4/20 Short and fun

13.4 miles hiked today, 536.6 miles N
Water source for Davis Path Shelter

Today was a bit of a short day when it comes to distance but it was a full day. I ate my leftover pizza for breakfast which may not have been a a good idea as it didn't settle great when I hit the trail a few minutes later. Hiwever it was a good hiking day starting out both not too hot but not cold enough to warrant pants. Bowser, McGyver, and I hiked out together with McGyver setting a fast pace. There wasn't to to speak of, climbing up, a lunch break, and going back down. Then we came upon the "Settlers Museum". It was odd because there was a campus of hundred year plus old buildings from an early farm with signs and tools but no one around. My guide described this as a living museum with trades people doing demonstrations. After spending about 45 minutes satisfying our curiosity by poking around we got back on the trail.

Shortly after were came across the front entrance of the museum where the people were. The was a father and daughter in period dress who did an excellent job of acquainting us with the history of the area. The father was first talking us through the displays about the origins of the population of Appalachia, Germans and Scottish. One of the more interesting things was the origin of Pennsylvania Dutch. That is actually inaccurate because the origins are in Germany. The confusion came from when they were asked where they were from. They said Deutschland which the Ellis Island staff took be "Dutch Land". The girl talked about the clothes and told us how linen was made, a very complex and laborious process to put it mildly. Then the girl took us to the one room school house nearby. She was maybe around 10 and as sharp as a tack. She talked about how children were educated and was exceptional when it came to answering all sorts of questions. On the wall of the school house there were rules for teachers posted and one I found interesting was if the woman teacher got married she lost her job. After that wonderfully educational hour and half break we got back on the trail again.
From there we went up and down easy rolling hills and through open fields. From my compass bearings and general terrain I think we were transferring from one mountain range to another. For the last few days we have had a few spells where we started out on a 3000' range, then dropping down for a distance, then back up all while heading mostly easy and never while following a ridgeline.
Today we crossed a highway before the next ridge and there was a gas station where we stopped to top off our food and get some extra calories before we made it an early night a couple miles later.
Despite the short and mostly easy day I am shot. We have a campfire going where McGyver and Bowser are roasting hot dogs they got a couple days ago.