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After a day of rain, a face-first fall in the shelter, and a heated debate over my potential trail name, I almost became “Morty.” But banana pancakes and one very persistent tramily member were about to change the story.
Another day of rain was upon us. I woke up to a still damp puffy... scratch that... still damp everything. I put on my damp hiking clothes (my pants ripped in the knees after a few good tumbles). Today we would walk just over 7 miles. To me, no problem. To Dragon, hard. This didn’t really occur to me until this night... I got up early and started packing but everyone in the shelter was still sleeping (it was still dark out at 6am) so I got up and brushed my teeth and made some phone calls outside.
I was still very nauseous from the rice the night before. My feet hurt from the plantar fasciitis and I was tired. But I was still in high spirits and ready to hike. Dragon, on the other hand, was really hurting. Her shoes were giving her problems and she was exhausted. I waited for her to pack up camp and we headed out together toward Sassafras Mountain (a tough one). We stopped after a bit at Horse gap to eat lunch. I forced down some hot ramen and freeze dried broccoli. Using up the last of my fuel to try to beat my nausea. I was so hungry. At lunch we met Noah, Will, And Rob who all moved on before me.
Dragon and I split up there, as usual, and I went on to camp. I hiked Sassafras mountain in 43 minutes exactly. It was not nearly as hard as I expected. I caught up to Noah after a bit and we cruised until we hit a big stream. We stopped to take a break. Soon after, I sloshed across the creek (I know, so graceful) and I moved on to camp. I filled my water up at another stream along the way. I made it to camp around 4 pm. I was met with a chorus of ‘Hey!’s at the shelter and saw some familiar faces. Michelin, E-Dog, ‘Racha, Ohm, Will, and Rob. I sat down and ate a snack at the table with everyone and decided to shelter camp again that night. Most people were tenting. The sun began to peek out from the clouds a bit and I hung my tent in the sun to dry.
I set up my bed and went back Over to the table to eat my dinner. On my way back over to my bed I slipped on the wet shelter floor and fell face first to the floor. Thankfully I caught myself before almost breaking my nose and I only bruised one thigh a bit. Michelin shouted, ‘Man, we should call you Life Alert!’ Whisperer replied, ‘I thought we’d call her whatever the Morton Salt girl is named, because of the umbrella!’ No one could agree on my trail name.
Later that evening, still unsure if Dragon was going to make it to the shelter or camp out tonight I made a phone call to my Mom for some moral support. Just after telling my Mom that I was nervous Dragon wouldn’t make it, she comes hiking around the bend. I told my Mom I had to go and ran to meet Dragon. Just as Dragon arrives, Fresh Ground (a former thru-hiker) stops us to tell us he’s making us banana pancakes in the morning at Gooch Gap!
I make Dragon dinner as she gets unpacked and goes to get water. People begin dwindling in the shelter and head off to bed in their tents. Soon it’s just Rob, me, and Dragon. I sit with Dragon while she finishes her dinner. Rob got enough service to look up the story of the Morton Salt girl. Turns out she didn’t have a name... he suggested maybe I go by Morton or Morty. We chose Morty. But, somehow, it still didn’t quite fit.
Around 7:30pm an older guy rolls in. Said he had hiked from the approach to this shelter all in one day. He kept his white headlamp light on (a shelter faux pas after dark when people are trying to go to bed). He continued to talk to us. We tried not to make too much conversation. It was late and we were tired. We weren’t even talking to each other! Rob attempted to say hello to the man, the man didn’t want to talk to Rob.
We offered for the man to sleep in the loft of the shelter with Rob. The man said he would be the first one up and out in the morning and he needed to sleep downstairs. We told him we were planning on being up around 5 if that made a difference. He still insisted he sleep downstairs where Dragon and I had set up. We politely moved our sleeping g lads over and made room. Even after putting earplugs in and turning off my headlamp he tried to talk to me. He asked about what kind of cell service I had and what I was carrying in my pack. I was annoyed and a bit wary of his questions. But he seemed relatively harmless.