Having fun out there.

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Pearisburg

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I have come in from the AT for two nights to hit the post office, the store, the laundromat and get a shower.  Everyone in town is very understanding, want to know how long you're out for, are you having fun out there? how are the animals... and I'm taking a whole day to do it, staying at the hostel near town. I'm doing what the thru-hikers call "taking a zero," meaning that they haven't made any miles on the trail at all that day.  There are all sorts of little bits of trail lingo that I've learned:

angel:  someone in the real world who does nice things for hikers just out of niceness, giving rides, bringing food to the trail etc.

magic: often just mysterious black bags for people to leave their garbage at a trail head, or coolers with sodas & I recently heard of a huge pig-roast party thrown by a local homeowner and former thru-hiker. 

Slack-packing: when you leave your pack with someone who drives it to the next trail head, so a hiker can put in a whole lot of miles without the burden.  Usually just called "slackin'."

bounce box: the box with food and extra band-aids etc. that you forward to yourself from post office to post office.

This is the great american pilgrimage.  I'm really enjoying dipping my toe into the culture and I seriously recommend to everyone that they borrow some gear, strip it down to 25 lbs or less and come out and put in a couple weeks here or a month.  Most of the people I've met are doing it on their own, many over the age of 40 or 50 doing a little at a time.  Older ex-army men, some twenty-somethings and their dad, boy scouts, a junior high english teacher.  Everyone's out here and they want to know your trail name and hear your story and then we all go off to be with the trees and the hills and the streams on our own. 

See you at the next shelter maybe.