Day 108
Start: Stealth Site
End: Campsite near piped spring
Miles Hiked: 17.8
Miles on AT: 1205.5
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A beautiful, clear morning greeted me when I woke up this morning. Packing my things up, I enjoyed the serenity of being up on the ridge. It was relatively quiet, no real road noise, which was a pleasant change from some of the other places in which I’d camped so far in PA.
The first thing I saw when I stepped on trail was a dead raccoon, bones, fur, and face fully identifiable. Ugghh. Was that an omen? It was going to be another hot one today, so my first order of business was to reach the spring about 5 miles away.
As I got further into my hike, the less I wanted to keep going. It was one of those days where I just didn’t want to hike. I stopped at several views to just sit and pass the time. It wasn’t that the terrain was hard, I just wasn’t feeling it.
Eventually I reached the spring and took my sweet time there while I ate a snack. It was slow flowing, so that was my excuse to spend so much time there. Eventually I forced myself up and back on the trail. It was after 11 am and I had only done 5 miles. Sigh.
I next reached the 501 Shelter, which was amazing! It had a gravity shower, outlets, a caretaker, and hikers could have pizza delivered. And that’s just what I did. It was lunchtime and I was in need of a pick-me-up, so I called in for a small pizza, Sprite, and chips (to meet the order minimum) and relaxed while I awaited my feast.
The inside of the shelter was really nice, too. The indoor picnic table was perfect for waiting out storms and the huge skylight illuminated what would otherwise be a dark space. There were board games and bunks, even a few books for hikers to choose from during their stay. Nice!
The pizza arrived and I ate to my heart’s content. During my meal, I learned that Joe Biden had decided to drop out of the Presidential race. How much more political drama could we handle this year?!
Newly fueled by pizza, I found the energy to continue on with my day after my extended break. It must’ve been around 3 pm. The rocks in PA were starting to get serious! I had to navigate stretches of jumbled rocks, slowing me a bit.
In search of motivation to push a little further today, I read about a highly recommended swimming hole in the FarOut comments. My new goal was to at least get there and try to swim. However, when I arrived, I was a little disappointed. The water looked beautiful but the smell wasn’t very enticing. Despite having visions of swimming in a dreamy spring, I had to turn around and regroup.
I didn’t really want to stay there for the night either, so I decided to go 3 more miles to the next water source. I would get there a bit on the later side, probably around 7:30, but I could eat my leftover pizza for dinner and get quickly into my tent.
I made it to the spring around when I predicted and found a spot for my tent amongst the sea of grass. What a campsite! It was perfect. A little while later, another hiker, Stretch, showed up. I had seen him on trail before but officially met him yesterday at the hostel with pizza.
We chatted over our dinners, but it was soon dark and time for bed.
And that’s day 108.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.