The trail crossses Interstate 81 again after Jenkins Shelter. Along the way I was thinking about how it had been a while since I'd seen any good trail magic. I stepped past a cache of trail magic, a collection of full gallon jugs of water and a trash bag with a note saying to put only empty jugs in the bag. I was full of water already, so I didn't stop. Bleh.
At the next road, the trail went down a US Forest Service road, all gravel. A minivan pulled up, slowed down and I saw the window come down to reveal a middle-aged man in the driver's seat, a black dog in the passenger seat.
"Hey, I'm a trail angel," he said.
"This is going to be good," I was thinking after that happy introduction.
Indeed, he handed over two cold sodas and told me to leave the empties at a designated spot down the road so he could pack them out after he finished checking on the jugs. He also brightened my day when he told me that it usually takes thru-hikers two months to get from Springer to that particular area. I'd been trying to shake the recent feeling that I was a lackadaisical hiker. I chugged the sodas while walking and felt as though I were sipping from the fountain of youth.
Down the road I passed a man named Blue, who I'd only met the night before, at Jenkins, heading up to the bridge over I-81. He was meeting a pizza deliveryman there.
I ended my hike at Jenny Knob Shelter and met a couple with a dog, a guy I hadn't seen since Bly Gap named Boston and an older lady who had just started the trail. Two other hikers I knew, Merf and Snickers, stayed there, too.
12 years ago
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