Trail magic from a stranger near the Smokies changed my pace

Back in 2019 I was doing the AT section through the Smokies, around the 5th day and my feet were toast. I stopped at a shelter near Silers Bald to filter water and this older guy, maybe 70, was just sitting there with a tiny camp stove. He asked where I was headed and I said Springer, and he laughed and told me I was walking too fast to see anything worth seeing. He pointed at a patch of moss and said he'd been watching a salamander there for 20 minutes. Honestly, that stuck with me more than any summit. I slowed down the next three days and started noticing little things like old stone walls and deer trails. Now I plan routes with more zero days and less mileage per day, even on shorter trips. Has anyone else had a random hiker or local say something that totally shifted how they approach a route?

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the_anna6d ago

Are you sure that guy wasn't just full of it? I've met plenty of old-timers at shelters who talk like gurus but are really just killing time while their knees rest, and some of them hike bigger miles than anyone out there. Slowing down sounds nice in a story, but if you cut mileage and add zero days on a section hike, you can end up with food running short and shelters filling up before you get there. I did the Smokies fast with sore feet too, and yeah it hurt, but I still saw the stone walls and the salamanders, just from a different spot on the trail.

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