Date: 2018-05-09
From: Hurricane Mountain Shelter

To: Trimpi Shelter
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: clear sky

Not quite as cold last night. Woke up to a view of the sunrise from the shelter. The thru-hikers were all psyched to go to Partnership Shelter which is near the Mount Rogers visitor center that has a phone to call a pizza joint that will deliver to the shelter. That shelter is 20 miles away which is beyond my ability.A sunny morning walk to Dickey Gap. Right before the gap, ¢Daypack¢ was re-stocking coolers with Trail Magic. He was a 70-ish guy who has thru-hiked the AT four times and plans to do his fifth and final thru-hike next year.We got to the parking lot before Jan and we were talking to a woman in a van who, like so many people, had talked to Jan yesterday. She asked the normal questions like ¢Are you thru-hiking? How far are you going?¢ When I said I was going to Waynesboro, she asked if I had a phone so she could give me her number. I asked her what her name was and she said ¢Miss Janet¢. Paul and I were awestruck - Miss Janet is a legendary Trail Angel. She gave me her number so if I ever needed help I can call her.Jan drove up - yay! Turns out we passed the Fox Creek parking lot at 2:15 pm yesterday and she got there at 2:30 and waited for us until 7. She had funny stories about what she learned about AT hikers. For example, someone had left a bag of Trail Magic hanging from the trailhead sign. Since hikers try to avoid taking off their backpacks whenever possible, a young woman hiker asked Jan to stuff the things from the Trail Magic into her backpack for her. And one hiker peeled the clementine Jan gave him and asked her to take the peel (hikers love getting rid of their trash at every opportunity). She said she walked up to a hiker to give him a clementine and had to take a step back because of the hiker stink.I was trying to find a campground where we could take showers and Jan already knew where it was. I asked the campground host about showers and he had to go with us to the self-pay station to find out how much it was ($2). Then he said to put the payment in an envelope and slip it in the slot. Then he walked away - didn¢t seem much to care if we paid the proper fees or not. But he did come back to tell me how to rig the women¢s shower to stay on longer. Even though I had to put my dirty clothes back on, the shower felt good.Miss Janet had suggested the town of Marion for lunch, and Jan knew just where to go. She was a fountain of knowledge about the area like how Hungry Mother State Park got its name (sad story that ends people finding the mother starved to death by a creek and the child next to her saying ¢Hungry, Mother¢.We went to Subway for lunch and then we drove back to the AT. Paul gave me some stuff like his bear bag kit, K2 tape, and pita bread (my tortillas had gotten moldy). He helped me back-flush my filter because the water source at Wise Shelter was just a algae leaf-sludge puddle and my filter was all gunked up. It was so great having Paul as a hiking partner and Jan as our personal Trail Angel.After a 4 mile walk on a sunny afternoon, I got to Trimpi Shelter before 4 pm. It seemed like a shame not to walk further but after sitting and chatting with Jeremy (he is a section hiker from Albany, NY) who started the same day from Damascus), I got too lazy to move on. We were joined later by three thru-hikers and two women who are out for a couple days. One of the thru-hikers has a black T-shirt with a swirly pattern made by the salt from his sweat. He has a hickey on his arm from an over enthusiastic pony.I tried to hang my food bag myself but just am a terrible thrower. Jeremy helped with the throwing and I did manage to get it in the PCT hang Paul showed me. I was so proud I took a picture. Last time I took a picture of a ¢great¢ food bag hang, a bear took all my food so I hope I have better luck this time.We are all tenting (or hammocking) since the weather is nice.Here are Paul¢s final notes on his final day:5/9/2017 To: 519.6 Dickey Gap (AT crosses VA 650)Finishing out with a 5 mile hike to Dickey Gap.  Trail was pretty good and I think knowing that I was nearing the end was a bit of a boost.  I kept worrying that maybe the hikers wouldn¢t end up at the same location as Jan for a pick-up.  We would have been SOL since there was zero cell signal.  Ten minutes after we arrived at Dickey Gap, Jan showed up and we got showers and lunch.  I had been craving a fountain Coke, even though I hardly drink much soda anymore.  We drove Judy back to the trail and hung around for a few minutes in case she had remembered something that she left behind.  In matter of seconds she was gone into the woods.  It was great to hike with Judy.  She just goes and doesn¢t stop much for breaks even on the tough uphills.