After a good night of sleep, I woke up to what sounded like rain. But when I poked my greasy head out the flap of the tent, it turned out to be condensation dripping from the trees. We were all surprised to find our campsite had been covered by a think blanket of fog in the early morning. I jammed a couple of pop tarts down my throat, and Freight Train, Seth and I continued our journey.
We hiked in a cloud for the first hour or two in the morning. By the time the sun came out, the rocks that had been plaguing us for days, began to thin out a bit. With 4.2 miles behind us, we came to a road crossing. Glancing at our trail guides, we decided to hitch into the town of Pine Grove, PA to resupply for the next 70 mile section of the trail.
After only waiting for a few minutes, an old pickup truck pulled over and we hopped in the back. A short ride later we arrived in the small town of Pine Grove, PA. We were hungry, but it was still the middle of the morning, so all the restaurants in the area hadn’t opened yet. The driver of the truck dropped us in the parking lot of a local grocery store. Resupplying was a chore, but it had to be done. We bought our food, re-bagged it and began our feast of carbs and chemicals. Sitting in the parking lot of the store, we devoured chips, candy and baked goods in a repulsive fashion. Children were traumatized, old women fainted, and everyone else looked away in disgust.
I ate so much terrible food, my body was not pleased with me when I hoisted my pack on my shoulders and started to move again. We walked across the street and put our thumbs out for a hitch back to the trail. 15 minutes later, we got a ride by the same guy who had dropped us off an hour before. What are the chances of that? As the wind blew through my soiled hair, I sat in the back of the truck thinking that the guy was going to murder us. Lucky for us, I was wrong. He just pulled the truck over next to the trail, we jumped out, and he sped away.
Near where the trail crossed the road, was the 501 shelter. The 501 shelter was a fully enclosed building with, tables, chairs, plywood bunks and a solar shower. Seth had some pretty bad poison ivy, so he took a shower. I decided to wash my legs again as precaution.
Inside the shelter was dark, musty and strange. Glide was hanging around in there, and the kids were there as well. They talked about ordering food and having it delivered to the shelter. Since we were full of cheetos and ice tea, and we still had 15 miles to hike, it was decided that we would be moving on down the trail.
The weather was warm and clear in the afternoon and the poison ivy became more sparse the farther North we hiked. There were some very rocky sections, but there were also a few really nice flat sections flanked by ferns. The last 4 miles of the day seemed to drag on forever. We got to the “Eagle’s Nest” campsite around 8:30. I couldn’t stop myself from making Hitler jokes. Seth was a history major, so he appreciated the reference. By the time we had set up camp and started to cook dinner, it was already dark. We had slammed out a 19 mile day, which included a trip to town for reapply, so I was satisfied with our progress. We had also crossed the 1,200 mile mark. Someone told me that by the time we reached a thousand miles, we had hiked more than the average American walked in 15 years. After hearing that stat, all I could think about was, “average americans.” Then I started thinking about Walmart motorized carts. I think I had nightmares about it.
Smooth's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 