Date: 2013-07-05
From: Boiling Springs, PA

To: Cove Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 21.6
Weather: light rain

One of the advantages of leaving from a place with an ice machine is that I could fill up my water bladder with ice and have nice cold water for about the first 3 hours of my hike. It is another hot and humid day. We were clearly the first ones on the trail this morning. You can tell because all the spider webs hit you in the face. Hat Trick and I were hiking about the same speed and took turns de-webbing. I had this vision of us coming to a road crossing and looking like mummy's from a horror movie except we would be wrapped in spider webs with strands of web dangling behind us and spiders clinging for their lives. Yes, the trail does funny things to your brain!I haven't hiked anything like this part. The trail was in and out of the woods, often hiking beside or through fields of corn, soy beans, wheat, hay, or pasture. We crossed the Pennsylvania Turnpike which was quite the contrast to the tranquil farmlands. There were frequent road crossings and we could often see houses. Apparently not everyone is enamored with living by the trail as evidenced by this friendly sign. We didn't test the truthfulness of the sign!We met Leonard, a local trail maintainer and he recommended a diner a few miles up the trail. THANK YOU Leonard and other trail maintainers for all you do!After we left the diner we walked for a long time through open fields. The blazing sun and humidity were brutal. Mid afternoon we caught up with Whirled Peas and hiked with her for a long time. She is so easy to be around. The rain began late in the afternoon. It didn't really matter because I was already soaking wet from sweating so much. I put my pack cover on but didn't bother with a rain coat. We decided to make this a long day and were even considering a 26 miler when I realized that I had left my Maine visor at an overlook a mile back. I was a quandary about what to do and ultimately decided to go back and get it. So Hat Trick's mileage is 21.6 and mine is really 23.6 but 2 of those miles don't count. We intentionally went to the Darlington Shelter because the guidebook lists the Taj Mahal privy as being there. If you are hiking this section let me just say its not worth your time to check it out unless you really need a privy. About the only difference between it and other privies is that it's bigger. Personally I don't need a lot of room so do my businessWe had come to a road crossing when Hat Trick informed me that he was entirely out of water. We still had 5 miles to go on a hot and humid day. While we were talking about what to do a woman came walking down the road and said "How's your water situation?" When we told her she said follow me and walked us up to her house where she filled our water bottles and gave us small bottles of ice cold water to drink. That my friends is a trail angel. It was amazing to me how she just appeared at the right moment. Her name was Meghan - THANK YOU Meghan!The rest of the hike was rocky and I was exhausted when I reached the shelter. The only people staying here tonight are me, Hat Trick, and Whirled Peas. I was so tired I thought about skipping dinner but decided my body needed the calories to recover over night.