Date: 2008-05-07
From: Ensign Cowall Shelter MD 

To: Tumbling Run Shelters PA
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 80 ¢ Wednesday May 7 ¢ Tumbling Run Shelters PA ¢ Miles Today: 18.1 Total Miles: 1060.8We got up at our normal 6:00 and were on the trail by 6:45. We tried to keep up the pace today as we had 18 miles to go. We did a good job on the pace setting. We arrived at camp the same time as yesterday - about 4:30 - and we did about 3 more miles. We had some rocky areas but we also had a good mixture of nice terrain, too, with a bit of inclines thrown in. However, our inclines were only about 700'! I'm greatly afraid that by the time we hit the Whites our climbing leg muscles will be non-existent and we'll be going through the strength building process all over again. We¢ve seen lots of wild life lately. We saw a fox just over the Pennsylvania line. And both yesterday and today, we saw a couple deer. Since entering Maryland 2-3 days ago, we've been seeing chipmunks each day. It makes us feel like we're right back home in Pennsylvania. As we walked this morning, a plane buzzed us every 2 minutes. At first we thought perhaps we were near an airport that was giving flying lessons. But we eventually figured out the real scoop. Oh no, it's not a student pilot buzzing us; it's a plane spraying gypsy moth chemicals! There were signs posted on trees to inform hikers that they will be spraying for gypsy moths, but not to worry the signs state, the chemicals are not harmful to humans. Hmm, not sure if I trust that statement, as isn¢t that what they said about Agent Orange in Vietnam? We're going to see if we glow in the dark tonight. I wonder if our picture will be on the cover of Life magazine in a few years?Shortly after the plane stopped buzzing us, it sounded like it was sprinkling. We looked up at the sky. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was a perfectly clear blue sky. ¢Oh wonderful¢, our minds said, we¢re getting rained on with either falling dead gypsy moth worms or dead gypsy moths.   How delightful. We hoped for some of the falling matter to land on our heads or on our packs so we could identify the object, but we had no luck.   Or perhaps we did have a lot of luck, that none seemed to land on our head? Lately, black worms about half an inch in length have also invaded us. Not sure what the are called, but we call them black worms or 12 inch worms. They're all over. They land on you, they land in the tent and they land in your water bottle if you leave your water bottle open too long. You name it, they are there. We wonder if the chemical spray will kill them, too. Would be a good thing. Brakeman thinks that these little black worms eventually become gypsy moths and perhaps that's what they're spraying for, so we shall see.Cowboy Killer passed us again today. We first met him on May 1st. He spent an extra day at Harper's Ferry and did 27 miles yesterday! Who knows how many he¢s going to do today. He says he¢s feels totally rejuvenated, full of energy and feeling great after lots of rest and food in Harper's Ferry. I'm just afraid, though, with him doing 27-mile days, he's going to feel run-down again soon. But he¢s younger and stronger than us! We're looking forward to our 1.5 days off in Pine Grove with Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper. Hopefully when we head out again, we'll feel totally rejuvenated too. The day was hot - 88 degrees in the shade as we were hiking. Cowboy Killer's thermometer read just in the low 80s. Not sure whose thermometer was more accurate, but it was definitely hot. It was funny to look at Cowboy Killer. He had on a royal blue cotton T-shirt streaked white with salt stains from his sweat. He's only on day 2 - I'm thinking he's been sweating up a storm cranking out his 3mph pace. For our lunch break, we stopped at the Pen-Mar County Park and enjoyed eating our lunch while sitting under the pavilion overlooking the valley and also enjoyed the usage of running water in the restrooms to freshen up our faces, hands and hair.   Brakeman met Spruce in the restroom. Spruce was very happy to see a real bar of soap! Gosh, what have we become over these past months? Spruce, a recent college grad, started on March 5th and is hoping to finish by July 27, as he needs to start school for his Masters (MFA) degree in fictional writing.   Spruce is a big guy from Buffalo with a pack that is extremely small and lightweight - about 23 pounds. Because he is a big guy, his pack looks even smaller. We teased him that his thru-hike is not going to count because his pack is too small. He and Cowboy Killer have been leap-frogging each other for some time. Who knows, they might meet up again later tonight.   Spruce also said that being from Buffalo he¢s having trouble handling this heat! We had another dry day today. Although we are enjoying the nice dry weather, maybe we should request some rain here soon to get the pollen rinsed out of the air. Grasshopper just got done sneezing 5 times. Brakeman sneezed several times the other day and each time he sneezed, he lost his Jolly Rancher and would get very sad. You would think that he would figure out how to sneeze and not loose his Jolly Rancher after the first incident, but sorry, no dice. Tonight, we're at Tumbling Run Shelters. Notice the ¢s¢ on the end of ¢shelter¢. There are two shelters here ¢ one for snorers and one for non-snorers. However, they're just 10' apart so I doubt that it's going to do a lot of good. We've got a great site down by the creek below the shelters - nice and private. The one thing that we've noticed here, as well as last night, is the tent sites seem to be positioned near dead trees or trees with lots of dead limbs. Tonight's site is much, much better than the horrible site last night. Luckily we escaped through last night with no wind and no falling trees but these parks need to do a better job or they are going to be making widows or widowers out of us! It's about 7:00. We've got about a 5-mile hike in tomorrow to see Brakeman's ¢girlfriend¢, Robin. We'll leave in plenty of time so we don't feel too rushed and don't cause her to have to wait for us.   It's in the 70s and I think we're going to call it a night. Goodnight from our first night in Pennsylvania! Woohoo!!!