Day 124, Friday, June 15. Creek past Darlington Shelter—18 miles

I woke up early, several times. We were staying in a former chicken coop.  There is a newer one behind the house. I had a craving for chicken for breakfast and I knew which one I was willing to kill and eat. I’d even do it Ozzie style and bite his head off.  I now understand why Dan and Sue have July 4th parties and fire a canon. When that canon fires, their neighbor’s rooster shuts up for days. I wanted a canon at 4. 

Lisa dropped us off at Cafe 101 a little after 8. In spite of the rooster, we did have a pleasant night’s sleep. It was our own fault for staying up so late talking to her son and his friends around the fire. They were all very polite and friendly. We talked about the area, the Civil War, hiking, and how great the copperheads were doing this year. There’s a big population explosion this year. (Yay). It was one friend’s birthday and he had a bottle of Maker’s Mark Whiskey which he was willing to share. I think this is decent sipping whiskey while everyone else, more or less, held their noses and downed shots trying not to taste it. 

There were several other thru-hikers we knew having breakfast. We chose to be nice to the other patrons and sit outside.  One guy started talking to me about hiking and I discovered he had just gotten back from hiking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. I hiked this in 2009 so I enjoyed hearing about the changes that have happened there. After others saw he could safely talk to us and not be consumed by our smell, several people started talking to us and offering congratulations for being so old and hiking the trail (they didn’t actually use those words).  They also wanted us to check out the spring which is the source of the town name and the cause for the high school team being called the “bubblers.” With a name like Smuckers, it’s gotta be good. 

After the spring, we stopped by the Post Office and sent Bunny’s boots to my college buddy, Raj.  We are going to take a couple days off and visit him and his family. After the P.O. we stopped by the outfitter who was very glad to see us leave because we caused a bit of a problem with trying to get replacement parts.  In the end, we walked out with a new pair of hiking poles for Bunny and a replacement pair of socks for me.  (Yes, I buy socks with a lifetime guarantee and hold them to it.) We topped off our abbreviated town visit by stopping by the ATC office for water and an opinion. After much local input, we have decided to skip Hershey and head to Yuengling. 

Not only was this another gorgeous hiking day making our first double great day, it was actually 14 miles easy walking like we had been promised all through Virginia. Maybe this is a result of global warming. Think about it, birds have to fly further north in summers now. Polar bears have gone so far north there’s no north left for them. Undoubtedly, the flat sections of trail have also migrated further north. With any luck, the rumored tough sections in New Hampshire have moved so far north that there won’t be any tough hiking left between here and Katahdin. Thanks, Obama!

The only rough part of the day was the end. After 14 miles of actual level hiking, we had to end with our only climbs. We had been going so fast that we spent more energy than usual. Even though it was only 1000’ max, the climb up to our site was much harder than it should have been. When we got to the spot we had picked, we found Gray Squirrel, Wallaby, ET & her boyfriend, Grant already set up and getting ready for bed. 

This was a relatively long day of hiking for us.  We hiked 18 miles in 8 hours and 45 minutes (including breaks). I’d like to think that if we started hiking at a reasonable hour (say 8a instead of 11:15), we might be able to put in a few 20 mile days. We would like to make up some time for all the lolly gagging we did in the south.  Peter and Marcia have told us they will hike with us wherever we are in New England when Marcia has her vacation scheduled. However, we would like to be to the point where we can summit Katahdin with them since they are our oldest hiking friends (no age reference meant here) and, before this trip, were the only people we knew who have hiked the trail. It would be a great memory for our old friends (maybe a little age knock that time).

EFG