We were up before dawn, as Edie and Wayne whisked us back to Old Forge Park, and had us on the trail by 6:00 a.m. The temperature was 56° when we started, and we were loving it! In fact, the temp today never got over 80° all day.

After a mile, we passed Tumbling Run Shelters (famous for its designation of the two small adjoining shelters as one “snoring” and the other “non-snoring,” and the [non-working] doorbell on the privy). We recognize our friend One’s tent, and stop to get an update on his last few days. He passes us later, but we think he waited for the concession stand at Caledonia State Park to open, while we decided to walk on, and take an early lunch break at the Quarry Gap Shelters, where the personal touch of the volunteer maintainer/ “inn keeper” is in evidence in several of the appointed details, one being hanging baskets of impatiens. X follows the instruction to “water as needed.”

The trail is kind to us today, and the weather could not be better. The miles seem to fly by. The Chimney Rocks slow us down a bit, and we get a (thankfully) brief taste of PA rocks just past Quarry Rocks. We see few people, with an exception being four young women ending their short section hike at a five-way gravel road intersection where they are calling Enterprise to “we’ll pick you up!” and take them to their car at Pen Mar park. We arrive at Shippensburg Road around 4:30pm, just moments before Edie and Wayne arrive to take us back for steaks on the grill. We’re so full tonight, we doubt we’ll be in any shape to try the ice cream challenge tomorrow, but we are not complaining…