Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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August 11, Melville Nauheim Shelter - mile 1593.6

I'm so tired tonight, I feel like I could go to bed now. at 7:00. Actually, if I were tenting, I probably would but I'm in the shelter because the forecast is for rain, & there are four other guys here tonight. And they are still in the midst of cooking, eating & gabbing so no sleep for me until they finish. All four are south - bound, although two are on the Vermont Long Trail, which coincides for about 100 miles with the AT in Vermont. It's the oldest long-distance trail in the country, and a lot of people thru-hike it, from the Canadian border to the Massachusetts one.

Today was a lot of tough climbing up & down, but I had a nice break in the middle of the day. I had just navigated down a half-mile rock staircase & gotten to the main highway, when what to my wondering eyes should appear ----a hot dog cart! Two very funny ladies tried out this location yesterday & had such a good time with all the hikers coming through, that they've decided this is their new home for thru-hiker season. I was thrilled to get a hamburger & a Sprite & hang out in their lawn chair while they gave me the news on who had come through lately, the weather forecast & so on.

But eventually, I had to climb back up from that notch, just as steeply, & when I got here at 4:30, I could go no farther. I would dearly love to go on to the next shelter which is supposed to be gorgeous, but my legs could not carry me another 8.5 miles tonight. So here I am, with some of the strangest company I've ever had. The two AT hikers are so immature, they make me want to puke - one is just out of high school & the other tech school. The former has an ego the size of Mt Everest, because HE is a glorious southbounder, who is stronger, braver, & better & has seen far more travails than any northbounder ever will. Never mind at this point, NOBO's have done 3 times as many miles as him, plus if we've made it this far, we're pretty likely to make it all the way through the hard mountains, too. ARGHHHHH! His attitude just rubs me the wrong way. The other two, who are on the LT are also a bit amazing because they are superior to everyone else in their amazing ability to carry such light packs, which they made themselves. I feel like saying "Hurray for you! And stop asking to use my maps, guidebooks, water purifier, first aid kid, fingernail clippers & everything else I carry that you don't want to but still need".

Clearly, it is time for me to go to bed!