Date: 2011-04-11
From: Rufas Morgan Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: overcast clouds

(In which I rest at the NOC)With most hikers opting for the cool solitude of tents and hammocks, Soho, the retired grandmother from Ohio, and I have the shelter to ourselves. I lay my sleeping pad crosswise, taking up the equivalent of four normal shelter spots, for the sheer novelty of it. I start the night sleeping alongside my sleeping bag in my shorts and tee-shirt, and only later when the night air begins to chill do I pull part of the bag over me, using it as a blanket.I arrive at the NOC shortly after the outfitter opens and walk the one mile road walk to the nearest gas station where I refill my food supplies with overpriced but calorie filled snacks, tortillas and cheese. Back at the NOC I start my Kindle charging and sit, half covered from the sun, on a bench outside the outfitter. I am joined by hikers Luck and Mike, who have been hanging out for a few days waiting for a tent and a healing leg, respectively. Luck is from Georgia but talks, inexplicably, with an Australian accent. I mention it and he admits that he hears that a lot, though he denies any connection closer than once taking a cruise off the coast of New Zealand.We quickly use up all relevant trail talk and sit all morning talking about nothing of consequence. To the townsfolk who pass by we become Hikers, three of an interchangeable stream of dirty hungry visitors, individual identities lost and unimportant. The anonymity and gadget-imposed inactivity are refreshing, and I realize that I have not sat still for this long in the sun since starting. Despite being essentially a life free from responsibility, hiking the trail has its own set of daily activities that fill the available time at least as thoroughly as life off the trail.The climb out of the NOC is as long and steep as the climb in was, but the uphill is easier on my knee. At the shelter I meet DVD and Splitter, two women who met early on the trail and now joke and argue like sisters. They're an example of the smallest type of trail families, the hiking partners. I simultaneously pity and envy those with hiking partners or larger trail families. Even small differences in hiking style can lead to tension between partners, with at least one person feeling held back and at least one person feeling rushed and pushed farther than they'd care to hike. But to those who become used to the companionship of a hiking partner, hiking alone seems to be an unbearably lonely alternative. Having only ever hiked alone so far myself, I take for granted the freedom and flexibility it allows, and get my nightly dose of socializing at the shelters.BAM and Maximus show up shortly after. They're a pair of recent college grads who grew up together in Texas and started the trail together shortly after I did. They resupplied at the outfitter and each have food bags consisting entirely of Snickers bars and Pop-Tarts. They're social and friendly with the rest of the shelter, but are soon sitting chatting with each other like friends who haven't seen each other for months, trading various running trivia and stats. I wonder how many hiking partners will still have so much to say to each other after a thousand miles of being around each other, how many friends will still be able stand each other and how many solo hikers will be able to bear the loneliness.