Rausch Gap to 501

Hi everyone. Julie here again. Mom's been a bit busy lately, what with going to New Orleans for the ArenaBowl last weekend (Go SaberCats! If the Soul had kept the ball on the field for the last 17 seconds of the game, they wouldn't have had a prayer.) and piecing the house back together now that the bedrooms have been carpeted (Let's just say that by the time this is all said and done, Goodwill isn't going to know what hit them).

Mom has been talking to the boys on a daily basis, however, and I'm sure she'll update soon with some of that information in order to fill in the gaps.

For today, I got to talk to the boys, and they were exceptionally chatty, so I've got lots to share!

This morning, they left Rausch Gap Shelter at about 7:30 AM. Turtle estimated the temperature to be about 70 degrees, but he said that, due to the humidity, after only about 20 minutes, his clothes were soaked with sweat. This was in response to my asking whether they'll choose to take the hike this late in the summer next year. Usually they hike in late May and early June, but because Navigator had to take a summer class, they had to postpone things this year. Turtle's response was, "Not if we can help it." He noted that when the sun does come out, things heat up pretty quickly.

Turtle did say, however, that he felt as if he was in better physical shape this year than in previous years. I guess that that gym membership paid off! (I hear that he's a monster on the elliptical machine. Not so much on the treadmill, after that one time that he fell off... :) Despite all that, however, he did tell me that they're both losing a little bit of weight. The waist straps on their packs are being adjusted accordingly.

Besides getting skinnier, the boys are also getting hairier. Neither shaves during their yearly hikes, so their beards are usually a sight to behold. Sometimes Navigator actually keeps a goatee. Turtle usually shaves his as soon as possible. I think it might be because it's brown near his face but gray on the ends, although he insists that it's not actually gray. It's just that the ends stick out from under the brim of his hat and get bleached by the sun.

Sounds like some good old-fashioned BS to me. :P

I commented on their good cell reception. It seems that during this year's hike, they've passed through areas with a higher population; therefore cell reception is better. Turtle mentioned that they're also at a higher elevation, so that helps as well. In fact, for those of you keeping track, they called today during their lunch break from a ridge on Blue Mountain, a little bit east of Swatara Gap. Unfortunately, though, they weren't enjoying a spectacular view since they were surrounded by trees. And so it goes...

Foot update: Things are about the same. Navigator's blisters, earned early due to his boots being too big, are healing. Even breaking in the new boots we sent him seems to feel better than the old ones. Turtle has been putting duct tape on his hot spots and has found that his boots, new this year, don't breathe quite as well as he'd like. As a result, his feet are soaked with sweat, and when he removes the tape, lately he's been taking off some skin with it. He doesn't have any blisters in the usual places, but Navigator spied one on Turtle's toe this morning. I think that this is Turtle's first of the year- a much better record than in the past!

It's been interesting to note how the character of each year's hike differs from previous years, usually due to the people that the boys meet on the trail. Through-hikers (those that complete the trail in one continuous stretch, unlike our boys who are called section hikers) usually do one of three things. They either hike south to north, north to south, or they hike south to north (when it's cooler in the south), hit the halfway point, and travel via an alternate mode of transportation to Maine where they hike from Mt. Katahdin south, back to the halfway point (before it gets too cold in the north). The boys, being section hikers, just pick up each year where they left off the previous year, so, depending on where they are and the time of year, they sometimes meet with many other hikers and usually meet some pretty interesting people along the way. This year, according to Navigator, they seem to be behind the crowd, so they haven't run into as many people. As a result, they had the shelter to themselves last night, and Navigator got to be the sole audience member for Turtle's snoring. Their hike concludes this weekend, and I imagine that Navigator is pretty excited about sleeping in his own room again- especially without the background noise!

Tonight, they're either headed to the 501 shelter (17 total miles for today) or a campground about 5 miles past it. They're going to try to finish a day earlier than planned, which means some really high-mileage days all the way to the end. As for today, the 22 total miles wasn't a promise. They'll get to 501 and see how they feel. They'd completed two significant climbs before lunch, one of which Turtle classified as a real "lung buster."