Day 91
Rausch Gap to 501 Shelter
Miles Hiked: 17.5
AT Milage: 1195.5
Last night I was u comfortably cold. I woke up at 5:30 and realized I wasn’t going back to sleep so I packed up real fast and left at 6:10am. The first Interesting thing I came across was a beaver dam. I had the option to take a 1.6 mile reroute but instead I decided I wanted to see what the beavers did to the trail. I took off my trail runners and put on my sandals. It wasn’t as bad or as long as I had expected but my feet and ankles did get pretty muddy.
Next I hiked through Sawartha State Park which was insignificant. I realized I was going so fast that I could do ten miles by ten am so I made that my goal. My feet were really hurting but I was crusing so I never stopped until I found a good spot to take a break at mile 11. I met my goal. Whenever I hike long days, I like to get as many miles as I can done in the morning. I was really happy with how the day was going. On my break I ate food, did my stretches, and massaged the lotion onto my feet. I was completely out of water and really thirsty so I hiked 3 more miles to a spring at William Penn Shelter. The trail was super rocky for a lot of the day and Everytime I stepped on them it felt like they were stabbing my feet. Eventually the rocks went away and it was easy hiking.
I sat down at a parking lot 2 mile from the shelter to take another long break because I knew there was a secret outlet behind a small radio tower building. While I was charging my phone, flamingo caught up to me and a pastor named Jason offered us a ride to town. I really wanted to ice my legs and feet because they were hurting so bad so I took him up on the offer. In town, we went to the grocery store where I got strawberries, chocolate milk, Gatorade, and a bag of ice. When flamingo went to the store he realized he lost his wallet with all his money and his ID. I let him use my card, but this really sucks because now he can’t get his packages at the post office and he always has to rely on a friend to get food in town. He is trying to figure out what to do about it today. I think his mom will probably mail his passport to me.Jason immediately took us back to the trail, I continued my break in the parking lot and iced my legs, ankles, and feet the entire time. Lots of hikers started walking through the parking lot. A girl named “trail diva” who I haven’t seen since North Carolina was excited to see me because she had no idea I was close to her because of my trail name. She is one of the most unlikely people I thought would make it this far, based on what she told me last time I saw her. She said she hates camping, but she just wanted to try something really hard. She carries around a can of Lysol and touches almost nothing with her hands. It cracks me up how fitting her name is. I think it’s awesome she has made it this far and watched so many others give up.After I was done icing Flamingo and I hiked the last two miles to the 501 Shelter. The shelter has four walls with a door. I took an ice cold shower in the solar shower. It was amazing. I can’t believe this is an AT shelter. It has a cool sunroof that lets light inside and you can order a pizza if you want to. I made some phone calls and hung out with everyone. I talked to poprocks and sloppy joe for a while. They seem like really cool people. I love meeting new people I really like on the trail. Today was a really good day.Happy Trails!
Des Hikes Thru 