T+10 One odometer rolls over

T+10 (Mar. 28, 2020)

Navigation Report:
Starting Point: Camp at Black Swatara Creek (mile 1206.7)
Destination: Either 501 Shelter (mile 1196.1) or William Penn Shelter (mile 1192)

Travel Log:
Depart camp (mile 1206.7) 8:45
Cross PA-183 (mile 1205.4) 10:15
Hartline Creek & Campsite (mile 1201.7) 12:45
501 Shelter (mile 1196.1) 3:30
Daily Mileage 10.6
Total mileage 99.9

Commander’s Report:
Today is the tenth day on the trail for me. YAY double digits!! (Also, sorry for the title Millennials, I fear you haven’t had the experience of watching a car’s odometer roll over from 99,999 to 00,000. It used to be a thing us olds got excited about.)

The forecast was mostly correct, it indeed did start raining before sunrise. About 4:30AM to be exact - 3 hours before the forecast suggested it would roll in. The rain woke me up, so I decided to make the most of the time by posting the T+8 blog post and write up the T+9 blog post. One of those things got accomplished. The cell service was so spotty I couldn't even log in to start the process of posting.

Then I made my breakfast oatmeal, but instead of using hot water I just soaked the oats in cold water and sadness. I'm running low on gas, so am rationing for dinners only. Oatmeal can be eaten dry or uncooked, so there's no point in wasting fuel preparing it. The next possibility for resupplying the fuel is after Duncannon, so at Lickdale I'll be buying food stuffs that don't require any heating. Gotta stretch the fuel until then though. Hell, it may not be possible to resupply fuel even after Duncannon. The resupply options remaining in Pennsylvania consist of a few shuttle drivers and two rural General stores. After that it's the Walmart in Waynesboro, PA - on the Pennsylvania / Maryland border. Will be calling around tomorrow to see if any of the options for fuel resupply are actually viable.

After the breakfast I slowly packed everything into my bag while waiting for a lull in the rain to disassemble and pack my tent. That opportunity came around 8:30, so I took it! Then it was back on the trail. Sorry, no pics from today, the rain was so bad the phone got stored in the heart of my bag to keep it safe and dry.

Hiking was slow going today! The trail being more like a river than something a person would walk on. Plus, it's Pennsylvania so there's still the annoying rock problem. Only now some of them are obscured by the water - all the better to twist an ankle! All that is to say that I'm taking it easy today. I set myself up well yesterday: two shelters are within a day's hoke even at a much reduced pace.

Around 10:15 I crossed PA-183. Where the AT intersects with it, the road is 4 lanes and the AT crosses it on a hill and a curve, so the ability to see vehicles is only about 200 yards. I waited for traffic to clear and started across. I only got one lane in before an 18-wheeler appeared traveling in the furthest lane. So I made a dash for the other side. I'd say sprint, but its impossible to sprint with 30 pounds on your back! As I'm writing this it's clear that the truck didn't get me.

Beside the whole trail as a river, the next couple of miles were fairly easy going. A little bit of an incline, but the ground was fairly free of rocks. This was followed by a drop down to Hotline Creek. The Creek at this time was quite expansive due to all the rain, so I took a minute to have lunch before rock-hopping across it. In the process of crossing the creek I slipped and tweaked something in my foot. After that, every time I stepped on a rock in such a way that the outside of my foot rotated up I experienced significant pain. At this point I had pretty much made up my mind that I'd call it a day at 501 shelter.

After the creek the trail goes back up to the top of the plateau / ridge and continues at elevation until reaching 501 shelter. There's also a series of lookout points between the Creek and the shelter - including Kessel View - but the only views to be had were of cloud. Considering my lethargic pace today, one could say that I made the Slowest Kessel Run in history!

The trail after the creek becomes quite rocky and this had me cursing the stones again. Again, this slowed progress but I just needed to reach the shelter, which was never in doubt. The slow progress did sap all enthusiasm for hiking though. The constant soaking rain, 40°F weather, sore foot, and slow progress was really getting to me! But this too shell pass.

And pass it did once I arrived at the shelter - even though the weather outside turned even nastier, with thunder and heavier rains. The shelter is gigantic and fully enclosed. More like a cabin than a shelter, really. Inside is 6 bunk beds, for a capacity of 12-but with plenty of space on the floor for additional bodies. The shelter even has a solar shower, running water, and a caretaker. MTV Cribs could almost get away with doing an episode on this place. (Again, sorry Boomers and Millennials, you'll have to look that reference up.)

​Once in the shelter, everything got unpacked from the bag and splayed out to dry. Set up my bedding and went about preparing dinner. In Palmerton (before the fuel worries) I purchased a Zatarains rice dish for a dinner. Figured I would splurge as that pack is supposed to serve 4 (as a side). The downside is that the rice it contains isn't instant rice, so requires substantial boil time (25 min per the package). I anticipated this, so cold soaked the rice during the day in an attempt to semi-rehydrate them. Then I only boiled the rice for 5 minutes before transferring to the insulating coozy for 20 minutes or so. As not all would fit in my pot, this was repeated twice. I felt like a piggy, but I put it all in my belly! I layed down to get under the covers and warm up while eating and decided to leave cleanup until morning and call it an early night. Just as I was nodding off (~8:30) I heard footsteps and saw lights. At first I thought it was the caretaker checking in. In actuality it was two other hikers getting in from the rain. They said they'd done 17 miles in that weather. No thanks!!