I think one of the favorite thru-hiker pastimes is to look ahead in the guidebook – sometimes far ahead – to look for especially easy or particularly difficult sections. Today I covered most of page 108, one of the most eagerly anticipated pages of all. I remember being back in the Smokies, or maybe earlier and we would say, “whoa look at that page, it’s like all flat!” And flat it was, flat and mostly rock free, and sunny, and slightly breezy, and a comfortably cool 70 degrees. In a word, perfection. Essentially it was a continuation of what began South of Boiling Springs yesterday – Pennsylvania farmland. Today’s 13 miles was largely along farm fields, I’d head north along the edge of one field, then turn east along another, maybe enter a wooded area for a quarter mile then come to another field. To top things off I made use of some good advice and fashioned some extra padding to use where my shoulder gets sore. All it was for now was a sock folded in half and placed under the strap but it seems to have helped. The trail being all flat helped too I think but I only stopped once or twice during the entire 14 mile day.
There was a quick mile climb at the end of the farmlands and for a while it looked like I might have the shelter to myself. Then Duckfart showed up. Yep that’s what he uses for a trail name, but it’s just some old local guy up doing one night. He talks quite a bit too, eventually I just started listening to music. It’s gonna be sweet having a totally dry sleeping bag tonight, this is the first day in a long time that it’s not raining or super hot, humid, and sweaty. There are supposedly porcupines nearby though. They are known for carrying away hikers’ shoes in their quest to acquire salt, so you have to hang shoes (and anything else sweaty) off the ground at night.