Tuesday, June 9 8:40 pm 22.4 mi
AT 511.7 Brook Campsite → AT 534.1 Partnership Shelter
Weather: Sunny AM, overcast afternoon, rain early evening (last 1.5 mi)
Trail Conditions: Easy smooth walking today
My Condition: Late start – body must’ve needed it! Right shin did great until last 2 mi, then started hurting again
Not really a noteworthy day – hard to top ponies! Pretty easy terrain, no overlooks or views of note, pretty much just went into autopilot! Physically/mentally felt more “into it” than I did yesterday. Big, neatly spread, open expanses between weaving the winding ridges and runoffs and huge herd of cows in a neat little pasture.
Post Trail Analysis
The ankle was getting quite bothersome at this point. This has got to be one of the shorter entries I made all journey long in my estimation, and the ankle issue probably has something to do with that. The Partnership Shelter was one of the nicer shelters on trail, right there with the Fontana Hilton and the two-parter with the gardens in Pennsylvania. Not wanting to deal with tenting in the rain, I slept in the loft. There were 5 other people at the shelter from what I remember, but I spent the most time with a college aged section hiker from Pittsburgh. He was meandering his way up the trail, moving at a rather leisurely pace enjoying the freedoms the trail affords. He asked if I wanted to “play video games” and I was completely caught off guard. Hikers have some weird terminology. A “zero” is a day you spend resting in town, without doing any miles (hence the zero). A “nero” is a day you wake up on trail and end up in town (different people consider a nero to be different things – it could mean 0.1 mi or it could mean 18 mi). A “safety meeting” refers to hikers sneaking away to smoke. Thinking he was speaking in some kind of lingo I was not yet privy to, I went into a state of mental overload and stumbled my way through asking what he meant. He pulled out a Nintendo Switch and repeated “video games.” Oh. Maybe I’ve spent too much time in the wild. He schooled me in a couple (rather quick) rounds of Mortal Kombat. The shelter has a bathroom attached, which was locked because of COVID. This is a shelter that you could probably order a pizza to, as it is situated just up the hill from the ranger station and a road.
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