A lot of people get the Virginia Blues by this point in the state. We don’t have the blues, we have the Virginia Rage. Virginia is not at all as people say: “It’s Easy.” “Virginia is flat; you’ll do 20 mile days, regularly.” This is why we have rage because that is complete bull shit. The next person that says anything along these lines to us gets a firmly implanted boot up the ass. They obviously have never hiked this state. We have more big climbs in VA than we have had any place else (we went through the Smokies!).
We asked Stickers to wake us up in time to go to breakfast with them when it opens at 7. He quietly walked over and told us it was time. I didn’t check my watch and just got up. We just got dressed and headed up to the restaurant. We tried the door and they told us they didn’t open until 7. He had gotten us up at 6. At least we had time to make use of the facilities before breakfast.
For $5 we got 4 sausages, scrambled eggs, coffee, a biscuit, and breakfast potatoes. This more than made up for the overpriced burger last night. The real kicker was the hiker box they set out which included t-shirts, hats, and first aide stuff that the brewery was buying and giving away to the hikers. This really changed my opinion of whether the place was truly hiker friendly.
We headed back to camp after we said goodbye to Stickers and Lady Bug who chose to slack pack all the way to Waynesboro today (hike your own hike—I know). I think Bunny and I are the only ones actually packing our own stuff all the way to town. We packed up and headed back up to the bathhouse in time for me to shave. I do believe I’m the only male thru-hiker that shaves with regularity which is why people think we are section hikers. I tried the beard thing last year on the Camino and it only got me lots of sad stares like I had mange.
There were only 5 of us on the 9 o’clock shuttle (6 if you include Murdock). Only Rick James was slack packing in this group. Tang and Spenders were aiming for the Paul C Wolfe Shelter, too. I hope there will be space enough for all of us.
The air was thick enough to cut. I was praying for rain to cool things off. There weren’t many bugs out so I had hope. The bulk of the slackers weren’t scheduled to start until 10 so we could get a few miles ahead before they would pass us. Half Moon, Savage, and Spartacus caught up with us just before we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway. We walked with them for a bit but couldn’t keep up.
We decided to stop and eat at road crossing. Thunder, Zebra, and Train Wreck were already sitting down and eating. They told us Spartacus had just earned his keep by running across the road and finding a bag of pot. Savage is planning on sending him home when they get to Harpers Ferry but I was hoping she’d change her mind with this new tool in his belt.
Before we could finish eating, the rain started again. Little did we know that it wasn’t going to stop for the remainder of the day and night. Not that we cared—we have our umbrellas which are now just another appendage. The down side for me was this is the day both of my boots decided to fail. Bunny has just gotten new boots in Blacksburg and they are coming apart already. This is unusual for Merrill’s so new; we need to call them. I tried to figure out how many miles I had on them and I only count 850 trail miles, but probably closer to 1000 miles total so it looks like I’m due.
With my water logged feet and all the leaf litter in my boots, I start to get blisters all over my feet. The bottoms of my toes and the backs of my heels all were getting rubbed raw. I had to get Bunny to stop so I could put tape on to stop the rubbing from making things worse. She seemed annoyed that I made her open her pack but she made the most of it by peeing while I did my repairs.
We didn’t bother to try for any views with the foggy rain. We did stop on some rocks to grab a snack. When a section hiker tried to go around us, we felt bad seeing him slip and fall (we were kind of hogging the trail). A few minutes later, Spenders and Tang were passing us and we told them to be careful because someone had just fallen. Spenders asked if the guy was dressed like a German villain from an Indiana Jones movie. He was. He said not to worry when villains fall.
Just prior to the shelter was what would normally be a small creek but with all the rain, it had become a raging river. The smart thing to do would be to take off my boots and socks and put on my crocs since we were at the shelter. Was I smart? Not so much. I ended up slipping off a rock and filling my boot with water. Other than being annoying, I didn’t care since I had already planned to buy new boots in town.
We were relieved and glad to see that this was a double decker shelter with a covered porch for eating. This was one of the three nicest shelters we have stayed in so far. There was even a bear pole provided so I didn’t have to deal with my rope. As I was considering going up to the privy, Expresso came back and warned of a snake coiled up next to the latrine. He didn’t think it was poisonous but he had taken a picture. I looked at it and decided I could wait until tomorrow until we got to town and I was pretty sure Bunny would agree. It was a copperhead and he looked pretty annoyed by the rain.
EFG