Date: 2003-06-08
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Quarry Gap Shelters
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It was magic¢¦sometime in the early morning Troop 200 from Hershey, PA left with hardly a whisper. Amazing that so many people can take down their tents and leave so quietly¢¦Ok, I was wearing ear plugs, but they were quiet. So we got up around 8AM and ate, got dressed, packed up, and hit the trail¢¦.uphill, steep¢¦A nice way to wake up an injured foot. I put sport tape on it to support it, but then removed it at the top of the hill and it felt better. It¢s a good thing I have to do 18 miles tomorrow to get to Pine Grove Furnace State Park and the Ironmasters Mansion AYH Hostel. Anyway, today went ok. My foot only seems to hurt when I stop, and my toes is swollen but not infected, so life is good. We hiked along a couple of hours before we caught up to Troop 200 on a break. As I walked by I yelled ¢Hey lets hear it¢¦.Troop 200 Hooo-Haaa!¢. That got them going, they were all yelling as I left. Shortly, some scouts passed us, then we passed them (their leader was jogging to keep up with them). Finally arriving at route 30 and the pizza place for a late lunch. Wench and I were eating cheese garlic bread and a large sausage pizza and sodas as Paparazzi, B-Rock, and Mule came in to eat (between the 3 of them they got a salad, cheese sticks, a hamburger, 2 large pizzas and a medium pizza¢¦whew). We were all stuffed as we got back to the trail. Soon we were hiking thru Caledonia State Park with lots of people around and a big party going on. A woman (Mrs. Bill Gates) and a man stopped us to talk as they were going to the party. They asked about our hike and where we were from, and then asked us to come and eat with them. They were from a Roman Catholic Church in Gettysburg. A nice offer, but we were both stuffed¢¦too bad, it was nice trail magic. So we hiked uphill out of the park and met a young lady reading a book, resting on a log, and talked to her a while about the AT. She wants to hike it someday with her Dad. As we were talking, 2 hikers out for a week caught up with us and we all hiked up to Quarry Gap Shelter for the night. What an awesome shelter, it has rooms for hikers to sleep on 2 sides of a covered pavilion over picnic tables. Very cool!, very clean. A nice rocky channel in front with water flowing through, clothes lines, a clean privy¢¦. not too shabby. I sent out a text message to my wife telling her where I was, and suddenly she called (she got the message). I filled her in on where I was, then told her I would be at the halfway point tomorrow (if my sore foot allows, it¢s 18 miles away). She is also checking on car rental places so I can rent a car near NJ and visit family and friends there (I¢ll try to make it on a weekend, so I can catch people at home and visit my old church (they are all rooting for me and praying for my feet and knees). Anyway, the ¢Innkeeper¢ (the shelter maintainer) Jim _____) showed up and we talked to him for a while about shelters, hikers, maintaining, etc. very nice guy¢¦then my hunger started to return and I attached my food bag (cheese, Slim Jims, crackers, snickers, milky way¢¦ but I was only snacking). Some more chat, journaling, treating my feet and off to bed. Looking forward to tomorrow and reaching the ¢real¢ halfway point (the half-way marker is a couple of miles of the trail. The ¢true¢ halfway point changes every year due to trail re-routes). More tomorrow¢¦ Life is good.