AT Day 19 William Penn Shelter --> Black Swatara Spring

Miles ~15
Total ~180
Shannon: We had a little rain storm last night but we were cozy in the shelter to no harm done. The hike today was longer than we realized, around 15 miles. It felt fine though. We hiked 5 easy miles to the 501 shelter where we took showers, did laundry and chatted with the caretakers. 501 was lovely, like a real cabin. Next we hiked past some scouts and ended up meeting up with them for lunch. As we started up again, the thunder and rain threatned so we should have camped early but as i was determined to get the extra mile we got drenched. Bummer. Of course it stopped raining the second the tent was all set up.

Campsite in Black Swatara Spring, note the pitiful footprint over the top.

Caretakers at the 501

PA Boulder Field

AT Day 18 Rauch Gap Shelter -> William Penn Shelter

Miles: ~13
Total: ~165.3

Shannon:  The hike today was pretty great.  A NOBO slowed down a bit and hikes with us.   "Peep Show" is his trail name.  He had a great story about how hiking the AT got him a promotion.  Originally his boss siad he couldn't hold his job for him.   Then, when it was obvious he was going anyway, his boss begged him to come back and offered him a promotion. HA!
The terrain today was fun-the initial climb was hellish but it was smooth sailing after that.  We didn't have many landmarks to check mileage so we were going by our pace-2 MPH but ended up at the shelter an hour early!  We were cruisin!

Jamie:  Toughest day for my so far.  That climb we did was pretty crazy-straight up with no switchbacks (sounds like a hiker's drink:  Bacardi, 151 and yellow gatorade mix maybe?)  
We are sort of filled with dread over todays prospect of PA's finest skree, rocks, pebbles and boulders.  YAY!