The evening brought another overnight rainstorm. We hurried to closed the vestibules left open to facilitate a breeze, then we went back to sleep until morning, awoken one other time to a large branch crashing to the ground from a tree somewhere between our tent and Bobwhite’s. Mama Bear poked her head out of the tent long enough to satisfy herself that none of our friends had been crushed.

We left camp early so that we could push the miles to Boiling Springs in time to pick up a package before the post office closed at 4:30. Bobwhite joined us for the morning, then turned around to head back to her car. We took few breaks as we were cutting the timing close and knew that the final miles would be the slowest going because of the boulder maze.

The boulders were fun to navigate, particularly for the kids because the adults were carrying their packs to facilitate a speedy trip into town. Then we dropped down to walk through some fields of young wheat and corn. The kids were excited to discover some sour cherry trees and mulberry trees growing at the margins of the field. The mulberry tree was especially exciting since they had been singing “pop goes the weasel” all the way down the hill.

We made it to town with plenty of time and picked up our packages. We watched the ducks, geese and swan swimming in the pond of the town park. And we hatched a plan with Wired (who was simultaneously reaching the town 25 miles north of us), to coordinate one last adventure together before she flew away north. Wired rented a car and picked us up, taking us to the house of another serious long distance hiker (Malto who hiked the PCT in the same high-snow year that Wired did). Malto (whose daily mileage while hiking generally hovers a little over forty miles) lives and works in Hershey,PA. The kids enjoyed a trip to Chocolate World, had a chance to make their own chocolate bars, and then snuggled with Malto’s Great Pyrenees back at the house.

We slept on beds as some thunderstorms rolled by on the evening and are taking a slow morning, planning to return to the trail Thursday afternoon.