Day 16: Pizza at 501

Start: Unnamed Tentsite (AT mi 1186). Stop: 501 Shelter (AT mi 1196.1) Today’s miles: 10.1 miles. Total AT mileage: 171.1 miles

I got started a little late this morning, 8:45 before I hit the trail. While I was eating breakfast we saw 5 or more hikers pass our site. Once I got going up that god awful uphill, I felt like I was smooth cruising-until I looked at my watch and saw I was barely maintaining 2 miles per hour. Oh well, every step still moves me closer to my goal.
When the grade leveled out, the rocks showed up. I think I’ve now entered “Rocksylvania” or at least the start of it. Pennsylvania is known as the “worst” state on the AT simply because of the rocks-so it’s been nicknamed “Rocksylvania” and “Painsylvania” LOL

These rocks are of all sizes, and you’d think the big ones would be easier to navigate but they all equally suck. All I can think to explain is that it’s like that Ninja Warrior show on TV and the rocks are like the weeble wobbly things you jump to, the second you step on it, it moves, and everything continues to teeter totter with each move you make. And, the smaller rocks are called ankle turners, because, well, they’ll turn your ankles real quick.

I met up with the group that I watched pass me when I was eating breakfast. They were all stopped at an outlook.. I stopped to see it too, and we introduced ourselves. There was Lady Bird and Lindsey, both flip flopping from Virginia. Then there was Spring, Morning Dove, & Landfill-all from Springer. They asked where I was headed today.. I tell them.. Then they return with the greatest news EVER: Pizza can be delivered to the shelter we’re all hiking to!! OH HELL YEAH! Bring on the rocks, because I’m making it to pizza!

They all end up passing me on the rocks, and maybe 30 ish minutes later I come across Curmudgeon and Cholula. She re-twisted her bad ankle! She looks a whole lot better than she feels, I could tell her foot was hurting her, but damn she has a poker face.

I press on after talking with them and telling them about pizza, I think that lifted her spirits some too. Not too long afterwards, I came back across the group that told me about the pizza. I mentioned Cholula’s ankle and Spring AND Lady Bird both started digging through their packs! As Cholula turned the corner, they had her an ace wrap and some coban to wrap it with! Such incredibly kind people. While we were all hanging out there, Morning Dove mentions that someone just text her that there’s trail magic up ahead!

So I push on, knowing it’s like 2.2 miles to trail magic.. Lizard texts me that she’ll wait for me at the trail magic because she’s already there! This day just keeps getting better! She went into the town at the road that the trail magic is on to resupply, so she’s staying at the same shelter, too! We’re about to have one hell of a pizza party!

Which is exactly what happened! All of us ended up hanging out for awhile with Slick, the trail angel that set up a cooler with cold Gatorade’s and other drinks, tons of snacks and bananas, plus chairs for us to all sit around in. He was one cool guy. He even let people charge their phones.
We passed a couple beautiful overlooks, then got to the shelter. Derby, No Filter, Crinkles, & Randy were already there. So it was those 4, me, Lizard, Curmudgeon, Cholula, Waterfall (a guy we met at the magic), Morning Dove, Landfill, LadyBird, Lindsey, Spring, plus lots of other folks I haven’t met. It was a good evening! We all ended up ordering pizza and sitting out at the picnic tables. After we ate, they started a fire.. and we all hung out and laughed a whole lot. Let’s just say there’s a reason No Filter is named No Filter, and it has nothing to do with water.

Now, we’re all winding down. It’s 840pm and we’re all in our bunks (the 8 of us in the shelter)Or tucked into tents and hammocks. It’s funny how you literally only plan to stay awake with the sun and not a second longer once it leaves. I know the next few days will be rough on my feet, being in Rocksylvania now, but we only have 100 more miles of Pennsylvania left, and then states will start to feel like they’re flying by (so they tell me).