Not much sleep last night with the road noise, even with my earplugs. It's a nice day to walk though, in the 70s again and sunny all the way to the fully enclosed 501 shelter where I got talked into staying the night after a short day, to celebrate one section-hiker's 2000th mile. This was even better because after only one day of no problems, my new pack has quickly fallen apart with 2 pieces of webbing ripped clear through, 1 broken zipper, and load lifter straps that don't lock off.

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Sometimes you just end up in the most unlikely of places at the end of the day, and today was one of those days. My first real day with the new backpack, and it was one of those days that just kept evolving. I thought I'd go about 17 miles to the next shelter, but decided to go a little farther to throw the tent down, then a little farther, and a little farther, and...well, you get the idea.

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One last stop at the post office this morning after bringing back the rental car to send home my backpack and the extra things I cut out. All told, I cut out 12.5 pounds including the old backpack and traded it for the new pack weighing less than 2 lbs. In the end, I hit the trail with a new pack fully loaded with water and food for 5 days weighing just 28 lbs--about 15 lbs less than the pack I carried over 2 months ago at the very start of the trail.

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Short little near-o (almost zero) day today, but very busy. Footloose and I popped into the famously seedy Doyle Hotel for the A.T. special breakfast and did some laundry before I was whisked away in my rental car to drive 30 miles back down the trail to retrieve my package from the Ironmaster's Mansion Hostel at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Fortunately, the drive was quick, and my new ultralight pack was finally here!

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Nice comfortable day to walk the flat miles of the Cumberland Valley, though it rained on and off for much of the day. Having left the north end of the Blue Ridge, the valley was about 15 miles of flat walking through fields and farmland--something entirely new for me on the trail so far. It was a nice change despite the poor weather on this Memorial Day holiday. A wonderful smell of honeysuckle lingered in the air all throughout the day.

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