Last night at Quarry Gap Shelter there was a massive thunderstorm at about 2 AM. I can’t tell you how good it is to be in the shelter in your bag nice and toasty warm without getting wet. It’s one of the best things about hiking the AT-sleeping in a thunderstorm and staying dry.
Starting from Quarry Gap Shelter, we hiked through some pretty soft trail to Birch Run Shelter which was our stop for today. Two things of note: we saw a bright orange salamander on the trail which was uncommon. We also saw unripe blueberries. We went under some big electrical hummers and I can tell you that in the middle of a rain storm those hammers hum more than they normally do. It’s a little scary and intimidating to walk under them thinking of all the electricity and power passing through them. Somewhere along the trail today, we will also pass the actual halfway point of the AT. There was supposed to be a plaque, but we didn’t see one.
When we got to our shelter, we found a beautiful campsite right next to a clear running stream. John was very dirty from playing in the dirt so he got to swim a little bit in the stream to clean off. We got some good video that including some underwater footage.
The collection of hikers at the shelter tonight was very eclectic. We had one hiker, Shades, who is hiking solo, vision impaired, and using a guide dog. We saw Rambo again today, but he and his partner decided to go to the next shelter. There was a group of about six or seven hikers around smoking fire, not really even a campfire, more a smoking pile of sticks.
We have no cell service today and so we were unable to call Mattie on her birthday which also happens to be the anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, We just passed by Gettysburg yesterday. The kids had a lot of fun tonight. Seth is very impressed with this campsite and the beauty of the woods. I think that he’s happy that he came.
Overall, a soft day of hiking, beautiful trail, a mid-day, shower to cool us off, and a glorious evening to sleep under the stars.
Today’s mileage: 7.4
Total trail miles: 69.5