ironmasters mansion hostel to darlington shelter

phew. what a day. 34 miles total. it’s late, so this will be brief.

we got up early so we could be on trail by 06:00. the trail out of pine grove furnace was a flat few miles through the park before entering the woods.

the morning was spent removing spider webs from my face and arms. i literally was hitting one every 3 to 5 seconds for the first 4 hours of our hike. it wasn’t until i passed the first shelter that it stopped.

the rest of the morning was spent on some moderate climbs and decents some of which had a preview of the rocks to come. while rocket and i weren’t really hiking together, we ran into one another at every snack break and walked into boiling springs together.

boiling springs had a nice pond in the middle, a tribute to veterans of world wars. it was a picturesque little town that i took no pictures of.

i dropped a post card in the mail for magz and we headed for the coffee shop before returning to the ATC building (which was closed) to use their picnic table for lunch. maestro and a section hiker named chris joined us not much later.

lunch ran a little long for a high mile day and i headed out of town first. the afternoon was lovely. the trail traversed some of the flattest land we’ve hiked yet, through fields, along fields, and in the woods between the fields. this went on for 13 miles, and i motored, moving at close to 4 miles an hour.

i talked to magz for a good long while, helping her learn some coding while i hiked. eventually around mile 32 i started a climb and about a mile from the shelter was warned that the water source for the shelter was unreliable and advised to camel up at the spring.

i huffed the extra 4 litres of water the last mile, and when i got to the shelter i dropped my pack and jogged the .3 mile to the water source. it wad running, so i immediately texted rocket and maestro to let them know.

tomorrow rocket and i hit duncannon for a resupply. maestro has to stay in duncannon for a meeting the day after, so my tramily, once 6 strong will be down to 2.

some additional images from today: