Appalachian Trail (day 25) - Old Orchard Shelter to Glade Mountain / mile 538

Another sunny day, but forecast for tomorrow is different.

Path was easy on the foot and weather has been amazing. I haven't meet hardly anyone on the trail, other than going past Kanga in the morning.

There was a little trail magic set up by the road, just few cans on Canada Dry Ginger Ale and some cigarettes, but it's hard not to appreciate any acts of kindness along the way, no matter how small.

In the afternoon I went past Catch Up, she thru hiked the AT in 1997, and was showing her granddaughter the trail, it was her first time hiking the AT. We talked about the experience of hiking in the 90s (there was only paper maps back then, not digital apps like these days), and Catch Up confirmed that it was harder not to get lost as the white blazes painted on trees could be easily mistaken for the white patches naturally occuring on trees. To be fair even today I've missed the sharp turn and stepped out of the trail for few minutes. Catch Up got her trail name by "catching up" to people, no matter how fast they were.

At 4 PM I've stopped at a very cool looking Partnership Shelter, it was a hotel among shelters, it had a shower (only cold water though), a ground and first floor, a barbecue area (someone was already cooking sausages on it), bear box and a toilet. Many hikers were staying here tonight, you could also catch a shuttle directly from here to Marion if necessary. I've decided to push on few more miles and have a quiet night instead.

I've set up the tent around four miles further down the trail in a gap between two hills. All I could hear was birds singing and occasional aeroplane flying above. I preferred that over a bunch of excited hikers, at least for tonight.