Date: 2006-05-09
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Chatfield Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Partnership Shelter is the first shelter for northbounders at which one can order a pizza. It is also, not surprisingly, many people's favorite shelter, for that very reason. It is also the location of a ranger station and visitor center, as well as a road, via which one can hitch to the lovely town of Marion, Virginia. At the visitor center they sell snacks. But first you have to get there. The 10.6 miles between Trimpi and Partnership are delightfully flat and easy, and they go by pretty fast, but still, they are 10.6 miles, and it was well past 11:00 when I got there, which is high time, as Pooh would say, for a little smackerel of something. I walked into the visitor center, filled my hands with snickers, candy bars, twizzlers, dried fruit, and nuts, which is what they had. I got a soda and sat down outside and devoured all of my plunder. Then I went grocery shopping. Somehow, I had always ended up getting really low on food, and I was determined to put an end to it this time. Regardless of the extra weight. I bought double of everything. Two bags of bagels. Two blocks of cheese. Three ten-packs of fun-size candy bars. Ten regular size candy bars. Three boxes of pop-tarts. 12 protein plus power bars. Three bags of beef jerky. Regular complement of lipton sides. A bag of hershey's kisses. Peanut butter. Gummy worms. An apple. A bag of carrots and a bag a radishes to be healthy. Applesauce. A dish of mixed fruit. A bag of triscuits. Pistachios. Hot pickled sausage. A couple handfuls of Paydays. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. (Why not?) In short, way too much stuff. I even bought toilet paper, as the ranger station restrooms had a sign requesting that you don't steal theirs, and I figured I'd find someone happy to take the extra three rolls, which I did. My resupply in Damascus was about $23. This was $74. I was NOT going to be hungry. I filled my bearbag full, plus two plastic grocery bags that I somehow fit into my pack. That's what I call grocery shopping. And the great thing was, with all the towns coming up, it didn't matter if I finished it in two days or five. Back at Partnership (thanks to a lovely hitch with a beautiful seventeen or eighteen-year-old Marion girl), back at Partnership, there was pizza. The Aussie crowd had gotten there, ordered way too much pizza, and were GIVING AWAY THE LEFTOVERS. There was SODA, too. I don't think I've ever had such good fortune in my life. The sun even came out, and everyone took off their shirts and ran out it in each time it showed its face. We hadn't seen it since the sixth. I had eaten all the pizza I could hold, but I packed out as much as I could for later, and, as the afternoon wore on, I climbed slowly back into the woods, into the real, post-Mt.-Rogers, beautiful Virginia, resting often on account of my pack, and watching the setting sun. My pack was, really, too heavy, but it was in all ways worth it. That night at Chatfield Shelter I sat and ate and ate and ate, in addition to my regular dinner I had three bagels with chocolate and peanut butter, the whole bag of gummy worms, the apple, some carrots and radishes, some candy bars, and some triscuits. And I didn't once worry about running out of food, for I knew that I had plenty, and besides there were towns all over the place coming up now if I needed them. It was a great feeling, really.