old orchard shelter to partnership shelter

not much to write today. it was a day of travel without much else. slept pretty well last night, but noticed this morning that the hole i patched, i can clearly see the air working it’s way through the adhesive. it hasn’t made it out yet, but it’s certain to. so note to self, the “type a” patches that nemo includes with their sleeping pads are ultimately useless.

the trail today was mostly less rocky than yesterday, though there were still a few stomy sections, especially toward the end. my feet do not appreciate the rocks. my new xero shoes that i was so excited about have a strange design decision in that the foot bed has a small ridge around it that my feet in their extra wide state finds incredibly uncomfortable. i actually kept thinking i was getting rocks in my shoes right where the ball of my pinky toes are. i’m keeping going for now, but this might prove untenable. i love what xero ia trying to accomplish, but the execution has some flaws.

kick was behind me all morning and caught up just as i got to trimpi shelter for lunch. lyric showed up a few minutes later. kick decided to take lunch and a nap. lyric and i left together, but i’m a bit faster than him and soon was out of sight. the afternoon was hot and i hiked with my umbrella for shade.

i chatted with magz on and off during the day. we kept getting disconnected. around 16:30 i saw that i still had nearly 4 miles to go and stopped for a snack. magz was up on our mountain walking the dogs, but we actually got to finish our conversation.

just as i was finishing up, lyric caught up to me and we hiked the last few miles together chatting. we hadn’t actually got to talk much yet since we hike different speeds and when we are together it’s usually with the whole group. he’s an interesting guy. knows some things about crypto, used to work as a manager at a quarry.

he and i arrived at partnership shelter together. maestro was already there and had ordered pizzas. (partnership shelter is right near a road and a local pizza place delivers) kick rolled in not too much later followed by bugs and rocket. we spent the night eating pizza and drinking soda and planning our next 100 miles or so.

tomorrow we go into marion, va to do a resupply before a short day of hiking.

some images from today: