May6 Quarry Gap, PA to Toms Run Shelter, PA 13.6 miles

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Glorious! The best word to describe today. Another day without rain while we were walking, plus some sun! Morning found us enshrouded with fog. The rain had stopped about 4AM and the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. We were more organized and had lots of room to work so cooking and packing went quicker today. By 8:45AM we had our rain jackets on to keep dry from water coming off the trees, CC still clung to her rain pants. Leaving Shangri-La we started up the 700' climb up to the ridgeline. The Rhodie thickets closed in on the trail making a green tunnel, no need for white blazes here. Huffing and puffing we made our way to the top. The wind stured some and the clouds started to break and old Sol started making shows here and there. I heated up fast and was peeling off the rain gear, but CC pressed on like the trooper she is. After the second climb and the temp in the mid 60s she succumbed and took off her rain pants. Walking through the different types of forest still causes wonder. We will be in hardwoods with their bright green leafs. Cross a ridge or round a bend and you are in the pines with all their different needle shapes and that unique smell of needles warming in the sun.
We made great time as mostly we were ridge running. The first 7.4 miles were done in about 3.5 hours. We had a nice lunch at Birch Run Shelter, sun warming us, stream babbling below and no bugs. After a 30 minute break back to the trail for the last 6.2 miles.
CC is having a small problem with her pack riding low causing discomfort in her right hip and leg at times. She decided to kick her speed up a notch and finish the day before the pain came back. She can move out let me tell you. I know soldiers that couldn't keep her pace hour in and hour out. We made Toms Run Shelter in just over two hours, averaging just over 3mph with pack through the hills!
Well it has happened after 1084.2 miles we had our first day alone on the trail. We saw no other hikers and just one guy driving this dirt road we were crossing was all we saw. We did however see and we believe save a young couples’ life.
We had been at the shelter for almost 2 hours. Supper was almost done and the evening rain was starting, running us for cover in the shelter. We thought we heard voices coming down the trail, but could see no one. A few minutes later while moving gear I saw a man and woman trying to cross our temporary moat (the trail is a stream or the stream is a trail, I'm not sure how that goes) dressed in sneakers T-shirts and shorts no packs or water and food. We aren't in the middle of the wilderness, but we aren't in a city park by a long shot. After 15 minutes or so they came walking toward the shelter inside the moat. I said something like either you are real lost or you know just where you are. His reply with head hung low was "the former." They wanted to know where the AT was so they could get back to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. We informed him they were standing on the AT and he could just follow the white blazes back to the park. Not sure who brought up the subject of distance, but they did not look happy when I told them it was closer to 4 miles not the 2 he thought it was. To compound their predicament, they only had two hours of daylight left and rain was starting to get serious. We hope they made it safely back. By all accounts they should and as long as we don't find them in the morning on our way down the mountain, we will know it ended well.
Both of us are in the tent now, me pecking away at this tiny (by my standards) keyboard and CC deep into her music on her little MP3 player - another day done. Tomorrow the highlight will be passing the 1/2 way mark between start in GA and finish in ME! It is just three miles up the trail. Hard to believe we will have walked 1087 miles over the past three years in the morning tomorrow. Soon the numbers will be getting smaller and smaller.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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