Three's a Crowd

So they say the trail is crowded.

You come out to the AT expecting to find peace and solitude, yet there are other people all around.

I know each year 2,000 aspiring thru-hikers start the trail, and by this point around 500 are remaining.  The world's most popular trail attracts who-knows-how-many people each day to its five national parks and 13 national forests - and the other stretches of its 2175 miles of scenic trail, especially on Saturday and Sunday.  That has the makings of a pretty big crowd.

If three's a crowd, you'd have to term much of my AT experience "company".

I've been hiking with the same hiking buddy for much of the more recent part of my trip, and it's a good thing I had Coldy's company because there were many days there where we were the only hikers around.  Before Damascus we ran with Safehouse (Skiptrace, Captain Jack, Pinball Wizzard, and Stranded) for a while, and after Damascus we ran with Tuko Spoon and Big Blue pretty frequently, adding Bill the Pony for a little bit - and the occational section hikers.  At Partnership Shelter (Pizzaship Shelter) we hit a slew of hikers - around 12 in all.  Well, the word is that the water there, coming out of a spigot near the Mt Rogers Park Headquarters might have gotten at least 10 hikers quite sick, including yours truly, sending at least 2 of them off the trail for good.  I was set back three days with y hiking buddy who was good enough to keep me company while I was laid up, and when we got back -- we were right back in the hiker trough.

After Pearisburg I became sick again and I had to slow down, often running with Hong Kong Fuey with a bum foot.  We could only think of two or three hikers we knew were behind us, and typically most thru-hikers are further up the trail at this time of year than we were.  One morning I was moving very sluggishly over a stretch of precarious and rocky VA ridgeline.  I was barely moving, but I stopped for a break and a snack, choosing some sugary dehydrated apples and some water.  I got going again and stopped to marvel at a sign denoting the Southern-most point of the Eastern continental divide when a hiker walked up.  He introduced himself as "Pittsburg" and we got to talking.  Between the dehydrated apples and the excitement of finding another hiker I was flying down into the valley behind him.

Well as it turns out, he camped with 12 people the previous night!  Sure enough, the others started trickling up the trail.  Pippy, Needles, Pit Stop, Turtle, Huff, Birchbark, and Ping were the first to join us.  Since then I've just been rolling in the thru-hikers.  I caught up to an old friend in Skittles, had an old friend in Brother T catch up to me, and I've been meeting new people every day, it seems: Bone Star, Toodles, Jolly Green, Calm Water, Nutella, Bonnie (male), Clyde (female), Dozer, Retriever, Certain, Spill the Beans, Barbarosa, Seagull, Sled Dog, Redline, and Tortoise.

Of course, I can hike by myself during the day if I wish (and I can always do my own thing during my thru-hike), but I'll almost always have company in one or two others in shelters and in towns.  Company is nice, but I enjoy meeting and getting to know all these interesting new people; I finally have a real crowd.

And I'm glad to finally have one.