky. Most of my issues have actually been from falling, and I have been very impressed with how my body has handled basically breaking it down everyday. I have been trying to listen to it, and I think elevating my feet whenever possible has helped too.I hope I don¢t sound too whiny or complaining, but wanted to give the other aspect to the romantic parts of thru hiking like beautiful sunsets and meeting cool people. I think the other day I talked about days that are mentally tough, others are physically so. I guess the trick is to make sure they don¢t happen on the same day!So anyway, I finally got service and was communicating with my sister about meeting up since she was in the area. We finally decided on the second shelter I was thinking about staying at, which is actually right by the highway. The only issue was I still had over ten miles to go.I pushed ahead, the trail was pretty flat following the ridge but a bunch of those pointy rocks Pennsylvania is known for. And it wouldn¢t have been so bad, but every time my foot flexed or extended, I could feel the burn. As did any time I hit my knees with my poles, which happened more than you might think.Well, there must have been magic in the air because TWO different day hikers offered me fruit. I had to humbly decline given the extra food I was already carrying plus my upcoming dinner, but it was definitely tough to say no!The 501 ¢Shelter¢ is well known, as it is more of a cabin/hostel. Totally enclosed with bunks, trash can, portajohns, solar shower, and potable water. It has a caretaker that lives next door, I think the main reason is to ensure only backpackers use it and not local teenagers. I was a little worried about noise with the shelter being so close to the road, but it was on a short blue blaze from the parking lot and there were enough trees to block.I had just started setting up my tent when the Cohens arrived. They said they would meet me at the shelter, I forgot it wasn¢t really well marked so they missed the blue blaze and actually hiked a while on the AT! I guess I have developed a sense of where things are/ trails normally go (not that I don¢t get lost a lot, especially in towns).My sister and her husband have two young boys, and seemed to love being outside and the tent. They even got to give trail magic by passing out Gatorades. Also brought dinner and next day¢s breakfast, which was my only awesome to get fresh food but also meant I could delay my resupply.We said our goodbyes, and by the time I finished everything it was almost ten!