Bear’s Den Hostel 1188.8 to Rod Hollow Shelter 1198.6 (9.8 miles, 1198.6 total miles)
Everyone seemed to wake up feeling drowsy at Bear’s Den this morning, partially because we’d all kept each other up talking till midnight.
I was having another bout of allergies from the location change, and when I woke up at 6:30, I knew I was due for a catch up night of sleep. When I don’t sleep long enough for multiple nights in a row, I need one good night to get me back up to par.
Upstairs, Tessa had put on coffee for us and was making waffles. Included with the $35 hiker special were ingredients to make our own pancake or waffle breakfast.
Tessa was very sweet to do that for us, and Uncle Iroh had volunteered to clean up as well. After four waffles and a cup of coffee, I started to pack up.
I’d found out there was going to be a storm system coming in when Tessa had mentioned it last night. I was thankful she had, because I’d misremembered the weather, and had forgotten rain was called for today.
I switched around two days of my itinerary to complete the same amount of miles by the end of tomorrow, but shortened today so I could make it to a shelter before the storm.
It was supposed to begin storming by 2PM, and I had 10 miles to go to the second shelter after the hostel. I thought four hours to hike it would be a comfortable 2.5 mph pace, but wanted to give myself an extra hour grace period.
With that in mind, I hiked out at 8:50AM after giving Tessa a very big hug. She was going to the first shelter, so I probably wouldn’t see her for the rest of her section hike.
I’d really enjoyed our time together, and we’d exchanged contact info so I was looking forward to keeping in touch. She felt like a trail mom to me a little bit.
The 10 miles I had for the day was the remainder of the 14 mile Roller Coaster section, and included roughly eight ups and downs, and 6,000 total feet of elevation change.
I was immediately hit with the overwhelming level of humidity in the air, as I descended 2 miles down to the first water source, Spout Run. I finished the half liter I was carrying, and collected another liter from a small area that was flowing quite well.
I climbed .7 up a rise, feeling tired, sweaty and fighting waves of nausea from the sugary breakfast I’d eaten and the pint of Ben and Jerry’s the night before. I passed a campsite up top, then dropped down half a mile to the Sam Moore Shelter.
I arrived there around 10AM, and struggled to collect water from the shallow puddles that used to be a brook. Eventually I was able to use my water bag to collect quite a bit, and was happy again that I’d brought it with me.
I took the .1 side trail to the shelter and found the privy, while trying to ignore the spiders that were lurking inside. There were spiders and cobwebs all over the trail everywhere I looked since Harpers Ferry.
While I was filtering water at the picnic table next to the shelter, I met a couple middle aged men who were section hiking. One worked in the medical field and the other did construction, and they were on their way to Waynesboro, PA to finish their section.
I spoke with them for a while about our hikes, and was surprised when they asked me for advice on backpacking.
I wasn’t used to people older than me asking for my guidance on trail, though I found it flattering, and thought maybe it was a sign that it seemed like I knew what I was doing.
I’d come a long way from the 23 year old in 2015 who had cowboy camped my first two nights on trail because I couldn’t sleep in the hammock I’d brought, and carried a cold bag of mashed potatoes for a week because I didn’t know how to use my alcohol stove.
I left the shelter at 10:45, cognizant that I had used up the majority of the extra hour I’d allotted to myself. Fortunately, the next 2.5 miles flew by, and I found myself hiking like crazy over two small mountains that had very steep elevation grades.
After Buzzard Hill, the second of the two, I had a mile of short, steep descent then a lovely flat section that brought me to the best water source of the day, a flowing brook 4.5 before the shelter.
I had seen a bit of wildlife today, including a beautiful orange patterned turtle, a lizard that resembled a bearded dragon, and I spotted a deer watching me as I sat on a log next to the brook.
It was 11:45, and I thought it would be a good idea to eat something before continuing on, because my energy was waning. I had a Luna bar, and packets of gushers and energy gel, all three of which Sunshine had given me in Maine.
My liter of water was still full, so I didn’t collect anymore, but the 20 minute break did me good. I descended down to a road, then climbed up .6 to Piney Ridge.
The climb up Piney Ridge seemed to take a very long time, the humidity getting to me in a big way, my clothes drenched in sweat. I stopped at the top for a few minutes to drink a packet of propel, before making my way down the other side.
I crunched over dead leaves, and watched the sky around me closely. It had been bright blue all day, and I was keeping an eye out for the storm clouds.
On the way down, I paused for a moment to use my phone, and saw Iroh hike up behind me. We were pleased to see each other, and started hiking together, making conversation as we went along.
It turned out we had quite a bit in common in our lives outside of the trail, and our discussion carried us up and over the last hill of the Roller Coaster.
Iroh and I had a short .4 slight incline to the shelter, then another .2 blue blaze to get there. We arrived a few minutes after 2PM, and found the pipe to collect water.
I’d been hearing thunder off in the distance while we hiked together, and by the time we were collecting water, the sky was fully covered in ominous looking gray clouds.
The thunder was much closer now, and we hurried back to the shelter, which was deserted save for the two of us. That was one nice thing about going SOBO, there would always be shelter space it seemed.
Not a minute or two later, it began down pouring outside, in a fierce gale that had us both giddy with our perfect timing and the enjoyment of watching the rain from under cover.
I was starving, and made a Mexican chicken and rice Mountain House for lunch. While Iroh got some writing done, I watched Spider-Man 2 on my phone. I’d downloaded all three of the original Tobey McGuire movies when I saw them on Netflix last week.
I had ended up watching the first one with Ray, Michele, and their granddaughter while I was in Pennsylvania, and was making my way through the second one, since the download was set to expire this evening.
It rained for hours, and we even heard a tree fall down in the woods not very far from where we were. We were all set up, cozy in camp clothes with mattresses laid out when The Bard arrived, soaked to the skin and in excellent spirits.
He had hiked 5 miles in the rain, but seemed not to mind. It was his birthday, so we sang happy birthday to him as we’d planned to earlier in the day.
We decided amongst the three of us we were now called The Collective, since we all liked to write or play music. We spent a couple hours with Iroh and I working on our writing, Bard played guitar, Iroh sometimes playing his guitar as well.
Iroh wrote a piece of poetry to the song Bard was working on, and read it aloud to us while Bard played. It was a truly lovely afternoon, and we had some great discussions in the meantime about all sorts of subjects.
I made a dehydrated meal of unstuffed peppers with bison from a small company that I’d bought at Shaw’s before the 100 mile, and ate M&M’s for dessert while finishing my movie.
It was almost sunset by then, and we wound down for the night, getting ready for an early night of sleep. I drifted off to the sound of insects, happy that I was thriving in my new trail life.