Date: 2015-04-28
From: Hurricane Ridge

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: broken clouds

With a restful weekend at home, it was time to return to the trail. After reviewing my original plan for hiking the trail, I decided to go to my back-up plan to still complete the trail, albeit in a different way. I remember well what one of my favorite professors at ETSU, Dr. Bill Fisher, taught in Business Policy: your business model must plan for contingencies. Hiking models must do likewise.Due to knee and foot troubles, I had "lost" almost one week after taking leave from the trail at Newfound Gap. Thus, to stay on pace for Maine, I needed to leap up the trail. Having previously completed the trail in sections from I-40 in Tennessee to Hurricane Ridge Campground in Virginia, I decided to start up the trail at the campground and head north again. My intention will be to hike these sections again for a complete thru-hike when I return from Maine (on weekends, most likely). This opens the opportunity for me to truly finish the trail "at home" where I have been hiking the trail since I was eleven years of age in Scouting.I also changed up some gear as I swapped my Salomon boots for Salomon trail runners (thanks Rick and Tammy for that advice and I wish I had heeded Mango's earlier suggestion on this). I think after 240 AT miles my feet had simply but slightly outgrown my boots, resulting in sore feet. Next, Mark Shelton at Mahoney's suggested I try "Fits" socks that are made in Niota, TN. After one day these socks felt wonderful; I hope these continue to do so. Great to wear a product manufactured in your home state! Thank you, Mark.My parents put me on the trail early today as I needed to have a longer hike to make it to Partnership Shelter near Marion, VA. As they dropped me, I was reminded of memories of many hikes and camping trips decades ago when they and others' parents dropped my brother David, me, and many other Scouts or Munsey Church youth for weekend outdoor adventures in this area or back in Tennessee.Many readers know that this shelter is considered one of the best from Georgia to Maine. Why? For starters, you may order a pizza or sandwiches from nearby establishments in Marion and have food delivered to you. Moreover, this is one of the very few AT shelters that has a shower. A deer warily walked parallel to the trail with me just out of After a brief lunch stop at Trimpi Shelter, I moved on; the trail entered some beautiful pastures with an old barn and an explosion of tree blossoms and an early wave of wildflowers in God's handiwork.   Although I detest even one dandelion in the yard, dandelions in a cow pasture look radiant and appropriately placed with their yellow blooms and they offer a smell sweet in the spring breeze.   It was a sunny, warm afternoon. I crossed the south fork of the Holston River, which appeared to have trout possibilities.   Along the way I met Butcher, Clementine from Iowa and Salmon from New York. Salmon and I each took some water (and treated it) from a creek about 1.4 miles from Partnership Shelter as we each had run almost dry. You never want to be totally without drinking water. Even with the shelter close ahead, It was almost 7:00 when I arrived, but there was plenty of room in the upstairs loft as the shelter's capacity is rated to hold sixteen hikers and their gear. Now the challenge was for this sore and stiff hiker to climb the wooden ladder to the loft. Upstairs with me were Luna (Wisconsin), "Butcher" and his wife, Clementine (Iowa), Doc (whom I first met on Tray Mountain in Georgia) (Georgia), and others from Virginia, New York, and California.I didn't order a pizza, but rehydrated beef stroganoff and mixed berries instead. It is good to be back on the trail, seeing those hikers I've met previously and meeting new ones as well.