Day 40, miles today- 30.6, total- 530.6

There were ponies hanging around the shelter most of the night.

Before leaving this morning I talked to the four past thru hikers for several minutes. They had a lot of great advice.

I started hiking at 7:30 am. After 7 miles at VA 603 there was perhaps the best trail magic setup ever. There were five guys that had three pop up dinning flies setup with an amazing selection of food and drinks. They have been doing it the last weekend of April for the past five years.

When I reached Dickey Gap at VA 16, after hiking 15 miles, a pickup truck pulled up to me. It was one of the past thru hiker guys from the shelter I stayed at. He asked if I needed a ride anywhere. I said I didn't. He then asked if I wanted some Gatorade. So he gave me 1-1/2 liter of Gatorade.

Later in the day I came to a spot where a Baptist Church had left several containers with food, drinks, and various other supplies. Three trail magic opportunities in one day. Life is good!!

I took a picture of a stile. It's a set of steps used to climb over a fence. In this case the trail went through a pasture.

When I got to Partnership Shelter, at 6:30 pm,  I was able to order a pizza. The nearby town delivers to the Mt Rogers Visitor Center which is 0.1 miles from the shelter.

I met Goose today. Two people that live in Madeira know him. They had told me he was starting his hike about the same time as mine. I had been keeping an eye out for him. I had seen his name in a few shelter registers. So I knew he was close by.

Each shelter has a notebook that people can sign in on. It's optional of course. You put the date, your trail name, and any comment you wish to make. Sometimes people will say they're spending the night, stopping for lunch, or say something about their day. It's a great way for people behind to stay informed on where others are.

I think I have my trail legs now. Today I just put my legs on cruise control, leaned back and enjoyed the sights.
 
At the shelter tonight there are eleven people. The five young guys that I sheltered with a week ago are here. Three from Michigan and two from England. We're in a two story shelter. The five of them are upstairs. The six people down are going to sleep, but the boys upstairs have been giggling off and on for thirty minutes. Grim is here too.

It's after 9 pm, so I better get to sleep.