Pen Mar Road 1067.4 to Tumbling Run Shelters 1075.6 (8.3 miles)
I slept well at the Days Inn last night, in a real bed. My ear plugs blocked out the noise of the busy road right next to our room, but Turtle didn’t fare so well without any ear plugs.
We got a late start because our shuttle driver had to drop his kids off at school before he could take us back to Pen Mar Road. I had cinnamon raisin toast, yogurt and coffee at the continental breakfast. I also packed out an apple for later.
Doing the final bag pack, I spent a good five minutes searching for my gaiter that happened to already be on my ankle. That would end up being apparently heavy foreshadowing for later in the day.
We were hiking by just after 10am, which is late by trail standards. It was much quieter without the birds singing so loud first thing in the morning.
There were quite a few road crossings today, with cars going over 45 miles an hour, it required extra caution when crossing.
I decided I wanted a little alone time hiking, so Turtle and I hiked about a half mile apart for the first five miles of the day to Deer Lick Shelters. PA has a good amount of two shelter setups.
I had a nice time getting my introvert batteries recharged for those first miles, and I “watched” the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie in my head as I hiked along whenever I got bored. The forest was vast and open to either side of the trail, and I was enjoying checking out any new foliage or flowers I could see. It was a beautiful, sunny but mild and not at all humid day.
I stopped to soak my feet in a little creek before the second road crossing, had some trail mix, and met a section hiker who had been leading his Boy Scout troop on Saturday night at the same shelter as Turtle and I. He let us know the next 3.5 to Deer Lick was nice and easy going.
My pack was very heavy with a full resupply of about five days of food, and the next two miles were an easy incline, but I was feeling very weighed down. At the shelters, Turtle and I had a short lunch, and decided to hike together to our destination of Tumbling Run Shelters, a 3.5 mile easy downhill from there.
We chatted quite a bit about everything from thoughts on reincarnation to what Hogwarts house we belong to, and tried to remember why Will Turner helped Captain Jack escape the jail cell. The conversation had the miles going faster, and my bag felt a little lighter after lunch. The going was easy trail, not really rocky at all, and a mild downfall the whole way.
Just before Old Forge Park, we saw another creek for soaking our feet. There were two actually, one slow flowing, one fast flowing, with brand new bridges going over both.
We chose the fast flowing creek, and I took the back pad from my pack, which doubles as a sit pad, and tried that out for the first time.
Disaster struck when I was taking off my right shoe. I have been wearing two layers of socks, my shoes, and a pair of gaiters. The gaiters keep rocks and dirt out of my shoes and attach from laces to shoe heels.
As I was taking off my shoe and outer sock, my gaiter flew off and into the creek. I grabbed for it quick, but missed it by a few inches, and it was long gone, down the fast flow of the creek.
I was real sad, especially because I had just permethrin sprayed them for ticks, too. As I was mourning the loss of my gaiter, a pair of NOBOs I hadn’t met before came walking across the bridge.
Their names are Margaritaville and Lightyear, and they are a sweet married couple who are hiking together. I warned them to be careful of their gaiters when I saw they were wearing them, too. I had to laugh at least, the trail gives, and it takes away, too. Of all the things worth getting upset about out here, a gaiter isn’t too high on the list. More a mild inconvenience than anything.
A mile on, Turtle and I arrived at Tumbling Run Shelters, well known to be one of the best shelter sites on this area of the trail, and sporting the “Taj Mahal privy”.
These shelters have a “snoring” and “non-snoring” shelter, picnic tables, a pavilion, clotheslines, fire pits, benches, and the privy has toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and it smells nice-ish.
We met a couple other hikers, and Margaritaville and Lightyear stopped for a few more to chat about where we were from, and about keeping miles lower in the beginning of a thru hike. I was glad they said it was really helpful for them to do that in the beginning, because it was early in the day, and I was itching for more miles, but I knew I should be careful at first. Too many miles too quick can lead to overuse injuries, such as sprained ankles, tendonitis, etc.
Dinner was another Larabar, couscous, tuna, olive oil, cheddar cheese, and raisinets. There were a few tenters and no real free tent sites left, so I decided to spent my first night in a shelter this trip. Turtle and I split the non-snoring one to ourselves. We whiled away the hours, not doing much, waiting for it to get dark and sleep, but the days are getting longer every day.
I didn’t yet know it would be my worst night of sleep on the trail so far, but that’s a story for tomorrow.