After a rough day yesterday, and some needed recuperation time and Ibuprofen, my knees were feeling much better this morning.

Walking to the privy first thing I came across a box turtle. He was just trudging along as turtles do and it occurred to me that I needed to be a turtle. This trip is not a race to finish first, it’s a walk to the finish line. That became my motto for the day, “I need to be a turtle”.

Before we could get going in the morning, A man hiked by wearing nothing but his backpack. Two of the women camping made the comment “there goes someone enjoying naked hiking day”. And then informed us that today, June 21st is Naked Hiking Day on the Appalachian Trail. Without hesitation both Ed and I decided that the world would be a much better place if we did not participate. Throughout the day no one else participated either.

We started out in a short rain shower, hiked over some really nice trails with an occasional speed bump.

At the 10 mile point we stopped at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park, where we stopped at the General Store for ice cream. We both decided to pass on the hiker favorite “half gallon challenge”. For some reason the idea of eating a half gallon of ice cream, and then continue hiking did not appeal to either of us.

We hiked on (sometimes at a turtles pace) for a total of 17.1 miles to the James H. Fry shelter for the evening.