TRAIL DAY 115

Tue, June 14, 2016 A long, rocky-road section of trail led north from the shelters.  A couple had come down that path the night before and they seemed worn out by their ordeal.  I filled up with water at a piped spring down a trail to the right of the shelters.  Other hikers were doing the same.  As I ate, Theo looked on and then we packed up and took to the trail.

After the initial climb the trail was fairly gentle but rocky in spots.

The goal for the morning was to get to Caledonia State Park where I would meet my paralegal, Kim Laidig and her husband, John.  Kim was one of my daily GPS recipients and a loyal follower of my trek.  She had also heard me say year after year at my law office:

If I can close my office by year end
I’m going to start the trail next Spring.

It was a common refrain.  She never got impatient with my pronouncements – just quietly supported me.  She was with me on all the steps taken to vacate our leasehold and move me to my new garage loft office.  Persistent, conscientious, present, effective, meticulous.  I have been very lucky to have her in my life – an excellent professional assistant and friend.

She tended to loose ends while I was in the woods and kept me posted on things I needed to know.  And now she was going to bring me a super lunch and see my beard first hand.

I left a note in a trail register stating present time and destination and carried on to my rendezvous with Kim and John.

We met at US 30 near Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.  As I emerged from a gradual wooded descent, there she was, across the road waiting for me.  It was a fine reunion with hugs and ooohs and aaaahs.  I hope I wasn’t too ripe but, even if I was, it wouldn’t matter to her.  She accepted me just as I was.  And so did John.

We made our way into the park and enjoyed a delightful lunch at a picnic table near a wide, slow-moving stream.  It was a bright sunny day and great to catch up with Lancaster friends.

When it was time to move on, Kim drove me back to US 30 where we met and I disappeared into the woods with a wave.  In about .4 miles, the trail went right near the spot where we’d had lunch – but who would have known?

There was a modest climb from the Park and then a leveling and gradual decline before a short climb to the Quarry Gap Shelters.  Another duo and again, very clean, nice and well maintained.  Too well for my money.  There were even hanging flower pots.  Just a little too domestic for the woodsman ways I had adopted.

There were probably 10 hikers at the shelter, several in tents on nearby platforms.  There would be more and more of these going farther north because the terrain was too rough for pitching on the ground.  Odd, I don’t recall a lot of hammocks in the northern terrain.  On the platforms, my technique was to use a stone to hammer my stakes in the space between the boards.  The fit was snug enough to hold.  Just the way we’d rather walk on dirt than macadam or concrete, so we’d rather pitch on dirt than on uniformly flat wood – but that was not always possible.

A vigorous young hiker had set up camp on the pad nearest the shelter.  We had some discussion about his tent which he set up without it’s rain fly.  We also discussed his trekking poles which were ultralight and very thin with baskets about the size of a silver dollar.  They struck me as a little too thin.  Ultralight is an obsession among long-distance (LD) hikers but, as I  believe I’ve noted before, some items were worth the weight and eventually your body got used to it.

I remember leaving Colony House in Waynesboro, Virginia with a very heavy pack after resupply – always the case.  And as usual, when you first picked up the freshly filled pack, you hoped you wouldn’t pop a disc or send your muscles into spasm.  But when you had a half mile or so under your belt – under your straps – you kinda got used to it uphill and down.  The new weight just became your pack.  Nonetheless, you did tend to eat the heaviest stuff first and all the while, day after day, your pack was getting lighter.

Smokey was here and with him and several others, I prepared supper at the picnic table between the two shelters.  It was a little windy as I sat facing the fireplace.

When it was time to turn in, I slept on the left side of the left shelter with Theo and Smokey took the right side with Bandit.

Day #115  Tumbling Run Shelters > Quarry Gap Shelters 12.2 miles