Day 45 - A "Fly-By" of Troutdale

Monday, May 18th - Up at 6:30 am, clear and cold - 35 degrees! - and may have been even colder overnight (my breath was fogging for awhile around 4:00 am). Not bad versus some of the nights in Georgia and in the Smokies, but definitely colder than recently.

We got on the trail at 7:00, and put in roughly 6 miles to the "Hurricane Campground Aceess Road," off VA 630 (I think?), and we hitched a ride into Troutdale. Took 25 minutes before we finally got a ride, from a guy who was going right past Jerry's Diner and Mini-Mart, our desired breakfast and resupply spot. Pretty good breakfast, plus we were later greeted by Jerry himself. Mark and I also bought 2 days worth of food, enough to carry us to our next resupply point. I still needed to hit the Post Office, and as it turned out Jerry kept a guy (Gary) on sort of a retainer to shuttle hikers around the town, in exchange for which Jerry kept him well fed. So we first hit the Post Office, where I got my box from Brenda Wray, including my bug suit, bug hut, and new pack cover. I mailed the bug hut and a few of Mark's items (mostly used maps I think) back to my house - didn't need the hut anymore since I got the new tent. Gary then delivered us back to the trail at 11:40, so a 2 hour and 20 minute turnaround, not bad.

Back on the trail at 11:45, intending to keep it a short day. Long uphill to Trimpi Shelter, arriving 1:30. No one there when we arrived, but soon a number of folks started passing through on their way to the next shelter, including our friend Criqui, who came in wearing an eye patch and bearing a tale of woe - apparently he had scratched his cornea somehow, and so was looking to push on so he could get to the hospital in Marion. He had gotten some minor treatment at a clinic, but he was still suffering pretty badly, plus was stumbling all over the trail due to having to hike with only one eye (in fact, he removed the eye patch at the shelter, feeling that it was less risky than taking a hard fall). Criqui also regaled us with tales of the Friday and Saturday night parties at Damascus, where alcohol (and other substance) abuse was rampant, with a large percentage of partiers getting violently ill. He actually left cause it was just out of control, and ended up sleeping in the stadium dugout. He was also bummed because all his previous hiking buddies (Father Time, Muscles, Ezra, Sailor-J, etc.) had all dropped out. Mark and I said he was welcome to hike with us once he got his eye treated, and he seemed enthused about that - even though I warned him that we weren't fast hikers. Eventually he and all but 3 of the other hikers moved on - One Step and Rocket stayed in the shelter with us, and a southbound section-hiker (missed his name) tented below the shelter.

I took advantage of the early stop to set up and seam-seal my new tent - a very tedious job where meticulous care is critical. Setup was surprisingly easy; the seam-sealing much less so - it took 2 1/2 hours in total. Fortunately the seam-sealer dried fairly quickly. If I did it correctly, the tent should be about as waterproof as anything out there. We'll see! We ate dinner at 5:30 - getting chilly again, already 45 degrees. After testing various points for stickiness, I went ahead and took the tent back down and packed it away. Once again in our tents by 8:00 pm. Hopefully the intentionally short day will help Mark's leg situation.