6.16.12 - Double Trail Magic, Lunch Fun, and Pyrate Jack

Had fun last night hanging out around the campfire. Woke up today just before 6am, and decided I wanted to sleep a little later today. Decided to get up and moving around 6:35am. It was a nice cool morning. Roadside had cowboy camped and got out around 5:30am. I hiked by myself until about 11am when I reached William Penn shelter about 9 miles out. Roadside was there and also a father and son out for the weekend. The son, 12 year old Blake, was a funny kid an very outgoing. He played some Beatles for us on his iPod and talked to us about how he liked skateboarding and biking. Golden, Wildflower, and Crush showed up and we all played a card game that Blake brought called Blink. One time when he dealt the cards, there ended up being an extra on the table, and he said he would take it because he's so fast at the game. He wasn't kidding! He smoked us all! He learned all of our trail names and wanted one himself. Before we left, we gave him the trail name Pyrate Jack. He looked like a pirate with his bandana and ears pierced, we spelled it with a "y" since he's a pyro, and Jack because he seemed to be the jack of all trades. He was into so many different things and even showed us how he could bust a move to "Teach me How to Dougie". Great kid and he made today really feel like the weekend!

Hiked on and found some small bags of chips someone left as trail magic. We then moved on to the 501 shelter. Super nice shelter and it even had some pickles in jars on the table that Golden and I took our chances on. They were delicious! Hung my pack to get the weight. 2 day of food left, 1 liter of water, weighed in at 25 pounds. Not bad. As soon as I get rid of the book I'm reading it will be lighter. Plus, I'm carrying my water filter plus a steripen as backup. Not absolutely necessary, but the steripen is only 5oz. Fortunately my water filter has been working flawlessly lately!

Hiked on to the ending point I'd set out for today at Hertlein Campsite. Ended up with a 19 mile day. When we got into camp we passed by a large group of people camping. They gave us a gallon size ziplock bag with really good Mac and cheese with bacon in it! Shared that with Wildflower and Crush, and ate my own dinner. Looking forward to tomorrow. 18 miles (+1 mile off trail) to check out the 250,000 square foot Cabela's store and eat at their restaurant's weekend buffet! Then it's right next door to Walmart to resupply for the next 5 day out. There is also a pavilion in Port Clinton, PA that allows thru hikers to camp there. I think some of us are going to get food at Walmart for a potluck at the pavilion. Should be a fun day!