Thursday, May 17, 2012

AT Day 9, James Fry Shelter to Boiling Springs

Miles: 12 Miles
Total: 99.4 (but let's round up, shall we?)  ONE HUNDRED
Stops:
Alex Sherman

Shannon: We woke up this morning with the intention of heading out by 7 but, once again, we moved a bit slow.   Our morning routine has been pretty wonderful though.  We wake up in the morning, make coffee, eat breakfast, relax and pack up.  After watching so many hikers run past us I was getting anxious about going "slow." But, in reality, we're "fun-employed".  What's our rush?  SO, we woke up, lazed about and headed off. The hiking today was pretty mild, but we did get a bit of a taste of the infamous Philadelphia rocks.  There was a portion that had huge rocks that we had to make our way though.  In the guidebook, it was named "the Maze." While I was mildly worried about twisting my ankle, it was pretty fun.  The trail took us over and under and through all the rocks.  I really enjoyed it.
We stopped in at the Alex Sherman shelter for lunch/snack and met up with the people we shared last night's shelter with. All three of them are from New York, a married couple from Manhattan and a man from Brooklyn.  We spent lunch chatting with them and I even gave them a Ukelele Performance.  It was a really lovely lunch.
We finally wandered into Boiling Springs.  Lots of excitement in this town.  An AT office is here so we stopped in there.  Then a man came over to ask if we were hikers and could he take our picture.     After three or four different photo locations we found a good one.   He does this as a hobby - taking pictures of hikers and fly fisherman.  Very fun.
After the office closed and we finished up in town we wandered over to eat at Cafe 101.  While we were eating this lovely couple who had came out to eat at the same restaurant asked us some questions about our travels.  Before we left, they asked us if we needed anything and offered us a shower.  How could we say no?   Our other option was to go to the campground with no water or bathroom. So, as soon as they offered, we jumped up and hopped in their car.
Our hosts are Marcia and Ron Golembeski.  He's in law enforcement and she works in the registrar's office at Dickinson college.  They have three adorable bunnies-Digger, Floppy and Cinnamon- and a cat named Shadow.   They are incredibly kind and have a wonderful home.   They let us shower and do laundry and we'll spend tonight here.   Great couple and we are so appreciative to be clean.  To be honest with you, I hadn't washed my hair until today (although I had showered)  so I was super happy to have the shower with shampoo.
We are the first hikers that they've helped and I hope we were a good first experience and they are able to continue to help hikers in the future!

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