Date: 2019-04-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Currently in Cove Mountain shelter right out of Duncannon, where I¢m planning to pick up two supply drops - one shipped to myself from Waynesboro and one shipped by my mom (thanks mom!).  Looking forward to the Nero (nearly zero miles) and maybe a Zero (zero miles) tomorrow.It¢s been a bit challenging these past two days, but I¢ve been making progress.  4/16 was the longest day yet at over 21 miles. Yesterday, 4/17 had short mileage but was tougher, with some steep uphill climbs and increasing rock fields (Pennsylvania is called Rockslyvania by hikers for a reason...).4/16In many ways this was a good day and a bad day.-great mileage-nice variety of scenery, from the old familiar leafless forests still in winter mode to the AT winding between farm fields-great trail town - Boiling Springs looked nice from what I visited.  Fishermen and a nice pond with a real swan, plus lots of ducks (including sadly a group mourning their dead).  Plus some decent restaurants.-got to eat a real lunch at a cafe that had Mexican food.  Had chips with guacamole and fajitas!-saw more wildlife!  Three deer, about 5-6 rabbits, countless squirrels, a horse, cows, a wild turkey-there was a long 11 mile stretch in which camping wasn¢t allowed, so all hikers have to press through here.  I started this around 4pm after being convinced it was an easy hike (most of it was - it was flat, but I went slower than I thought I would)-this day really wore me out and frustrated me by the next day, dampening my spirits-the most mud I¢ve hiked through today, which almost sucked off my shoes in some places.  Especially bad in the farm fields.-2 hours of night hiking, which I am more comfortable with now, but try to avoid.  It usually comes through my bad planning -didn¢t see the bear box at the shelter, and wasted a lot of time trying to hang my bear bag in the dark (eventual success!)-flashlight battery finally died trying to hang the bear bag-didn¢t want to disturb folks in the shelter because of my late arrival, so I setup a tent far enough away not to make noises.  Everywhere was covered in leaves and I didn¢t see that it was a very rocky area.  Also discovered I setup right on top of some animal scat...-left the rain cover off because no rain was forecast, but at 4:45am was awakened to a rain shower..  Got everything wet, and I had to scramble out to setup the tarp-got really frustrated after this and violently slammed back down on my air mattress, which ripped a hole in my tent and air mattress, the latter which started to deflate.  Tried to use the in-field patch kit, which seemed to work ok at the time.4/17Spirits were dampened because of the above events, so I didn¢t want to push myself to make it 11+ miles into Duncannon, the next trail town I¢m looking forward to staying at.  Luckily the next shelter was just over 7 miles away, so I aimed for that.Got a really late start and tried to really take my time and enjoy myself this morning.  Left just before noon, which is quite late.Starting to get quite rocky, which slowed me down a lot.  Also some pretty hard uphill climbs.Got passed by a thru hiker who started in early February!  He was friendly and encouraging.  Said it takes about a month to get trail legs, and after that I¢d be unstoppable.Arrived at my campsite with plenty of daylight to spare, so I cooked up a nice Mountain House meal (last one I have left) plus some coffee.Noticed a pinhole leak in my Smart Water bottle, which I was hoping would last me the whole way.  Also managed to drop the bag my Sawyer filter came with, which holds my other 1L of water, and it¢s seam split across the top.  I am breaking everything these days...Nice to have Cove Mountain shelter to myself.  Thought there was another hiker arriving, but it turned out to be a parade of wild turkeys coming in the evening.  That was unexpected!  If anything I expected porcupines, which have apparently been problematic at this shelter.  So much so that anti-porcupine measures have been put into place: the stairway removed and replaced with some rocks with some jumping distance needed, plus some aluminum flashing on the side of the flooring to make the surface too slick for the porcupines.  It seems to have worked - I didn¢t have any unexpected visitors last night!