May 7
End: Darlingtton Shelter
Miles: 33.5
Total: 2991.9
We all got up early because we did not want to attract any attention. The other two did not get much sleep, and I felt sorry for them. Swivel had gotten wet when retrieving water from the pump, and her clothes had been damp all night. Spiral’s sleeping pad had apparently developed a hole, leaving him lying on the hard concrete.
I moved on while my friends did their normal morning routine of breakfast and stretching. I soon came upon a swimming pond, and remembering some advice from Tin Man, checked the nearest building to find showers! I took a nice long, hot shower, and it felt great. In true hiker trash fashion, I utilized the wall-mounted hand drier to get dry.
After my refreshing shower I started hiking. Unsurprisingly, I spent the whole morning in the woods, going up and down small hills. I passed a few shelters, and felt a little bit of moisture. I was not sure if it was truly raining or if the wind was blowing condensation from off of the trees, but when I exited the woods to farm fields I could tell that it was actually raining.
Being rained on in the fields was not fun since I knew there was no chance to find cover, but the fields led to Boiling Springs, a beautiful trail town. Sadly, the grocery store was more than a mile off of the trail, so I started that walk, and the rain stopped.
I got to the store, ate some chips, and passed on the ice cream since it was too cold out. I met Meats, Bread and Butter, and Xtreme. They were the first group of thru-hikers that I had seen in awhile.
I got groceries for myself as well as Spiral and Swivel, then walked back towards the trail and met them at a nice little café. No one offered me a ride on the way to or from the grocery. We finally packed up and left, as we were anxious to get to the next shelter instead of staying in town. The rain had previously discouraged me, but now I was ready to continue.
Because I hate the rain so much, Spiral suggested that I take on the trail name Rain Delay. It was a decent trail name, but I couldn’t pick just one. I had already considered Mile-Mannered Man and Not Gonna Make It. Rain Delay would have to stay in my list of good trail names.
We hiked out and made good time. The terrain was very easy, covering a lot of farm land and low swamp areas. As darkness approached, we climbed up Darlington Mountain, and got to Darlington Shelter. Salty was already there. He had been hiking some with the Hot Garbage Crew, and was disappointed to hear that they were far behind.
We had a good, albeit short night talking with Salty before hitting our sleeping pads. Spiral had mostly fixed his pad, and we had covered a lot of ground. The next day looked like rain, but we could make it to Duncannon.
