My friend Jan who had put me up in Gettysburg, took me up to the post office in Boiling Springs in the morning, because I otherwise would not have made it in time. On the way to the trailhead, I saw Mogo pass us on the road, on her way to surprise me in Boiling Springs! Having the jump on her surprise visit, I sent her a cryptic text message alluding that I might know what she was up to..

She had brought me some wonderful chocolate chip cookies, which were made fresh this morning. Don’t I feel special! It was great to see her, especially as I had no idea when our next opportunity to hang out would be.

We visited Yellow Breeches Creek, which runs right through the town of Boiling Springs. It got its name during the Revolutionary War, when British Red Coats forded the creek wearing their red coats and white breeches. (pants) After crossing, they realized that the creek had turned their breeches yellow. The Americans apparently found this amusing, and the name stuck.

At the end of the day I still had six miles to go, and it was almost dark. I have been having some headlamp issues, and even though we had bought a new battery for my current one, once out at the trail I learned that it was the wrong size. So I set off as it was getting dark, armed with a little keychain LED. It worked ok, but the moon came out anyway so I didn’t need it all the time.

I reached Yellow Breeches Creek around midnight (I started six miles back from town) and set up camp on the bank of the creek. There is a railroad track 20 yards away, which turned out to be interesting. Even though a train came through about every hour and kept waking me up, it was a really cool sensation to be camped so close to the tracks. Every time a train came, in my groggy state I felt as if the train were headed right through my tent.

Map