Date: 2019-05-20
From: Silver Hill campsite 

To: Limestone Shelter 
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: overcast clouds

AT Day 80 5/20694.5 miles left.Limestone Spring Shelter. 18.1 miles bonus 1 mile round trip to Shelter and 1 mile round trip to town.WOW and I were the only hikers at the campsite so we setup our tents underneath a covered pavilion. It took some ingenuity but we managed to get both of our Zpacks Duplex tents to fit. For those of you unfamiliar with the Duplex, it uses both of your trekking poles for support and 8 guylines which require a large footprint. It¢s a good thing we setup under cover because a good rainstorm blew through during the night All of that rain made for humid weather and slippery rocks. Around 7am we came upon a trail alert sign concerning a hazardous creek crossing with a suggested blue blazed alternative. I told WOW that us JMT and PCT hikers aren¢t afraid of any AT crossing. I walked through the rapids with my trail shoes on. When I got to the other side I dropped my pack and went back in for a bath. I rinsed out my socks and running shorts. I usually have a pair of running shorts to hike in and one to sleep in. When I woke up this morning my hiking shorts smelled so bad that I couldn¢t bring myself to put them on so I hiked in my sleeping shorts. I hung everything on the back of my pack with small elastic line and cord locks. By the end of the day my shorts were dry and fresh smelling but my socks were still a little damp so I wore them around camp in my sandals and they dried The hiking was much more enjoyable today. The trail was still a roller coaster of steep uphills followed immediately by steep descents but there were not any of those steep boulder descents where you could easily break your body if you fell. We picked up our resupply from the AARP/I Hike With Mike support van around 1:30 at Falls Village. We then walked up to the Toymakers Caf© and were disappointed to see that it¢s not open on Monday. The owner happened to be gardening out front so we put on our most pitiful hungry hiker faces and asked if there was anywhere else in town to get some coffee. She said that she had some left over coffee and invited us into her caf©. Once inside I spotted the bakery display and asked if we could buy some baked goods. Now we had coffee and great baked treats. She said that she might be able to make us a sandwich. She called her husband to come down and make us each a sandwich. How nice of these people. Of course we had to pay a pretty penny but it was a treat for the stomach and a treat to meet some fine caring people. By the time we left we had a choice of two shelters. The closest shelter was only 3ish miles away and if we stopped there it would be a disappointing 18.1 mile day. The other shelter was 10 miles away and would be perfect for us to maintain our target daily mileage. Severe thunderstorms were forecast and the rain clouds were moving into the area so we decided on the closest shelter. Limestone Shelter itself is old and I didn¢t care for it. I was going to setup inside the shelter but changed my mind after the skies cleared and setup my tent in one of the areas many campsites. Hopefully tomorrow we can get back on track with our mileage goals. Happy hiking, Silver Streak