Day 87: The Slackers

Day: 87 Miles: 21.6 Trip: 1138.5 Started: Boiling Springs PA Destination: Cove Mt. Shelter

Ice Main (in red) and 'The Slackers'

So today was probably one of the most decadent days on the trail.  We were faced with 17 miles of truly flat rock free trail.  This type of trail I had always thought was somewhat mythical and did not exist.  But today it did exist!  To make things even more decadent, Chin Music arranged to have Ice Man slack pack us for the day.  A typical slack pack day would just mean not carrying a full pack load to the last road crossing of they day.  This would be different.  This stretch of trail goes through a lot of fields and there were quite a few road crossings.  Ice Man worked it out so he would meet us every two miles or so for the entire day.   He had a cooler full of cold soda and water!  This meant that we actually  had to carry nothing at all for the full 17 miles!  At one stop hanging around his pickup truck we decided that if we were in a band we would be called 'The Slackers'.  We hit our last road crossing at PA850 and picked up our packs for the final 5 miles for the day.  It was truly amazing to do those miles carrying absolutely nothing.  Ice Man is my new hero!

Barry the 'Wittler'

At the PA850 we met Barry the 'Wittler'. Barry is supporting his 70+ year old wife and friend as they complete 10 mile sections of the trail at a time.  Barry spends his day carving wood whistles and stick figures and proudly passes them out to other hikers.  I am proud to say that I am now the owner of a Barry The Wittler whistle.