We all started moving around 7. The bartender told us the owner would cook us breakfast around 8. We waited, and waited, and waited, but no one showed up until 9. Pilgrim decided to leave because Wizard had agreed to pick him up in Caledonia State Park at noon 🕛 and take him to a grocery store. The rest of us wanted coffee, so we decided to wait it out.
They don’t actually have a coffee pot. He could only make one cup at a time which he did while trying to open up. Gray Squirrel and I were the only ones that really like the taste of coffee, so we drank it black. All three of the women added milk and sugar. I realized they all like their coffee like they like their men—strong, sweet, and white. We didn’t head out until after 10.
We tried to hitch a ride back to the trail to save 2 miles of road walking. The PA drivers were much less enthusiastic this morning than they had been last evening. One truck driver even flipped me off when he ground his gears trying to speed up around us. Thanks to the generosity of the local folk, we will be able to get a 20 in today.
We started walking with Gray Squirrel, ET, Wallaby. Gray Squirrel had heard there was magic at US 30 a little over 5 trail miles ahead. When we got there, we found a cooler with drinks and bars. A little further up, we had a bag of candy. Most promising, though, was a sign indicating a full meal today and breakfast in the morning if we chose to stay—no strings attached. Only Wallaby was willing to walk the 1/2 mile to the magic. The rest of us decided to stay on trail since Caledonia State Park was less than a mile ahead with a swimming pool, showers, and snack bar.
Caledonia State Park disappointed us in a big way. There was a huge, gorgeous, blue pool…that was closed. Right next to it was a snack bar with hours posted “open daily from 11a to 7p” but was locked up tight. We saw the stoplight in the distance that had advertised magic with no strings attached, so we headed there. There was one string…they didn’t serve it until 6p and it was only 1. In the end, Bunny and I grabbed a picnic table to eat some lunch we had been carrying. Gray Squirrel, ET, and Wallaby all went ahead. We agreed to catch up to them at a campground later this evening.
On the bright side of things, we met Laverne and her dog, Penny. Laverne moved here from Washington DC when she retired. She met her first thru-hiker last year and let him sleep in a spare bedroom and took him for groceries. They have kept in touch ever since. This year, she wants to try more magic and asked us what kinds of things do hikers need at this point. She is going to get a bunch of stuff we told her that might be needed and sit at the table right next to the trail to give out magic when the April bubble comes through in a couple of weeks. She was a very sweet lady.
It was getting past 2 and we still had almost 13 miles to go to meet everyone. We had been procrastinating because Guthook makes the climb out of Caledonia seem straight up. In reality, it wasn’t that bad. We wanted to stop at Quarry Gap Shelters because we’ve heard it is one of the nicest shelters on the trail.
It was amazing. Two shelters share a common roof creating a breezeway between them. A creek has been diverted to flow in front of the shelter. There are great tent platforms all around. There is a swing and a magnificent fire pit. But what gives it the homey touch is all the flowers. The caretaker lives nearby and comes up almost daily to keep things neat and orderly. He’s been maintaining this shelter for over 40 years. We read the log and a couple got married in Caledonia last year and honeymooned here. It’s now there anniversary spot. We’d like to come back someday as well.
Bunny knew this was, indeed, a special place. As we were getting ready to leave, she hushed me and told me not to move. A bunny had appeared in front of her as we were heading toward the trail. God has ordained this a Bunny haven.
We still had 12 miles to go with only 4.5 hours of sunlight left. I wanted to pull up short, but Bunny was energized by the bunny. The spirit of the bunny had taken possession of her legs and we were off. It’s not unusual for Bunny to be stronger in the afternoon, but we were averaging almost 3mph. I didn’t even see the snake I stepped over. It wasn’t until I heard a small screech behind me that I knew something was up. I’m still not sure if what I heard was Bunny muffling a scream or hitting the breaks. She wanted to chase it out of the trail but I made her leave it alone. It was just a little innocent guy trying to chill in a sunny spot.
I was afraid the snake had broken the bunny spell on Bunny. It did the opposite. I couldn’t keep up with her once she got the lead. It wasn’t until we stopped at the next shelter that she even showed a hint of tiring out. We took a short break until tackling the final 3 miles.
We had actually looked at where we were going today and knew that we had to stop to get water before we reached our camp. We came to the spring to fill up and the speed spell had worn off both of us. The only thing that kept us going is that we knew we were near the actual half-way point of the entire trail. At Dead Woman’s Hollow we found a very unimpressive sign informing us of our fete.
I do believe this hollow was named to honor the wives of every married couple that has attempted the trail. No doubt, we will be crossing Mystified Man Notch sometime soon.
We had less than a mile to get to camp and we still had light. We might be able to make it without using our headlamps. The area we were passing had a controlled burn done on it last year. It was really kind of eerie, but the undergrowth was flourishing. Bunny didn’t want to camp in a burnt out section of woods named Dead Woman. I gave her the option of 3 more miles to the next shelter or camping. Her fears dissipated quickly.
Gray Squirrel, ET, and Wallaby were hanging their bear bags when we arrived. We quickly set up camp, ate supper in the trail, hung our bear bags, and went to bed. We were like a fine oiled hiking/camping machine. It’s only taken us 4 months and half of the AT to become so.
EFG