A Birthday Party, Lack of Trail Markers, Another Snake, and Cold

On Monday (5-2) the weather was quite nice again.  When I reached Partnership Shelter at 4 PM, I expected to order pizza.  There is a road 1/10 of a mile away where deliveries are made.  Instead I ate birthday cake, ice cream, Doritos, pie, and drank two Cokes.  This was all bought by "Portrait" who was celebrating his 30th birthday.  He walked to town by himself and bought the party goods and got a ride back to the shelter.  His trail name is due to his large camera he carries and his desire to take pictures, especially of hikers.  I had never met him previously.  He is an extremely fast hiker and has a custom made lightweight backpack that carries only 14-18 pounds.  It looks like plastic grocery bags attached together!  At 4:30 PM I continued hiking due to the good weather and I finished 22 miles at 7:30 PM.  Once again I set up my tent just off the AT.  After exactly six weeks I am pleased that my average miles per day has gone up to 12.7 and that includes the three days of no hiking.  On Tuesday (5-3) my hike began at 6:50 AM.  I stopped for breakfast in Atkins, VA and resupplied at the Exxon Mart across the road.  White blazes on the AT are generally well marked with one major exception.  When there is a major road to cross, the blazes seem to be scarce or nonexistent.  I headed the wrong way because I was following the white reflectors on the road because they look like the blazes.  When I asked some road construction workers 1/4 mile down the road, they told me I was going the wrong way.  As I headed in the right direction, I still couldn't find any blazes for quite awhile--about 1/2 mile.  After lunch at a shaded area near a creek, I took out my Tyvek ground cover and took an hour nap!  It took me 43 days to get my first nap!  In the late afternoon I was surprised to see a big black snake on the path.  He slithered off the trail and within 20 seconds he was in a hole in a down tree and had totally disappeared.  If I hadn't seen him enter the tree, I would have never known he was there.  It gave me the creeps.   At 4:30 PM the skies began to darken and rain was approaching.  I stopped hiking at 5:30 PM and set up my tent just off the trail.  By 6:30 PM it was raining and continued all night.  I hiked 14 miles.  On Wednesday (5-4) I began hiking at 8 AM.  I found some trail magic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, drinks, and snacks.  After lunch I climbed about 1 1/2 hours as the elevation went from 2,380 feet to 4,409 feet.  I stayed in the Chestnut Knob Shelter.  This was only the fourth time I actually stayed in a shelter.  Usually I put my tent up near it but it was very cold and hailing so I stayed in it instead.  There were seven us of in it.  This shelter was enclosed but most of the time shelters only have three sides and a roof.  I slept intermittently through the night as I was very cold.  Condensation inside my space blanket continues to be a problem and I will be very glad when I get my sleeping bag back this weekend!!

He didn't send any pictures this time but these were taken two days before he left back in March.  We were celebrating with my parents and my sister's family for his 67th birthday and also wishing him well on his adventure.  Here he is with Paige and below are Evan, Bradley, and Ryan.  Blake is missing.