May 11
End: Allentown Hiking Club Shelter
Miles: 31.2
Total: 3096.3
I got the earliest start from the shelter. The plan for the day was to get to the Walmart in Hamburg, get food for another three days, then get out of town with enough time to do a lot more miles.
The terrain had been pretty rocky for the past couple of days, and that theme was not about to change. I hiked along, but didn’t get too far before I was confronted by a pair of horses hanging out on the trail with no riders in sight. I stepped aside so that they could stroll lazily by, then got back on the trail.
After a very steep descent down to Port Clinton, I made it out to the road, and started walking to Walmart. I got a ride after walking almost halfway there. At Walmart I pigged out and charged my phone until Spiral and Swivel arrived after walking all the way from Port Clinton.
I moved over to Lowe’s to pick up a new pot cover, then to McDonald’s to use their WiFi network. Sending photos takes a small eternity, but I got them sent and got back on the trail just after my friends. We all caught rides back to the trail, which felt great.
Spiral and Swivel are probably the worst Walmart shoppers I know. Because they bought too much food and could only scarf so much of it down at the store, I helped them out by carrying their fresh fruit. I was happy to help, but the fruit was definitely heavy. Later on we stopped and ate it, thus fixing the problem.
I pressed on ahead. Worried about time, I did not want to arrive at the shelter after dark again, as often happens with Spiral and Swivel. The terrain continued to be very rocky, and I felt a little bad for my friends, who were wearing trail runners, which are pretty light and don’t protect the bottom of your feet as much. My Asics had a plastic piece which I used to step on sharp rocks and other obstacles.
As darkness started to close in I was still hiking. I went on without my headlamp because I just wanted to get to the shelter and I was very close. Covering more boulder fields in the waning light, I came to the shelter and went through my nightly routine. When I was almost asleep, Spiral and Swivel showed up. They had hiked in the dark for awhile, covering the boulder fields with their headlamps. We all were pretty tired and slept well.
