Date: 2003-06-07
From: Devils Racecourse Shelter

To: Tumbling Run Shelters
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: moderate rain

Well, today started out wet. Rain began during the night and just kept up all morning. We didn¢t even stir from our bags until after 8am! Finally got on the trail at about 9:40. Hiked 3 tenths of a mile out to the AT and began swimming/hiking. The trail was all water and mud, so finally we just started walking through it. Maybe some one should actually come up with a plan for the AT in Maryland when it rains. I wonder if they ever heard of drainage, water bags, etc¢¦. They have none. Worst wet weather trail yet. On a serious note, I injured my right ankle today; I twisted it inward (turned it) on a rock (I usually turn them outward). Now I have a swollen section on my right foot from my arch, over the top of my foot. There is some damage there, but not sure how much. I was able to keep hiking on it, but it hurt (since my boots were filled with cold water). We hiked this morning, about 5 miles of ¢wet¢ trail, to a park with a concession stand (closed¢¦). We ate a cold lunch and used the restroom (with warm water). It was in a rocky section after this I hurt my foot.Did I mention that the section of the trail before the park SUCKED!!! A whitewater stream is what the AT is in that section. Fast running white water over rocks. Every friggin¢ thing drains on to the AT here. Someone FIX IT !!!Anyway, moving forward we got to highway 16 (5+ miles short of this shelter¢¦Wench, Paparazzi and I), and decided to hitch into Blue Ridge Summit for a hot dinner (at 2pm). We hitched for about 30 minutes before someone in a pick-up pulled into the AT parking area. He came back for us after driving by, he is a hiker, and a local real estate guy. I believe his name was Joe Benshof (or something close to that), of J and B reality. He took us to a diner (Mountain Something Diner) and took us back to the trail (in his pick-up). Cool guy, he wants to hike with his brother on the AT someday. A trail angle! The 12 pound cheeseburger, coffee (lots to warm up), fries, and Boston Cream Cake were great! Nice people at the diner too. Anyway, back on the trail we went and headed north. We past the 1st set of shelters, where Mule and B-Rock were staying (looks like Paparazzi stayed there too when he arrived). Then we approached the next shelters. I say approached, because the river before it was flooded, water was running over the bridge (not safe to cross and also flooded on the other side). There was a blue blazed ¢high-water¢ trail so we took it to get around the flood. The blue blaze trail becomes the ¢official¢ AT in cases like this. It bypasses the dangerous high water/ flood section. Finally we crossed the river and continued (we passed a section hiker in the process out for a month). When we arrived at the Tumbling Run Shelter we were greeted by leaders and kids from Troop 200, keystone area council, Boy Scouts. They cleared out a shelter for us and we talked to them a bit. Good to see kids out enjoying the outdoors maybe a future thru-hikers in the bunch. The rest of the day was anti-climatic; eat candy, crackers and relaxed. Treat my foot (infected nail) with peroxide and antibiotic cream. Seeing that my right foot was really swollen, journal and got to sleep, more tomorrow, hope my foot feels better after 800mg of advil.