6 down, 8 to go.

Day 63 - 6/18/10
Didn't sleep too well because I was paranoid about our sketchy camp
spot. And I woke up early to the sounds of Ace moving around, so we
were on the trail by 6:20. My second earliest start. We made it to Pen
Mar County Park pretty soon, and stopped to have breakfast because we
were in a hurry earlier and hadn't yet. I had oatmeal and a granola
bar. I also went and got a soda from the machine by the concessions,
and when I came back one half of the British duo was at the table.
Churchill this time. E's a real lovely chap. That's how he talks. I
love the words they use in speech that replace our American versions.
Cheers is thanks. Lovely is nice. Chap is guy. Me is my. Churchill is
particularly fond of using gorgeous to describe things. Later on in
the day he saw me eating PB and Nutella in a tortilla and called it
gorgeous. I love it. So he, Ace, and I ate breakfast and drank sodas
there at some picnic tables. Then Ace left cause she needed to head
into a town nearby to pick up a food drop, so it was just me and
Churchill. We talked for a while, and he pretty much convinced me I
need to make a trip over his way someday, which I plan to.

It was around 9am when I finally left. Less then a 1/4 mile away I
crossed the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania. I finally feel like
I'm out of the South now! I have over a 40-mile buffer between us, aka
the state of Maryland. A very nice feeling. After a few hours I
stopped for a lunchbreak at these rocks, that's when Churchill saw me
eating and commented. When I packed up and continued I came to a
shelter within 10 minutes. Wish I had gone a little further before I
stopped to eat, then I would have had a picnic table to use.

The hiking was pretty flat for a stretch, not much happening. There
were a series of really close shelters all together, and then I came
to a road where a lady was getting ready to take her horse for a ride.
The horse was tied to the back of the carriage, and the lady was busy
getting something inside her car, so when I crossed the street the
horse freaked out at the sight of me, almost to the point where he was
up on his hind legs. I guess my massive beard is scary! It was a
little strange that the horse got so frightened, but the lady came
running over telling me it was just a young guy. Still getting
comfortable around people perhaps.

After that was a steep uphill, and it became very rocky. A mixture of
small rocks and massive boulders. Sometimes very hard to navigate
through. But it was also fun. Somewhere along there I met up with
Churchill again, and we talked about going to this pool at Caledonia
State Park further along the trail, and possibly getting some food at
the snack bar too. It was a ways off, but we were both very into the
idea so we agreed to meet up there whenever that would be.

He got ahead of me, and I didn't see him again until I made it there.
The rocks and heat were doing me in so I had to take more breaks than
usual. One of them I even stopped and layed out on some rocks,
reclining, which was very nice. After a little more rock climbing I
passed two girls who were just out for the day. When they found out I
was thru hiking they seemed very impressed. They were going south so
after I said goodbye I was on a bit of a high. When you run into
people who ask you a million questions and seem super impressed it
makes you feel really good, giving you a mini speed boost. At least it
does for me.

When I was getting close to US 30, right around where Caledonia SP
is, I see a guy coming up the hill. He stops me and starts asking
about water sources, and I'm telling him about it. Then I notice
something sitting on his pack. Something big. It takes me a second to
register that it's an iguana. An iguana! I ask him if it's real and he
says yes, so I snapped a picture of the craziness. It was a strange
site, seeing it just hanging out on top of his pack. I continued on
and soon made it to the park. I found Churchill, he had just arrived a
few minutes before, so we signed in to use the pool then went over and
jumped right in. It was so refreshing and absolutely "lovely" as he
kept saying. Then we got some food, I had a milkshake and awesome
french fries, like ones you would get at a fair. Really hit the spot.

We left at around 6:15, and I made it to Quarry Gap shelter at 7:30.
It's a swanky place. There's even potted plants hanging from the
porch. I set up my tent inside the shelter because I figured no one
else would be showing up. I was surprised when Ace pulled in at 8:30,
and I guess she wasn't able to hitch into town to get her mail, so she
did about an extra 3 miles putting her at 25 to get here. Around 9:15,
as I was typing this, an obnoxiously loud group pulled in. By this
time it was dark, and both Ace and Churchill were in bed, so I'm sure
they became instantly annoyed. As we speak they are being very loud
and talkative while setting up their tents right next to those two.
Should be interesting to hear their thoughts tomorrow. Better get to
bed myself, if I can that is. Goodnight.

Total miles: 1075.5