Today was a glorious day. we spent some time in the morning taking our time packing up. We finally got out of Rocky Mountain shelter at about 915. We spent the morning mainly going down to Caledonia state park which was about 4.6 miles from the shelter.

In the park we came across some extreme trail magic. Hiker named Rambo was serving up salads, sandwiches, beer, fruit to any hikers coming down off the mountain, it being Saturday morning. He had through-hiked  the trail some years earlier, and just wanted to do something nice for all of the travelers that were going on. We spent about an hour in the park eating wonderful sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce and mushrooms. Got rid of all of our trash and filled up our water and then we started to hike up to Quarry gap shelter.

Quarry, gap shelter is a fairytale. It looks like something straight out of Snow White. When you enter the shelter grounds, there is a picket fence with flowers planted on both sides. Just inside the compound is a stump with a gnome. The shelter itself is two, modest well kept rooms with a picnic table in the middle. Everything looks like it’s out of a fairytale. This is the finest shelter I’ve ever stayed in.

For dinner we had our regular food dehydrated, but we also had crème brûlée, which was a treat. I think John ate half the package. The kid ate so much food I think he’s going to pop.

Just a few minutes ago. A gentle rain shower started and we can hear the drops on the tin roof above us. We’re dry sleepy, and in the perfect place to spend the night in a summer shower. I think the kids had fun today. I know John did.

I’m so thankful that they are with me on the trail. I have two nights with them left, and then they pull off and go home. It’ll be a lonely, two weeks after that, but I’m sure there are further ventures waiting me.

Today’s mileage: 5.6

Total trail miles 62.1

Today was a long but good day. Started off from tumbling run shelter which again is a very nice shelter with excellent water. There is a 1000 foot ascent out of tumbling run shelters which was very challenging for me. My target was South Mountain Pennsylvania where I picked up Kathryn, Seth and John Robert.

John, so far is doing great. He likes to see everything in the woods and play with rocks. I think it’s good that he’s getting this kind of exposure to nature this early. He sleeps a lot while his mother carries him. We don’t have to worry much about food for him because his mother is his food, plus he eats whatever we happen to be eating as well.

The only challenging part about the day was the hike into South Mountain along Pennsylvania Highway 233. It’s about a mile and a half very hot with the heat from the road coming up. Hiking along road is not very nice. But I was able to make it to the post office, resupply with food, drop some other food that I didn’t need and gear off and mail it back home to Allyson. Then we had to hike back up from the post office to get to the trail which was about another 1.5. That added 3 miles for the day, which, for me, was already starting to turn into a long day.

We were able to get those chores done, and make it to the trail, which was an ascent, but not a very challenging one up to the ridge another 2 miles to the shelter. According to the notebook, the shelter has “the best smelling privy since Georgia.“ I don’t know if that’s true, but it is nice. I’ll talk about privies another day.

Overall an excellent day. I’m glad to be with my kids and to hear about everything that’s going on at home. Having them here is a joy and blessing.  

Today’s mileage: 8.6

Total trail miles 56.5