Day 3: Testing out the tarp system

In the morning I stuck around The Free State [see below] doing laundry and internets and repacking my pack until I was the last hiker there. Janel, the co-owner of the hostel, gave me a ride to the Smithsburg post office, 2.4 miles away, where I mailed home more than 2 pounds of stuff.

After lunch [Reuben, popsicle, soda] at the Smithsburg Market, I picked up some new and very necessary supplies at the pharmacy. I got Zeasorb powder [think Gold Bond] and some zinc oxide ointment to fight my worst enemy in my early hiking days: chafing. Since then, I've been powdering up every morning, and I've noticed I'm not the only guy on the trail who starts his day with a shot of powder down his shorts. The powder is also good for keeping my feet dry, and the ointment also works on poison ivy.

I hiked the AT 5.1 miles to the Devil's Racecourse shelter, which sat derelict at the bottom of a beast of a steep decline. Only one other guy was there, but another two - Thumper and Solar Speck, two section hikers - soon arrived. Those guys and I went back up to the trail. An Asian guy who didn't speak any English asked "Shelter?" and, upon seeing me nod, headed down.

Snooze and Pokie, two girls thru-hiking north, set up a tent, made up a fire and invited everyone over. My nightcap was instant coffee heated over my butane Primus stove. After all that, I slept fitfully in my very exposed tarp tent because of bear paranoia, clutching pocket knife and flashlight in hand.