Date: 2009-05-29
From: Under the Conodoguinet Bridge

To: Peters Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 93: Okay, so I have a chance to catch up on the last few days now. I just got a new journal and I don't know exactly where I left off. So I might repeat a little. I only did about a mile after the half gallon challenge and I camped near the halfway marker. Woke up and it was raining. Luckily my tarp setup kept me and my stuff dry, but I didn't want to pack up in that so I didn't lave until like eleven. I did about six miles and stopped at Tagg Run shelter for lunch but ended up not leaving. It was an icky day so I decided to stay dry and read and stuff. Still only halfway thru the Monkey Wrench Gang. Left Toe ended up catching me which made me feel better about the short day. We talked and played cards for a while. We were both going to try for a marathon day but didn't wake up until nine, and didn't leave until ten. I attempted to hike with him for a while but it only lasted half an hour. He's still a beast. It doesn't bother me like it did when Cabot and Wizard started out hiking with me though, because Left Toe has always been fast. I didn't get to Boiling Springs until 4:00. Just as Left Toe was leaving. I dropped my pack at the ATC. When I signed the register I saw that Bogey and Slim, 08 thru hikers that I met last year, had just been there. I missed them by like 2 hours. One of my crocs decided to walk away the other day, so I borrowed some hiker box shoes that probably look ridiculous.. and headed to the Italian place with the intention of getting a pizza. On the way there I passed the bubbling spring that the town was named after. It was cool. I ended up getting manicotti instead of pizza. Sometimes thru hikers talk about which hostel they would like to own or where they would like to start one, and I decided that for me it might be Boiling Springs. Just seems like it could use one since the trail passes through it. I have traveled quite a bit in the past and I have definitely been north of the Mason-Dixon line before but I have noticed a lot more walking thru. I never really associated certain things with the area before. For instance, they play rock in restaurants now instead of just country. But the houses are also different. And some things 'up North' really are different than 'down South'. I never noticed before, but the South is my home, where I am more at home, I think. Anyways, I went back to the trail building to get my stuff. I had learned that day that there was no camping between Boiling Springs and the next shelter, 14 miles away, but I decided to keep going anyways. At six.. The terrain was really easy. It was walking through a bunch of fields with a road crossing every mile. Another thing about the North: Too many roads. I really do like it here though. At nine I put on the headlamp, but it was not a good night or area to night hike, and I don't enjoy night hiking alone. But there was no camping allowed. After a frustrating hour and a half I did about a mile and a half and got to a bridge where I stopped. I kinda think it's cool to have that experience. Sleeping under a bridge wasn't as scary as I thought, but was still on the trail so that helped. I left at nine and got to the shelter at eleven to find Left Toe still in his sleeping bag. I stayed for a break and he decided to split a room with me instead of just going through. I took off again still only doing 2 mph. My feet still hurt. My legs too. I'm going to probably go to an outfitter at the end of PA and see if they can help me.