Date: 2010-05-14
From: Hurricane Mountain Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke early, for a change, and headed out. Today was an important day: we needed to cover 20 miles and reach Partnership Shelter. This would put us in great position to reach Atkins early. Funky was in the lead and setting a very fast pace! The trail was a good grade and we started playing what would be known as "the game". Basically one has to say the name of a band, artist, or musical instrument to start the game. Then the next hiker in line has to use the last letter of that name to say another one. No repeats are allowed! It worked great to pass the time but towards the end became very frustrating, especially on the letter Y.Before long we crossed a great waterfall and all just had to jump in. The weather was very warm and humid. I am not a cold water fan but even I went in. Very refreshing! Covering about 10 miles, we reached Trimpi Shelter for lunch. Refueled with more water we started out again, climbing at a slower pace onto the ridge. The trail wasn't bad but we were all feeling the length of the day and going slower. Cresting the ridge, we dropped into an old cow pasture and off to our left spotted an old yellow school bus! We had to investigate and all posed for photos with the rusted hulk. Shades of "Into The Wild" for all of us, it looked like someone had been living in it.We crossed the Holston River and were moving so quickly neglected to get water here. Little did we know it was 8 more miles to water and we were all running low. Too late now, so we pushed on. We found a creek crossing near the shelter and refueled, all grateful for the break. In short order we reached Partnership Shelter, happy to be done for the day. There are two unique things about this shelter. The first, and most important, is that it has a shower! The shelter is built on the property of Mt Rogers visitors center. We each took our turn and found the water at best "luke-cold" but still any shower is a good shower.And the second thing? One can order pizza and have it delivered to the shelter! We walked to the visitors center which has a corded phone outside and numbers to Pizza Plus. We all placed orders, each getting our own pizza, and settled in to wait for the goodness. Pizza Plus qualifies as edible pizza, and only just, but the novelty of it was too good to pass up. Laden with greasy food we walked back to the shelter and pigged out. Gonzo finished his entire large pizza and I ate all but three slices of mine. We also each finished off a 2-liter Dr Pepper!Funky was getting worried about her red, irritated eye, and she convinced Gonzo to hitch into Marion so she could get some eye drops (and, of course, cigarettes while she was there). They returned with a crazy tale. They'd been picked up by Bobby McGee (he showed his license to prove it!) and another guy. The passenger had 32 DUIs and both were drinking. Bobby also told them all about his four children and being thousands behind in child support. Then they had to roll down their windows to make their "puppy dog noises" at any passing women! Gonzo summed it up best: "I'm from Nashville, and I've never met anyone like this!"We hauled our gear up to the loft of the shelter and pitched camp. Before long though Funky, Beth, and Gonzo all decided to camp in the open on the lawn. No tents were allowed here so those are the only two choices. Bear Blaze and I were already setup and decided to stay put. We also had more comfortable air-mattresses compared to the others Z-Lite pads, which dont work well on hard shelter wood floors. They had the right idea though as the two of us roasted in the stuffy shelter loft. It didn't help that another hiker set his hammock up right in front of the window, blocking any breeze.