cove mountain shelter to thunder hill shelter

it was a beautifully dry night and we had some heat lightning which was fun. i was up first, but only barely. breakfast was had and i got on trail, but not before maestro.

again i had decent cell service for the forst few miles, so called magz. at my request, she checked the tracking numbers for the sleeping pad and new shoes and everything was due to arrive today. magz indicated that if stuff got there early enough she could perhaps mail them today, so i looked up a couple package drop spots and sent her the info.

i stopped at a river and took a moment to tape the inside of my shoe where the glue was poking me. it hadn’t done any damage to my foot, but it definitely hurts a lot.

bugs and lyric caught up to me and mentioned a free shuttle about .2 mile past where the shelter we would probably have lunch. it would take us to a campground where we could get burgers and milkshakes.

we hiked on together and around 11:30 got to the shelter. maestro was already there. i jad texted him about the campground, but he hadn’t enough signal to check.

the shelter was one of the very nice timber framed ones, so we took a moment to snack and appreciate it before carrying on.

about .2 mile past the shelter was a blue blaze .5 mile to a parking lot. we called the shuttle and it picked us up. we sat in the back of a pickup truck while the driver drove at somewhat harrowing speeds down a dirt road. thankfully we arrived intact.

at the campground i immediately ordered a milk shake, a burger with everything including chili, and some fries. we sat in a common area and ate. we were so into the food our near constant conversations came to an almost complete stop. after we finished, we hung out for a little bit before getting some ice cream and eventually asking the shop keeper to drive us back to the trail.

back on trail, the afternoon was a hard 10 mile climb. i put on some podcasts and got to it. later in the day i passed a formation called “the guillotine”. shortly afterward i arrived at the shelter. there were only 2 spots left. it’s going to rain tonight and the next 2 days, so i took the spot in the shelter.

mixed up arrived not long after and took the last spot. maestro arrived and was thinking about hiking another 3 miles to a campsite. bugs and lyric arrived and we had some discussion about the next days on trail. bugs had miscalculated the mileage to get to harper’s ferry for the 17th, and was outlining a very aggressive plan to get there that included multiple back to back 20+ mile days. i’m not sure i want to do that. there are some interesting places coming up soon that i don’t want to blow through. it sounds like maestro is with me.

bugs and lyric decided to hike the three miles to the campsite. maestro changed his mind and decided to tent here.

i went up the mountain to see whether magz had any luck mailing my stuff. she had, and it was on it’s way to elkton. good for me, but one of bugs’ plans involved skipping elkton, which i can no longer do. maestro and i will catch up to them tomorrow. we’ll sort out a plan then.

it’s supposed to rain tonight and for the next 2 days. definitely not looking forward to that.