5/31Strange pits

20 hiked today, miles N, miles left
Campsite S of Boiling Springs

Today I got a rather late start to getting on the trail. This was due to the hostel caretaker losing her keys. I helped her look for them for about an hour with no luck. She was pretty upset about that as she was going to need to call a locksmith. I took my time leaving the park making some phone calls and looking at the remnants of the old iron furnace before leaving. Shortly after leaving the park I came across the halfway post on the trail. It was inaccurate as it was place in 1984 and the trail changes length every year due to maintenance and reroutes. As a result it was 1.9 miles to far north and listed 36 miles too little between the ends. I was alone so I had to balance my camera on a rock to get a shot of me with the post. Then it was on through easy rolling mountains. The only thing that was tough was a rocky peak where the trail designers decided to mess with us and route the trail through (8" gaps), up an over(4' ledges), and 3/4 of the way around the large boulders. I reached the very north end of the Blue Ridge mountain range and near the end I came across something rather odd. Maybe 4 times I saw two pits each about 10' across. 6' deep, about 40' apart with one on each side of the trail. Normally I would assume it was the pit left from a tree falling over and leaving a divot where it's root ball once was. The problem was there were far too regular and occurred in exactly the same way more than once. Also fallen trees leave a pile of dirt to one side of their divot. Perhaps they date back to early explorers or native american activity? I have no idea. Around Boiling springs is a 18 mile region where camping is not permitted except for a small area where the ATC maintains a site just outside city limits. Unfortunately the site is right next to train tracks so I suspect trains will wake me up over night. I caught up with people I knew including Twiglet and Nightirder who were also spending the night here. I had found a sock in the trail this afternoon and it turned out to be Twiglets. He was very happy to get it back. I had accidentally left my iodine for water treatment behind while treating water. Twiglet kindly gave some that he didn't need. Unfortunately for Nightrider ac Nalgene bottle I had found yesterday in the trail I had left at the Ironmasters when I couldn't find it's old recipient.
Tomorrow I will head into town for breakfast and light resupply as I don't have enough food to make it to Duncannon.