Total trail mileage: 1075.5
Starting location: Deer Lick Shelters
Ending location: Quarry Gap Shelters
Weather: 70 degrees in the morning, 74-81 degrees during the day.
Clear and sunny in the morning. Cloudy and thunder and lightning and
showers in the afternoon. Thunderstorm in the early evening
I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.931508,+-77.487067
I enjoyed the hike today. I was making good time in the morning and
there was something about the forest that was nice. I can't really
explain it. And the trail passed over a couple streams, went by some
nice shelters, went past a couple parks, and went through some giant
boulder fields.
For some reason my shoulder was hurting yesterday and today. I don't
know what I did to it. It is not like I walk on my hands or anything.
I was planning on going further today, but the Quarry Gap Shelters are
really nice. I had to stop. They are well maintained with a garden
and a stream with rock walls and gravel in front of the shelter. I
had just decided to stay at the shelter and set up my hammock when it
started pouring. Again, I lucked out with the weather. It looked
threatening earlier in the day but ended up only being a few showers.
I guess the storm was waiting for me to get under shelter.
There was an Outward Bound group from Philly staying near the shelter
also. They joined me for dinner and gave me all sorts of food (tuna
mac and cheese, handfuls of M&Ms, blocks of cheese, etc.). I talked
to the teacher and he is going to get me some info regarding teaching.
At lunchtime I witnessed an impressive feat of strength. I was
sitting on a rock eating lunch when I saw an ant carrying a dead Daddy
Long Leg spider. Not only did the spider have more mass, but it was
also significantly larger with its legs all over the place. The legs
kept getting caught on things and the ant had to rotate around to get
it free. And then the ant and dead spider tumbled down the side of a
rock, almost like a dance. I thought about helping the ant out, but I
didn't know where it was headed.
It saddens me to hear that Mr. Harry Schmidt recently passed away. He
taught me a lot during scouts and is one of the reasons I am out here
doing the thruhike. I still think about some of the tricks he told us
about.
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