Day 67, Thursday, April 19. Garden Mountain Hostel—6.2 miles

Gnome and I were looking around the Shelter last night and we noticed that the roof was cabled to the building. Now after sleeping in it last night, we know why—without those cables, the roof would have been gone. It was the strongest winds I have experienced since the night on the GR10 last year that we were convinced the steel structured building was taking off. Even the mice were too scared to bother anything—we found them all locked together and holding on to a block to keep from blowing away. The door to the shelter kept blowing open and slamming shut until one ingenious former engineer decided he had had enough and wedged a broom into the handle and frame (after returning from his 4th inspection trip out) to keep it closed. Was this followed by applause from the other 5 inhabitants? No, they only yelled “Will you get your ass in bed and stay there?” Who needs Bunny when so many people are ready and willing to fill in for her!

I was contemplating a 15-20 mile today until I went outside to see that we had 10’ of visibility in the fog and I could see my breath (no, it was legitimate. I brushed my teeth last night; it was cold, again). I went back inside and back to bed until nearly everyone had left. I asked Gnome what he thought and we agreed—it was over 70 yesterday; 35 today with dropping temperatures. We signed up for the distance, rain, occasional cold weather, maybe even a light snow, but this is a crock of horse sh. A hostel sounds good today, and there is one in less than 6 miles.

We took our time eating breakfast and getting ready. Other people trickled in and out of the shelter to get warmed up (there was a very warm drawing of a fire where the fireplace used to be). This is how we found out that the family of 8 we had been hearing so much about was less than a mile behind us. We decided to wait for them to catch up before we left.

The first kids started drifting in a little after 9. The youngest sets the pace for the entire family. The parents come in last with dad carrying the baby on his back. When I saw the dad, I realized I knew this family. All along I thought it might be this family, but I knew they only had 5 kids—the 6th is an addition since the last time I had seen a video of theirs. When Bunny and I were planning our trip to Mt Rainier a few years back, we watched a series of videos on YouTube about a family with 5 kids hiking the Wonderland Trail. (Bunny thought it might be too much for her so I showed her this family doing what she though she couldn’t do—it worked). Their 6th child is named Rainier.

Gnome was very emotional about meeting the family. Like me, he thinks what they are doing is fantastic. Their oldest daughter will soon be going to college so they wanted an opportunity to fully bond together one more time. I think Gnome wishes he could have done something like this with his kids when they were young. He’s also missing his kids because he hasn’t seen them for a while. And he thinks the parents are doing a great job of parenting. They have taken a lot of heat for bringing the kids out, but the kids are all smart, friendly, and clearly enjoying themselves.

We leapfrogged with the family all the way up to the gap where we were getting off. We had heard there was magic at the gap, but it was gone when we got there. Gnome was lucky enough to get a signal on his phone (AT&T which sucks along the trail, but it’s better than my phone, since I don’t have one) and get a shuttle to the hostel. By the time the owner showed up, we were both freezing cold. The temp today had steadily dropped from 35 down to 30. I’m through with miserable nights.

When we got down to the hostel in Burkes Garden (a 4 mile by 8 mile sinkhole in the middle of the mountains), the owner built us a fire where I’ve been sitting ever since. We get dinner and breakfast here, so my food supply will not be depleted. At present, I should have enough food to make it to Shenandoah National Park if Bunny doesn’t make it back. I will have to buy more fuel, though. I have not bought fuel since Gatlinburg when I jokingly said I had enough to make it to Damascus. Boy, was I wrong, Damascus was 100 miles back and I’ve still got a day or two left.

With my parents moving into independent living, I’ve been thinking about some things that have happened over the years. My dad’s first name is Haldon. One year, his coworkers and he all decided to get subscriptions to Playboy. He filled out the card and sent it in. The subscription department transposed the “L” for an “R”. For the next 13 months (baker’s dozen) we got a plain brown sleeve addressed to “Hardon Himstedt.”

EFG