June 2, 2018
Destination: Wiley Shelter
Today’s Miles: 25.60
Start Location: RPH Shelter
Trip Miles: 1455.70
Today was a long day, but a good one! I slipped out of the shelter at 6:15 to hike.
The air was still and muggy, but it wasn’t In 5 miles there was a road crossing with a deli just about half a mile off the trail. I knew I wanted to push for 25 miles today so I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop there, but it only took one long uphill to make me feel hungry and change my mind. When I got to the road crossing, I headed over to the east.
The Mountain Top deli was small, sort of like a convenience store. The ladies working there were very friendly and knew all of the local customers, exchanging banter with them. I ordered a breakfast sandwich, which came with a free small coffee. As I poured the coffee, No Excuse wandered in. He ordered some food as well and we sat outside to eat. I also had a Gatorade and a peanut butter snickers bar – delicious! The deli was an awesome pit stop. They even had outlets behind the building to charge phones, and a picnic table to sit at, though we sat on the bench out front.
After eating, we headed out and made it to the next shelter in good time. Chimney and Corky were there, and then Jingle Butt rolled in. After a short rest, we hiked on. This was the first day I would really hike with Chimney and No Excuse. I hiked behind them and we talked about various things. They keep up a pretty quick pace, and chatting with them on top of that made the miles go fast. We came to a garden center that had a hiker box, log book, sodas for sale, and a spigot for water – awesome! I had a couple of sodas and picked up a bit more bug spray. We talked to some folks just outside the store, and then made our final push to camp.
We had all gotten kind of eaten alive last night at the RPH Shelter, so we decided to tent at Wiley. There was also a strange, non hiker woman at the shelter who was kind of creeping us out. We suspected she was harmless and maybe just had some mental issues. Anyway, she was fine and kept to herself in the shelter. I went to get water and when I came back Transformer was there! I hadn’t seen him since Damascus. He’d just been in New York City for a few days to do some sightseeing. He’s from Australia, so is definitely trying to take some city side trips as well as hike the trail.
Today was a good day. I enjoyed getting to know No Excuse and Chimney a little better, and was grateful for their pace and stories. I was also very happy that the weather was good, even if it was hot. Today was just a lot of fun all around!
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