Today was a bitterly cold morning wakeup but was quickly melted away with a hot breakfast and coffee in Boiling Springs. We purposely got a late start so that the dew would have time to dry before walking through fields and farms of the Cumberland valley.
We were camped south of town and were greeted by three trains throughout the night. The backpacker campsite is 50 yards from a very active track.
After hiking through town along the lake again we stopped at the local cafe and had pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast and way too much coffee. We also dilly dallied a little bit because we were charging our phones. We didn’t get a full charge but got us enough to make the next resupply in Duncannon tomorrow.
The hike out of town was very busy with Monday morning traffic but disappeared once we turned off the road into the woods. The entire day was a mile of woods followed by a half mile of fields repeated all day long. Not sure of the exact mileage but it was around 17 for the day. The easy terrain is now behind us and we are only a few days away from where the serious rocks of PA begin.
We only had the last two miles not the in the valley to make it up to the first shelter from town. We are camped out in our hammocks at the top of the hill and it is quite breezy. There are two other flip floppers and about seven thru hikers up here tonight. Most of the thru hikers are doing 25 mile days and today was no exception. We are still nursing sore feet and are not quite up to full stamina yet so we stick to our 13-15 mile days. But each day we improve.
The ghetto waist belt modifications on Karen’s pack seem to be helping her shoulders. We will know better tomorrow since it will not be as flat as the terrain we saw today.
The weather was great. We did not don the rain jackets except when we stopped a few times with a cool breeze blowing. We were not hot and we were not cold. It was overcast most of the day but we could feel the warmth of the sun. Probably the best day we have had yet. Tomorrow there is a slight chance of rain, but it is not supposed to be cold and hopefully it will come and go quickly if it t does rain.
May 10, 2016 at 7:25 am
Hey, the trip looks like it is improving from that wet start and increasing the daily mileage has got to feel great! Great job on the blog. Kudos to Karen, every day is now shattering the old record!
May 10, 2016 at 5:58 pm
Love tracking your blog guys. I really hate camping (I like hiking…I think), but can enjoy it much better by reading about your adventures. Hope all is well!