The birds start singing at 5 am or so. The sun rises around 6ish. I get up around 6:30 with the plan of starting the hiking day between 7:30 and 8:00. Before I crawl out of the tent, I stuff my 45-degree down sleeping bag into its stuff sack. Deflate the pillow and mattress before I pit them into their stuff sacks. I take my small tarp out of its zip lock and reach out of the tent to spread it out in front. Then I toss everything out onto the tarp. Now it is my turn. Once out I retrieve the food bag from the tree and then my clothes from the drying line. I take my med. and supplements while I eat breakfast of 2 cups of dry cereal with 3 tablespoons of dry milk and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar while I load up the backpack. I figure the pack weighs about 40 plus pounds with food and water. At 270 pounds that means my legs have to horse 310 pounds of dead weight up the hills and brake sufficiently going down hill to avoid going too fast.
With every thing packed, I cross the bridge once again and head into the weeds again. I start up the hill beyond the weeds. It is not long before I realize that I all of me hurts. My feet, knees, my non-surgical right hip (hurts with every step), my muscles, and my hands are cramping from gripping the walking sticks. It does not take long for the sweat to begin pouring out and soaking my clothes. There is no way I can hike fast. I go up and down several hills and reach a ridgeline following combined trails. The path is clearly worn down so in my fatigue I watch the path rather than the blazes. Eventually I realize that the white blazes are not on the trees in front of me, rather the blazes are red and yellow. The FLT must have turned sharply off the main path, and I missed it. I get the map out and attempt to figure out the various trails that criss-cross the area. It looks like it is too far to retrace my steps. I hear voices coming up the trail. I continue walking until we meet. They tell me that they are on a day hike. I ask if the crossed the FLT on their hike up the hill. They were not sure. I told them of my plan to do an end-to-end hike. They tell me if I continue down this trail I will come to a parking lot with their red SUV and that there was a large map beside the truck. They wished me well and I continue down the path. I become more aware of how sore my muscles are and how much my feet hurt. It is taking a great deal of effort to hike. I get to the parking lot, find the car, and find the map but the FLT is not clearly on it. I see cars passing on the road 2 or 300 hundred yards down the maintained road. I see a park maintained truck coming towards me. I flag it down and told him of my problem i.e. I was lost though I was sure I was in the general area of the FLT. He was not sure of the Flat’s path through the Allegany State Forest. He takes me to the park office where I fill my Plady’s and ask about bears. I am told that bears are a minimal problem currently. I take my map out and we consult with a senior ranger who tells us where to go to connect with a trailhead. We drive by the little park store and Ron asks me if I want to stop. I say no and have the feeling I have not earned any ice cream etc. Ron tells me that he has been around the Allegany Forest since he was a kid. His parents would come here to rent a cabin during the summer. I ask about the shelters and the springs. He said that years ago, people would come from the cities with their gallon jugs and fill them from the springs. But, an administrator in the city somewhere decided that there was a liability for the park if people got water from the springs. So, many of the springs were blocked up. We get to the trailhead, and I get out, thank him, and head up the hill. I have missed about 2 miles of the trail, and from the depths of my fatigue I feel thankful.
I hike slowly to the Lean-To. When I arrive, I am the only here so I set up shelter with my sleeping gear. I locate the spring and fill the Plady’s and then clean up myself. I am sitting at the picnic table writing in my journal when I hear voices coming up the path to the shelter. Gradually 8 boy scouts and 2 leaders come into the clearing headed towards me. The boys have backpacks that are off balance and overloaded for their size. The smallest boy has the most awkward and out of balance pack. I have seen this before with boy scouts when I worked in NJ on the AT.
I tell them that I can let them have the shelter because I have a tent. They have hammocks and tarps to string between trees. They set off to make camp. The littlest boy has the larges tarp – a big heavy-duty gray tarp. I start to warm my dinner, while they set up camp and start to cook their evening meal. I talk with the scout leaders about their hike. It is their yearly 50-mile hike, and they are finishing their second day. The coyotes are singing while the scout leaders are doing individual evaluations of the scout’s behavior. They tell me that they plan to break camp early and be on the trail by 6:30 am. I fall asleep before they are finished with the evaluations.
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