Miles today: 16.8
Total miles: 761.3
It was so nice to sleep in today. I still woke up early at 6 something but enjoyed drifting in and out of sleep until almost 9. Blondie and I left the shelter by 10 and had an easy day ahead of us. We were headed to RPH shelter 16.8 miles away for one reason: pizza. A couple pizza place actually deliver pizza to the shelter since I guess it’s pretty close to a road. The promise of pizza convinced us to do a bit of a shorter day.
The day went by quickly and easily and we were at RPH shelter by 5, even with our late start and many breaks. The shelter was actually more like a cabin. It had a door and windows and actual bunk beds, a yard, and plenty of chairs and picnic tables. Two guys, Buzz and Timeless were also at the shelter. Buzz is a southbound thru hiker from Germany. A ton of Germans hike because I guess there is some german documentary about the ATthat has convinced many to come. Timeless is from MA and is just out hiking a section for three or so weeks.
Together we looked up the pizza menu on my phone and called to place our order. We had to wait 45 minutes and were all pretty freezing as the sun went down but pizza was worth it! About an hour later two pizza delivery boys come walking up to the shelter carrying stacks of pizza. It was a hilarious sight. These two 16 year olds kids bringing food and four starving hikers jumping to their feet running to meet them. After some minor issues with paying we finally secured our pizzas. I ate mine sitting in my sleeping bag since it was so chilly. We all got larges which turned out to be large even for hikers. I had leftovers for three days. As evidence of how much hikers like food, I texted delta to come for pizza even though he was 17 miles away at 3pm. He came anyway (after hiking the whole day before that) getting there in the dark at 930ish. Pizza. It’s a powerful tool.