Deer Lick Shelters to Rocky Mountain Shelters

Feb 18 - 10.2  Miles...Only 10.2 miles. Felt like many more. 

 

After a breakfast of honey buns and 2 cups of coffee, i was ready to move on down the trail.  Sage and I were brave enough to not deploy our tarps overnight...but we had them above our hammocks in snakeskins just in case our weather optimism was misplaced. Our friends had the wisdom to set up their shelter regardless of weather estimates.  Sage and I enjoyed the stars, and managed to avoid getting rained on...so score one for optimism. 

     The trail was smooth and level...we were flying down the trail. What a great stretch for a first hike. I was feeling like I'd chosen well...beautiful weather, easy trail, Eve will certainly enjoy her first multi day hike with conditions like this.

We broke camp, and had an easy 2.4 mike hike down to the Tumbling Run Shelters.  

Eve and Sage beat us there and  were waiting by the creek that runs nearby. "Do we have time to go wading?" I had planned to move on, but how can you pass up a request to go wading in Pennsylvania in February?  So while the girls explored the creek, we sat down to make an early lunch.

    I had a homemade beans and rice freezer bag meal that looked tasty, so i boiled 2 cups of water, poured it into the bag with my dehydrated food, and waited. The sun was bright and warm, i sat their soaking it in.

   We called the girls back, enjoyed our meal, and got back on the trail. 

Tumbling Run is a beautiful location with the unfortunate problem of being too close to a State Park. It was quiet during our lunch visit, but I tend to prefer shelters that are not so accessible to teens in cars. Good lunch stop, but not sure it would be my pick for an overnight.

After a stop at a water faucet about 150 yards away to refill water bottles, we kept going.     The trail was smooth and easy, other than a climb coming up in a few miles, this was looking like a very easy day. We rolled into Tumbling Run Shelter and were very impressed. Every piece of gravel was in the proper location. No trash, anywhere. This shelter was obviously very well maintained.  While at the shelter, we took a brief break and met a retired couple. The wife offered us fresh made Korean Sushi (apologies to any Korean readers, I forget the proper term)...and it was incredible. The girls didn't eat much, but David and I chowed down. I showed a bit of restraint in case the couple had not eaten yet...but I could have easily eaten everything they had. It was one of the best bits of trail magic yet...beautiful shelter and fresh homemade Korean food. 

 Then the caretaker showed up, and we chatted for a bit. He recommended taking the Blue Blaze up to Chimney Rock, and said the White Blazes were very steep. Sage and I are not above an occasional Blue Blaze, although I think Sage leans more toward the purist side than I do. I let Sage make the call and she said "take the trail."   Bit mistake. the Trail was very steep.  We should have cheated and taken the easier Blue Blaze path.

   After a very steep climb, we finally made it to the top. From Penmar to this climb, we had hiked some of the easiest sections of the AT so far. All was forgotten on this climb. Perhaps it was because we climbed it later in the day, but for whatever reason, it seemed harder than the map indicated.

  The girls  and Dads enjoyed the view from the top, but most of all, we enjoyed knowing that there wasn't much more climbing left for the day. 

According to the map, we really didn't have much effort left before the next shelter. But the trail kept dragging on, and we were very tired after the climb. So we moved pretty slow from Chimney Rock to the shelter.  Many breaks were taken. 

We stumbled on from Chimney Rock, and nearing dark, we made it to Rocky Mountain Shelters. After a brief debate about whether we should continue on to the car only 3.5 miles mostly downhill, we decided we were too tired to continue, and hiked down to the shelter. 

     Sage was very motivated to have a campfire, so in spite of my aversion to smoke, I agreed. After a very pleasant fire, we went to sleep in the shelter. As it burned down, it nearly smoked us out of the shelter. My aversion to campfire smoke continues...I think I'l say "no" the next time. 

     Today was a very long day...probably a bit too long for a beginning hiker. But we made it.