06.19.07
Day 3 Monday June 11
18.2mi to Darlington Shelter
I was only planning on going 14mi today not that, that is much less but the extra three miles I didn’t do yesterday plus no camping between Alex Kennedy Shelter and Darlington Shelter due to the fact that its all rural and farm land, made for a excruciating long day. I went throught Boiling Springs, PA 17007 the trail goes right through the park and ATC Mid-Atlantic Regional Office is there. Stopped for about an hour chatted with other thru-hikers. Headed out about 1p much later then I had wanted to.
I hit the wall about 15mi and for a while didn’t think I was going to make it. I would almost rather have someone just kick me in the (your choice of place). The last mile was, of course, wait for it, you guesses it UP HILL, to add insult to injury as your straining and cursing the gods they inform you that the water source is .5mi before the shelter. Not only are you still going uphill the steepest section of the day but you have to fill up on water at 8.5lbs a gallon and carry extra so you can have dinner tonight. Then as a final slap in the private bits they build a nice scenic vista to over look where you just came from. But all you really want is to be at the shelter.
Why can they build a scenic vista but they cant figure out how to put the shelter close to a water source?
I got into camp about 8:30p, wasn’t even going to make dinner just climb into my bag and pass out but once I dropped pack I could tell I had to feed my body ate a quick dinner in the dark drank some tea and honey then passed out.
-segue’07