TRAIL DAY 123
Wed, June 22, 2016 Today we would hit pay dirt – sorry, pay rocks, pay misery. Just a taste of what lay ahead. The day would start with a level stretch followed by a long descent to PA 325 and from there a 3.2-mile ascent to the intersection of the AT with the Horseshoe Trail (HST) which runs from Valley Forge near Philadelphia to a point on the AT north of Harrisburg. I had covered this distance before when I finished the HST in the summer of 2014 and then took the AT to PA 325 where Bonnie picked me up at a large parking area off the road. I have thought more than once that some year I would like to do Trail Magic here – or maybe at 501 north of Pine Grove. I stopped at the intersection of the 2 trails to take in whatever significance I might draw from my second hike to this spot under different circumstances – this time I was doing what that time I was in training to do. Here I was again. It was pretty normal actually. QED – at least to this point.
The AT for miles would be simply a pretty darn straight dirt path. It was June 21st – hike naked day. I was spared and I spared others; however, there was a suggestion of the intent of the day in the bushes.
Walking and walking and walking straight and straighter and long and longer, I came upon my first SOBO. That is except for the fellow we saw at a shelter in the deep south on Day #8. Other SOBOs we’d seen were most likely day or section hikers. Day #8 SOBO had started late and taken winter off. The SOBOs we’d see now were folks who started pretty much when the NOBOs did. We were meeting each other near our half-way point. This fellow was tall and thin and shirtless with a dark beard. His name was “Cuffs.”
I stopped for water and lunch at a stream, took my boots off to soak my feet in the cool water. Pain. Relief.
As I sat there eating, cooling and recuperating, along came “CQ” – “Continental Quest.” She was a heavyset girl who didn’t mind using the outside of her pack and carrying a heavy walking stick. She had a tattoo on her right upper arm and wore her hair in a palm tree. She said that she and Cuff were hiking together but that he had abandoned her because she was too slow and it seemed there was some interpersonal difficulty. They had started south of Katahdin near the Whites.
She was out of water and didn’t have a water bottle. The soles of her sneakers were wearing through. I gave her one of my water bottles and wished her the best hoping she could reconnect with Cuffs. I felt for those feet. I had a quiet admiration for all she had endured and her persistence through her present circumstances.
After lunch there was another long, straight stretch followed by a descent and then an 800′ climb and descent to the next campsite. Somewhere along the straight part, I met a couple hiking together. I asked the guy what his trail name was and he said “Pepper.” I asked the girl hers and she said “Mint.” Pretty clever for a duo I thought.
The climb and descent to camp were long and tedious but Theo took it all in stride. The camp was on a stream just south of Swatara Creek, PA 72 and US 81. You could hear the traffic but it wasn’t bad.
Magellan and Strider were there. It was nice to see them together and to share camp with them. They had some pretty chilling tales to tell. They had been camping together many weeks before when a bear came up to one of their tents and completely wrecked it. They shooed him away at which point he went to the other’s tent and did the same. They each had to buy a new tent.
I set up my tent fairly near the stream, cooked supper at ate. My campmates had already eaten. I dined near my tent and turned in soon after. I saw my first fireflies on the AT at this campsite.
Day #123 Campsite (1162.7) > Campsite (PA 72) 17.6 miles