Wow, these two days are a blur. At the end of day 15, I was able to make it to the spring at 141.6 miles. The shelter before that Was Peter’s Mountain Shelter and I had heard that the water at that shelter was essentially all the way down the mountain, and then a trickle – definitely not worth it. I arrived at the spring after a day of fairly easy trails and setup my hammock. I got to wash my feet and take a sponge bath, I was by myself. At 10:30pm, I was awaken by a hiker about 30 yards from my spot, obviously filtering water, but taking his good sweet time about it. He kept flashing (perhaps unintentionally) his light in my direction which was annoying. Most AT hikers are in the bag by 7pm. I turned my high-powered black diamond headlight on him and he got the message. I found out the next day that this hiker’s trail name was City Dog, and he was night hiking when he ran across me. I found him sleeping in the next shelter so his night hike didn’t by him much mileage. Total mileage this day was 13.1.
The next day was cool and overcast. I started hiking with a goal of getting to Rausch Gap Shelter (11.6 mi). Well, it started raining at 10:30am and didn’t stop until 7:30pm. Needless to say, I was soaked and my boots were sloshing. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but hiking in the rain takes it toll. My toll was that I developed a wet rash on both of my hips. Since I started hiking, my butt has gotten a little smaller and my pack belt is a little loose now – this causes some friction. I also had some pain in my right foot on the outside edge, I think I must’ve bruised it. These are routine injuries, nothing too serious, but it makes for a long day.
When I got to the shelter, there were eight hikers piled up in a space for six. Several cleared out over the course of the afternoon (including City Dog) leaving 6 thirty-somethings and me – a mismatch made in heaven. Of their trail names, I remember Fizz, Pony, and Captain America. Did I mention that a couple of them had a dog – IN THE SHELTER! Of the six, all of them were “thru-hikers”, five were unemployed or had quit their jobs, one was a student hiking for the summer. All of them spoke in that slang “valley talk” mode that so many young hikers do and all of them smoked pot. They offered me “a bowl” but I demurred. “I have five kids. I have all the highs could ever want.” The night was restless with all seven of us sleeping shoulder to shoulder. This is part of the AT experience, but an overcrowded shelter can be very unrestful. I would’ve set up my hammock if it hadn’t been raining and been a lot more comfortable.
I woke up the next morning, and my head was aching – simply a bad night’s sleep. My foot was a little better, but still tender and certainly not ready for any serious rocks, which I knew would be coming up in a few days. That morning, the AT path diverged (a rare occurrence). There was basically a “dry path” around a famous beaver dam coming up. This dam has been around a long time and is almost a mile long. I didn’t know if I had to get wet crossing it, but it sounded fun so I took the risk.
When I got there, it was a little daunting. About 100 yards of “dam” to cross – some of it 4 inches deep, some of it 4 feet deep, with a loose trail of floating logs to walk across. I took some video of this and will post when I get a chance. I tried to walk across some big logs, but the water was deep and my poles wouldn’t reach. I fell astraddle the log with my 40 pound pack dragging me from side to side. I managed to only get one boot in the water, but now I was stuck, sitting there on the log in the middle of beaver dam, and no easy way to get up and walk out. I was able to finally throw my feet up on the log behind me, kind of like a gymnast stands up on a balance beam over being astraddle. I made the rest of the way without incident – a big risk for simply falling in the water, but a lot of fun.
After my close encounter, with my head aching, my sides burning, my foot throbbing, and my boot squishing (do I sound pitiable enough?), I decided in was time to pull off for a day, rest, wash up, and recuperate. I hiked an additional 2.2 down from Swatara Gap into a little town called Jonestown, PA. Nobody picked me up – I guess I look shady with a three-week old beard. And here I sit at the Holiday Inn Express lobby computer typing this missive.
A shuttle will pick me up in the morning and return me to the AT.
Two-Day mileage: 18.8
Total Trail miles: 159.3