Day 76 - Disappointment (June 23)

I kept hearing about how you can order pizza and take a shower at the 501 shelter. I decided to go a few extra miles past the William Penn shelter where I was originally going to stop. It turned out that nearly everything in town is closed today. There was no pizza. In addition, the solar shower was not that warm. It was more of an ambient air temperature shower if no one adds any more cold water. The shower was cold but very nice.

Heather dropped me off where we hiked yesterday. The trail went up a gentle incline and stayed on top of a ridge for several miles. I walked through an old town called Yellow Springs that dated to the mid 1800s. All that remained were several piles of rocks. Further along the trail there was a stone well with a diameter of at least 10 feet along with the stone work remaining from a rail road bridge. So much work went into peoples lives, and all that remains are stones.

It looks like there are four parallel ridges in the area. The sandstone on at least two of the ridges look similar. Can someone tell me if these are all one sandstone unit?

I saw the first abandoned mine on the trail. I think it was a coal mine. The drainage was yellow. I remember talking about acid mine drainage in college, but its been a long time since I've seen it. I also saw two wells filled with limestone that are being used for remediation. Stream water is diverted into the wells where the limestone increases the pH. A sign said this method has been very effective at increasing the water quality of the local steams.

The shelter tonight is packed. These are all people I've not met before today with the exception of Nona from Nowhere. Heather and I met her at breakfast on Sunday. Nona doesn't seem to be well liked today. She was putting her feet in a spring that other people were using for their water source, and she gave a snippy remark to someone who asked her to keep her feet out until he got his water.

Also here tonight is Butters who draws comix in the trail registers. He got a few complaints about his material so he said he started rating his work as mature or something like that. Super Chunk and Rock Solid are here. Lady Cluck, Sampson, Howheels, and Shutterbug are here. The guy Heather lent her hair cutting scissors is here too. I think he might be hiking with his wife, but she seemed to go off somewhere by herself.