Date: 2018-05-16
From: Old Orchard Shelter 

To: Unmarked Campsite Mile 529.6
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

20 miles! Wow! I can¢t believe that we hiked 20 miles today. We hadn¢t planned to do 20 miles when we started out. You just never know what the day will bring when you head out on the AT. I got a head start. As I headed down the trail I was thinking about my stomach. I had just eaten breakfast and my tummy was still rumbling. About fifteen minutes into my hike, a gentleman came around the corner towards me. ¢Whoa! Oh you¢re not a bear!¢ He exclaimed.¢No, I am not a bear¢ I replied, and I was glad that I wasn¢t as I spied a gun on his hip. ¢Have you seen any bears?¢ He asked.¢No, I haven¢t.¢¢Ok, I have a few questions for you.¢¢Alright¢ I said, thinking that this encounter was rather odd. ¢Are you hungry?¢¢A little bit¢ ( a lot really!)¢Are you a vegetarian?¢This did not look like a trail angel. He looked more like a day hiker hunting bears. But, I just went with it anyway.¢No, I¢m not a vegetarian.¢¢I have a sausage and cheese sandwich if you would like it.¢Was this his own food that he was offering me?¢I wouldn¢t want to take your food from you.¢ I replied.¢It is ok. I am looking to lighten my load.¢¢Ok then,¢ I said and my tummy rumbled. He took his backpack off, pulled out a tinfoil packet and unwrapped a tasty looking bun with sausage and cheese on it. I took one bite and my taste buds danced. It was so good! The bun was soft, the cheese was slightly melted, the sausage had just the right amount of spice to it and the whole thing was delightfully warm. He asked me a few more questions and then sent me on down to the Gap where his truck was parked with a cooler full of drinks and clementines. He had lawn chairs set out and a garbage bag to collect hiker¢s trash. It seems that trail angels can come in all different packages.As I sat there eating my clementine I kept thinking, hurry Cole, hurry Cole. I didn¢t want him to miss out on a breakfast sandwich. No worries! He made it! He was the third after me. It was drizzling as we continued on after our second magical breakfast. Then it was pouring. And pouring. It rained and poured all day long. In about two hours, water was sloshing around inside my boots and the inside of my rain coat was just as wet as the outside. It was too wet to stop so we just kept moving and moving. Around lunch time we came upon a road crossing. There was a sign board that had a very narrow roof over it. There was just enough room for us to squeeze under the overhang to have our lunch. As we ate, we watched a pair of hikers trying to catch a hitch. Another group of would be hitchhikers showed up and decided to try their chances further up the road. This coming weekend is Trail days in Damascus and a lot of hikers are trying to hitchhike back. As we started to pack up, a truck pulled up and a gentleman got out and offered us candy. In everyday life, this would seem like a really weird creepy thing, but not when you are hiking the AT! Cole filled his pockets with a variety of fun sized candy bars and then we were back on the trail out in the rain. The destination was Trumpi Shelter. This would put us 10 miles from Partnership Shelter where we could get a bus into Marion to Resupply. However, the shuttle only came three times a day and if we wanted to get back out of town the same day, we would have to arrive early in the day. If we could hike past Trumpi Shelter, we could reduce the miles we would have to go the next morning and increase our chance of getting an early shuttle. We were already soaking wet. Would a little more rain really matter?I told my idea to Cole. He wasn¢t overly thrilled but he said he would hike further. When we arrived at Trumpi Shelter there were only three people there, Dunk, Egg and Not Doc. Cole was having second thoughts about more hiking. The shelter had an upper bunk and Cole had his eyes set on it. Let me rest for an hour, I said, then we will decide what to do. At 4:45 I was feeling rested and ready to hike more. I told Cole to give me a 30 minute head start, then back out into the rain I went. After about fifteen minutes the rain stopped and the next four miles were the most enjoyable of my day. Most of what I had seen while it was raining was my feet. Now I saw trees and sky and the occasional change in the landscape. I went through another cow pasture. The cows watched as I trespassed. It just tickles me pink when we get to go through cow occupied pastures. (Navigating around the manure piles doesn¢t bother me one bit.)I crossed a quaint picture perfect bridge and a nice long stretch of flat ground. After four miles, Cole caught up to me.....with no rain jacket!¢Um, where is your rain jacket bud?¢It was at Trumpi Shelter.It was getting late in the day and the sun would soon be going down. It was too late to go back for it. We hoped that Dunk and Egg would spot it and bring it.We hiked two more miles making our total 20 for the day. Then we pitched our tent and called it a night just as it started to rain once again!