Date: 2004-05-31
From: Hurricane Mtn Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: light rain

On the morning of the 31st we awoke to a down pour. This did not inspire anyone to get moving quickly. Without a word to each other we each chose to hunker down in our bags and sleep some more. Eventually we all got up and went about eating and packing. It's nice this new shelter has such a big overhanging roof. Slow Train was planning on a zero day here at Hurricane Mountain Shelter after his long day yesterday. By the time we were ready to leave the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. Even Slow Train had emerged from his bag and decided to move on to the next shelter. That made me happy. We figured we wouldn¢t see each other again on the trail and bade each other a fond farewell. He gave me an open invitation to the Hawaii wilderness and said he would mail me a copy of his book on his first thru-hike when he got home. I would miss Slow Train and wish him well in future register entries.After about 7 miles there was a sign for the now removed Raccoon Branch Shelter. A couple met me at the sign. They were day hiking and had been down to the old shelter site. They said there were still some camp sites and a picnic table. We had a good chat. They wished me well and headed south. A coupled of miles later was the side trail to Trimpi Shelter. It was only a tenth of a mile down. This was a stone shelter with a built in fire place on the back wall and bunks on the right and left. Mother Nature called me to the privy. It was a moldering, open air affair. That¢s right, no walls, no roof. That¢s not normally a problem but the downpour this morning left puddles on the seat. Boo. Leaves can only do so much.Happily, Crazy Legs and Tall Tales showed up and joined me at the shelter for lunch. They had dropped off Crazy Legs' sister, Lurah and Evan by now. We hung out together for a while, talking, reading and writing in the log. The trail crossed some lush farm fields which afforded wonderful views. One of the views was a bit odd though. At the edge of the field to the left of the trail an old yellow school bus was being slowly devoured by the forest. The strangest part was that there didn¢t appear to be any roads within sight.After 4 days of under 16 miles each, preceded by a zero in Damascus, this would finally be a good 20.4 miles to Partnership Shelter. Folks talk about Partnership Shelter all up and down the trail. This is a beautiful log place complete with an upstairs. It happens to be located about 200 feet from the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area Head Quarters Visitor¢s Center. Therefore it is surrounded by gravel paths lined with landscape timbers. It even has a shower with hot water. Partnership ShelterPartnership Shelter was amazing, in and of its self. Upon my arrival though, things got even more amazing. About ten Amish folks were standing in the grass around the shelter. The guys wore long black pants, white shirts, suspenders and hats. The women were in light blue full length dresses with white blouses and blue bonnets. Everyone was all smiles as three of their own guys in their twenties showed them all around. This was a bit perplexing. Were these guys thru-hikers? Did they hike in these clothes?Later after the family had gone the 3 guys introduced themselves. They were dressed more like thru-hikers now but there was still a nice uniqueness about them. They had gone home for the Memorial Day weekend and were now returning to the trail. Apparently this is a part of their chance to experience the world outside their own community before deciding what life style to adopt. They were a cool bunch and always fun to spend time with. Yes, we would meet again. Their trail names were Slider, Stubby & Neon Leon. What great names.Ole Man showed up and met up with his wife, Navigator, and his grand daughter. He had actually arrived well before me. He and his wife had started out on the trail together at Springer Mountain back in Georgia. Sadly Navigator had seriously injured her self if not broken her leg coming down Blood Mountain. She can¢t hike the trail so she is providing ground support for Ole Man. She also provides mom support for lots of the twenty something crowd on the trail and seemed to love it. Oh, she does this by piloting her Navigator from trailhead to trailhead. Their grand daughter was about 5 and this would be her first night in a shelter. Ole Man was missing a toe on each foot, the one next to the big toe. The first one was lost in Vietnam as I recall. The other he had removed because it was a hammer toe and made it hard to fit hiking boots. Wow, imagine that. His boots still didn¢t fit, so he had cut the toe of each boot off and had wrapped them with duct tape. Crazy if you ask me. But hey, hike your own hike. They were great folk and Navigator had brought a watermelon to share.Perhaps the biggest draw to Partnership is the telephone on the porch of the visitor¢s center. It¢s just a phone that can make local and calling card calls. The big deal is that hikers can order pizza for delivery. Oh yes. Lots of folks were arriving including Crazy Legs, Tall Tales and Alexandre. We all called in an order at the pizza place and hung out on the deck of the visitor¢s center waiting for the pizza guy. I called some friends back home, June and John probably. Then it occurred to us that this place was closed and so was the gate. That meant the pizza guy couldn¢t get in. So we went down to the road and waited there.The last time I had seen Alexandre was back at Elmer's in Hot Springs. It was good to see him again. He had taken a zero there but those short days around my birthday had added up to a zero. He was moving pretty well. His feet were doing better now.While we waited down by the road, Navigator approached with her grand daughter. When the little girl saw Crazy Legs she broke in to a full run down the sidewalk. She loved Crazy Legs. Then she tripped and fell on the pavement. There were many tears and there was much consoling. It¢s tough being little. The pizza guy finally showed up. There was some consternation regarding specials and coupons found in fliers on the Visitor¢s Center porch. The guy said he would ask the boss and return. He didn¢t and folks felt gypped but stuffed. Back at the shelter it was pretty evident that folks had ordered too much food. The gang had berated me for ordering so little when we placed the orders. Now, however, at least I could finish mine. It was still tons to eat. It got dark and we all bedded down. Upon my arrival this afternoon there had been but one bag and pack in the shelter. He'd been gone all this time. Now he returned from town after most of us were in our bags. He was bearing the remains of a six pack of beer. He offered it around but only found one or two takers. He had some him self and crawled into the bag beside mine. It was around 10pm when Hummer arrived. He was complaining about having to hike so far because he couldn¢t find the last shelter. Most of us just tried to hunker down in our bags and stay asleep rather than engage him in conversation. It didn¢t matter. He proceeded to talk at us anyway. He asked if it was all right for him to put his boots here and something else there. These were useless questions as sleeping thru-hikers just don¢t care about much anything as long as they are left to sleep. After making plenty of noise he climbed the ladder to disturb the folks upstairs.