Monday, July 11, 2011

Day 99 - 8th July - Swatara Gap - 501 Shelter - Hertlein Campsite - 16 miles

The temperature reaches 101 deg F today. We start early and are on the trail by 6.30am. There is trail magic at most of the road crossings with gallon bottles of water for hikes to replenish supplies. We stop for lunch and have takeway pizza delivered to us at the 501 shelter - the town is about 8 miles away - they also bring two large bottles of Mountain Dew softdrink - our 'soda' of choice because it contains the most calories - yes even more than coco cola. There is an outdoor solar shower at this shelter so we have a 'cold' shower to cool down for lunch. While we are having lunch it rains - quite a sprinkle for half an hour.

We see few hikers today - most of them are off the trail waiting for the heatwave to pass in nearby towns. At the campsite we meet 'Pigpen' who lives in New Hampshire new the White Mts and he gives us some good advice - plan to average no more than 10 miles a day and don't book huts as they should not be crowded by the time we are there.

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