Date: 2019-06-26
From: Cow Camp Gap Shelter (VA)

To: Porters Gap, Rock Spring Campsite (VA)
Miles today: 11.3

I was the first person up this morning. When I fell asleep last night, I was under the impression that the late-comer had stayed in the shelter but apparently he had set up a tent. Later I learned that he had been bothered by the mice while eating dinner, so he opted for the tent. This was actually a hiker we had met back on 6/18.  He had gotten off trail at Glasgow and spent 3 days there getting drunk which was the reason he was now behind us.The section hikers woke up shortly after I did and were on the trail before the thru-hiker woke up. Even though he woke up last, he managed to get on the trail before SC and I. Even though it takes us a while to get ready, I¢ve never gotten to the end of the day and thought, ¢If I had left sooner this morning, I would have gone farther.¢That applies to today. We ¢only¢ did 11.3 miles of the AT (there was additional .5 to get from last night¢s shelter back to the trail to make it 11.8) which were relatively flat, and when I got to tonight¢s campsite, my feet were so glad to be done. Our longest day still is Day 6 when we did 13.9 to get to Partnership Shelter and pizza. I will get new shoes soon and that should help, but I¢m still holding out hope that one of these days I will start moving faster and doing bigger miles.Today we were passed by the guy at the shelter as he left before us. We then climbed Cole Mountain (which is beautiful, by the way) and were passed by someone slackpacking. We stopped late in the day at a river to get water and were talking about how we hadn¢t seen anyone else hiking nobo all day when a thru-hiker came by and passed us. He said there were a few more behind him. A few minutes later, a woman passes me and I asked, ¢Didn¢t you pass me yesterday? I figured you were long ahead of me.¢ She said that she stops ¢in all the towns,¢ so she had gotten off to visit Buena Vista yesterday.Not long after seeing her, we got to a shelter where we signed the register and were passed by yet another hiker. The shelter had cell service, so we talked with SC¢s family about meeting up with them tomorrow. I¢m not sure what our service will look like tomorrow. According to Guthook comments, the next shelter doesn¢t have cell service and the campsite we are staying at tonight doesn¢t either.Anyway, we did 1.1 more miles after the shelter to get to this campsite which is called Porters Gap in Guthook and Rock Spring in the AWOL guide. There¢s a sign on the trail with both names. Not long after we get here, another female hiker shows up. I talk with her and she¢s using the ATC¢s thru-hikers¢ companion which calls this place Porters Field and she is confused by the lack of resemblance to a field this place has. Spike¢s Dad had commented that he had hoped Porters Gap had more porters than Cow Camp Gap had cows; and it didn¢t matter what type of porters they were: dark beers or people that help carry your stuff. So far I have encountered neither. Anyway, I talked with the hiker and introduced myself as ¢Spike¢s Mom,¢ and her response was, ¢What kind of name is that?¢ to which I replied, ¢A trail name.¢ She appears to be a thru-hiker so I am surprised she isn¢t familiar with trail names. I wondered if she had been hiking for 800+ miles without talking to other hikers. However, an older gentleman came in as SC and I were finishing dinner, and they are talking as if they¢ve been hiking together, so I don¢t know what to think.