Category: 2018 Appalachian Trail

The highlight for today was food driven.  Big Meadows was only 7 miles up the trail which placed it in a perfect position for a lunch stop for us.  Since Virginia is flat, straight, and easy, we will be there in plenty of time for lunch. Geo relayed a message to us from Bear Foot that the climb into Big Meadows is the last semi-tough climb we will encounter in Shenandoah; from that point on, the trail is straight and smooth. 

The trail to Big Meadows was anything but straight and smooth. Compared to GA, NC, and TN, the trail in Shenandoah is not as rough, but by no means easy. For personal comparison, I would put Shenandoah on par with the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path in Wales (minus the ocean views). I’m sure New Hampshire will be more like the GR10 in France—straight up, straight down. Bunny and I have yet to encounter an easy trail; the Camino would be the closest to easy in terrain but the road killed my feet.

We did make it to Big Meadows wayside for lunch.  Bunny vetoed continuing on to the Lodge for more options feigning food consideration for paying guests who don’t want to smell dirty thru-hikers. Chad the Dad and Shay joined us for lunch when they showed up a few minutes after us. This wayside actually has a dining room option where we get to sit and be waited on. 

Shay had a very disturbing story she shared with us concerning her experience from being bitten by a copperhead snake.  I always thought a copperhead was to be avoided, but not really overly dangerous unless you are young, old, weak, or sick. Shay didn’t fall into those categories, but she is very petite and can pass for an early teen. We met her and her parents our first full day in the park when she was celebrating her 27th birthday. I didn’t and don’t believe it but her parents backed up her age claim.

Shay is a petite, bubbly girl; always ready to laugh even if having a bad day. The snake bite story boils down to three main points: 1) she could have lost her leg if she hadn’t gotten anti-venom, 2) the anti-venom cost $250K, and 3) they gave Shay morphine for pain. Point 3 was Chad’s favorite point because Shay became even more bubbly and happy. She was quite the draw for the hospital staff as well. She became more of a comedy show for all the staff to come in to watch. Even her family forgot the gravity of the situation with flighty, bubbly Shay on stage. 

Once we got back on the trail, we hobbled past a trio out for a day hike. I say “hobbled” because we are old and tend to stiffen up quite a bit after stopping for a bit (especially Bunny since she is older than me). Grace, Katrina, and David seemed a bit amazed that two older people were actually out hiking the AT. 

We came over a hill to find two Russians cowering behind rock (no Mr Trump, they are not in the witness protection program to testify against you) hiding from an approaching bear.  They seemed relieved that it was just smelly thru-hikers. Vladimir and Galina were out for a day hike to enjoy the park. Galina reminded me of my sister because she had lost her hair from receiving radiation treatments for cancer.  She covered her head to hide her baldness. I should have told her what I told my sister “screw what anyone thinks, that’s your badge for fighting and winning against cancer.”  I wish her success and good health. Everyone please include her in your prayers. 

Here’s a good indicator it’s time to take a shower—if you walk by a swarm of flies on a pile of poop and they leave the poop to land on you, it’s probably getting close to time to wash. We have noticed bears run from us when they see us, we assumed it was due to timidness but now I’m thinking they might be confusing us for older bears. 

Luck was with us and we didn’t notice the rattlesnake on trail that we both stepped over walking behind the lodge. Another hiker came up behind us a bit shaken and asked us how we stayed so calm around snakes. I was still a bit queasy from Shay’s story and Bunny still suppresses a scream if she sees a big earthworm so I said we don’t stay calm. “So you didn’t see the snake that was as big around as your arm?”  Ignorance is bliss. 

We caught up with Chad the Dad and Shay at the hut. Spenders and Marc were already there and had set up there tents. I had carried a couple of beers from Big Meadows so we chilled a bit before making supper and getting ready for bed. There was a deer hanging around the hut and Spenders told us there was also a bear circling around, but not trying to come near people. 

Reading log book, we had a note from Rich and Laura’s son, Baby Bear, who is hiking sobo in Shenandoah.  Rich had told us he was out, but we had forgotten.  Just as we had gotten settled into bed, one of the guys saw the bear behind the shelter. Everyone got up to get a good picture. We all stood around watching him forage for a bit, but he got spooked when he saw all of us and headed uphill. I don’t think he’ll be a problem. 

 

EFG

We packed up and left without incident in the morning.  We called Stanimals to arrange for Matt and Jessica to return Hammerhead’s hiking poles which we had found. He left the trail yesterday to return home in face of the approaching tropical storm. We started talking to a woman and her son from DC.  Her husband died 2.5 years ago and left her with a small farm and cabin in Maine. She really liked what Bunny and I were doing. 

We stopped at a scenic overlook on Hightop Mountain and ran into the woman and son duo again.  They were only doing an overnight and didn’t get into camp until well after dark. I had seen their headlamps coming in when I had gotten up to pee (the joys of being a slightly-past middle aged man). There was also a woman there who had attended North Western University—the Illinois connection is starting to grow. 

I saw MY first bear as it streaked across trail in front of Bunny.  She didn’t even catch a glimpse of it because it was so fast. It was pretty small, so I kept an eye out for a momma but she never showed up.

Later in the day, we passed a Japanese couple completely covered in netting and wearing so many bells that they couldn’t breathe without jingling. I thought Hare Krishnas were approaching us on the trail. Bunny told them they were never going to see a bear making that much noise to which they replied “good, we very scared.”  I’m thinking a National Park is probably not the ideal destination if you are afraid of wildlife. 

When the park was created, all standing structures were torched.  Of course, this is the USA so rules don’t apply evenly if a person has money or influence. 9 cabins remain that were not torn down as they were supposed to be.  The PATC now manages those cabins and rent them out for individual use. We passed Pocosin Cabin and stopped for a break. The cabin had been leased out but no one was present. Bunny brown blazed a bit since there was a privy present. 

We made it to Lewis Mountain Campground for chips, ice cream and cokes. Gnome had met a couple of women on the trail ahead of us that had already paid for a site for the night but decided to head back to civilization because of the approaching storm. They let him have it and he offered to let us stay as well. Chris had told us yesterday that all of the huts in Shenandoah are well grounded and are probably the safest place to stay in a storm. We decided to push on one more mile to the next hut. 

Twinkie, Hangman, Mossy were already in Bearfence Mountain Hut when we arrived. No one else was around so we set up in the shelter just as the rain started.  It looked like there might not be many more people coming in when the flood of people and rain started coming in. Ultimately, this was one of the most crowded shelters we have stayed at with people up cooking until all hours of the night. It was well past 8:30 before the place quieted down. 

EFG

We had no idea what to expect today. Because of poor phone reception, we didn’t get 100% confirmation that Bob and Chris were going to pick us up at 10. We had no choice but believe we’d make contact.  Climbing up a few hundred feet from the Hut was good enough for us to get a signal and find out we were on for 10.

Simmons Gap was the first road crossing we came to and our rendezvous point. There were 6 other thru-hikers there with us while we were waiting for them to arrive.  I saw Chris pull up right on time with Bob following right behind. We haven’t seen each other since we finished the Camino almost a year ago.  Chris and Bob introduced their wives, Toni and Dandie to us and then asked what we wanted to do AFTER we had showers and did laundry.  I’m guessing it probably wouldn’t have killed us if we had hit the showers yesterday. 

They took us back to Loft Mountain Campground for showers, laundry, beer—we must have smelled pretty bad because everyone of them were willing to throw quarters our way to pay for showers and laundry.  Chris had even brought soap with him to douse everything.  He’s had plenty of experience with thru-hikers so he was prepared for the worst (and we delivered!). 

They did know what to expect next. After we finished our drinks, they asked if a restaurant off of the trail would be acceptable. Burgers are good, but that’s all that’s available at the waysides—variety of junk is better. They offered up the option of the other two legs of the hiker food trifecta: pizza or Mexican in the nearby town of Elkton, VA. As always, quantity over quality, but quality quantity is a winner. We had Mexican (chips and salsa for quantity). I was so excited to have fresh brewed iced tea that I drank over a gallon. Next up was a small resupply at Dollar General.  

When we met these guys on the Camino last year, there was a third member of the group—Paul.  Paul thought it more important to give the gift of vision to poor third world children than spend time with us (he was down in southern Mexico with a non-profit he and his wife started to distribute glasses to poor children).  All three of these guys are truly generous and giving realizing they have been lucky and wanting to share their good fortune. Chris has been doing trail maintenance and magic in Shenandoah for over a quarter century.  Bob also does work with a non-profit to help workers in transition (be it job training, financial assistance, job search, etc). 

For a reward for helping to hose down two smelly hikers they had never met before, a carrot had been dangled for Toni and Dandie, an afternoon at a winery.  The ladies headed to the winery while the guys took us back to the trail. We reminisced about our Camino experiences and talked about other members of our “family” that we have kept in touch with over the last year. Chris also gave us some history of the park. 

Herbert Hoover had a presidential retreat on the edge of Shenandoah. He had 3 requirements for site selection: 1) close to Washington, 2) have a trout stream on it, and 3) be above 2500’ (to be cooler and have fewer bugs). Today, Hoover Camp has docents giving tours of the retreat during summer months. It’s only 2 miles off of the AT. The other interesting piece of park history is that Southern Gentleman pooled their resources to piece together the original park and present it to the US government as a form of reparations for the Civil War. The people evicted were mainly squatters.  The land was owned by primarily 40 families and lumber companies. There is almost no old growth forest in Shenandoah. What we see today is second or third generation forests.

The iced tea proved to be too much liquid carrier for lunch so we had to make an emergency stop at Loft Wayside before being dropped back off. This gave us the opportunity to repack our gear in a shaded area with a picnic table as well as put our boots back on in comfort. 

Chris and Bob then took us back to where they picked us up leaving us plenty of time to hike the 6 miles to the next shelter before the rain was supposed to start. There was even more trail magic at Simmons Gap. Snapchat, who hiked the trail last year, was there giving out drinks, fruit, chips, and candy. She had recently quit her job working for DOD (you could say she was in transition). Bob and Chris both offered her their cards to help her out and Chris was even aware of a position with PATC (Patomac Appalachian Trail Club) that she might be interested in. Magic begets magic.

In less than one mile back on the trail, we passed the 900 mile mark of our journey.  With all the magic we had received today, we were hoping this might be the day to see a real walking bear. Bunny was going a little slow so I was out front a bit. This was just what it took to flush a few bears out for Bunny to catch a glimpse of. I had apparently scared a momma and two cubs without realizing it.  By the time Bunny caught up, momma was getting the little ones out of the tree and skidaddling. She saw them, I didn’t. My drought continues. 

We got to the Hut by 6 and Gnome was already there eating. There were several tents set up around the shelter but only Gnome was set up in the Hut. Very soon, another couple of section hikers, Matt and his daughter, Jessica, showed up.  Matt was obviously a man of quality because he was wearing a Cubs hat. We got to talking and discovered he had been born in Decatur, IL—my home town. Only, he had gotten lucky and escaped by the third grade.  They now lived in Charlotte, NC 

We had eaten so much today and gotten so much food from Bob, Chris, and their lovely ladies that we just had a cold supper of popcorn, crackers and humus, followed by a little candy. We were tucked safely in bed before 9. It looked like a storm was coming and I wanted Bunny asleep and knocked out before any thunder started. 

EFG

We have quietly become the couple that people say to us “At least you’re out here.”  People are constantly asking us when we started the trail and we say “February 12, we hiked the approach trail.  We are going slow to enjoy ourselves.”—“At least…”.  I don’t understand why everyone has to make hiking a competition.  I wish they would stop because I’m tired of being in last place.  I keep reliving my 2nd grade playground experiences everyday. 

We climbed to the top of Blackrock and got a phone signal.  We had a message from Bob that he, Chris, and their wives, are heading down to the park this evening.  They are going to spend the night at Big Meadows Lodge and then pick us up in the morning to spend some time with them. 

Coming down the mountain, we ran into a couple that asked us if we were thru-hikers.  Go’el and Firebird were interested in some of the details of how we do things.  Go’el has been out for up to a couple of weeks at a time but isn’t quite up for a thru-hike yet. I think it’s just a matter of time for him.

Bunny had warned me about how bad the privy smelled at the shelter last night.  I checked the map and saw that we had a public picnic area just 2.5 miles ahead, so I was up for some brown blazing today.  Just prior to the picnic area, we see a sign warning of active bears in the area and what precautions to take.  I let Bunny lead because I know how bad she wants to see one.  We saw a fresh pile of bear poop in the trail.  We were getting really excited.  Bunny was in front again, I hear all kinds of movement in the woods and then Bunny screamed.  This is why I carry an extra pair of underwear.  It was just squirrels but Bunny can be wound tight at times.

We were walking at good pace because we were heading to Loft Mountain Camp Store for a few items before we headed on to Loft Mountain Wayside for some lunch.  We met another gentleman out hiking who asked us how far we had come.  I said “Georgia.”  It turns out Don is 73 years old, about to turn 74. I honestly thought he was our age because he looked younger than me (but just about everyone does which is why I always point out Bunny is older because it’s not apparent). He tried to get someone to hike the AT with him this year, but none of his friends would go.

Don asked us what we would like right now.  We said we were actually on our way to the wayside to grab a burger, fries, and a shake.  He said he didn’t have anything to give us, but he’d like to buy that lunch for us.  He then gave us the money for lunch.  I am constantly amazed at the generosity of people we just meet along the way.  I’m honestly not trying to look that pathetic, it’s just the way I look naturally. 

The camp store has showers and laundry as well as backpacking food.  I asked Bunny if she wanted to shower. I got one of the three responses a man never expects to hear from his wife.  3) We just showered 3 days ago and haven’t been sweating that bad.  The other 2 responses being: 2) we just did laundry 5 days ago, they can wait another few days.  And, 1) Can I have a squirt of your vagisil?

It was another 3 miles after the camp store to the wayside.  We had our burgers, fries, shakes, and a pretzel compliments of Don.  As we were headed back up to the trail, I told Bunny I was still hungry.  We stopped at an overlook on Skyline Drive and a minivan with Texas plates pulled up and asked if we were thru-hikers.  When we said yes, he offered us cold drinks and asked if we wanted any left over pizza.  I told him honestly, any food left will quickly be consumed.  Gnome walked up just as I said this and said he could help.  Purple Haze (who is thru-hiking this year but is off for a couple of days while his wife, Andee is visiting) offered us a half a pizza and some garlic bread rolls along with sodas.  This was enough to finish filling me up.

As soon as they took off, Gnome said the only thing that would make this any better was some cold beer.  In comes Maui who thru-hiked last year.  He pulled up in his Subaru, got out, and offered us some cold beer.  His dog, Tug Boat, taste tested it for us and it passed inspection.  We gladly accepted 2 beers each to go with the garlic bread rolls—we had a gourmet supper on hand.

Leaving with the beer reminded me of our first trail magic which involved beer and was the night we met Patches.  Patches has left the trail for a wedding so we probably won’t be seeing her again. I saw a sobo coming towards us and asked her if she was thru-hiking. She said she was so I had to ask when she started—August 26. It was a long shot, but I followed up with did she know Patches. She knew a Patches. I got out my camera and Balto did know Patches. It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it. 

I’m thinking this pathetic face of mine has finally found its niche. I just need to hang out in National Park scenic overlooks with a backpack and wait for the magic to come to me.

We got to the shelter and threw the beers in the ice cold stream to super chill them while we took care of getting ready for bed.  I think I’ll be able to skip the Benadryl tonight thanks to the beer and first full stomach in the last 3 days.  I’m liking Shenandoah a lot.

The section of trail before we got our pizza was supposed to have bears in it. We had been warned by another sobo that he couldn’t chase the bears off the trail. When we came through, Bunny thought she saw a black stump with ears and called it a bear (possibly, I give it a 60% chance).  Sebastian came into the hut later and said he had to wait 20 minutes for the bears to get off the trail and let him pass.  The bear drought of 2018 continues. 

EFG

With so many section hikers around, we were not the last to get out of the shelter.  After last night’s experience, this will be the last night we stay in a shelter until we are through Shenandoah.  What happened? Nothing, it’s just that they are called “Huts” in Shenandoah.

It was a surprisingly pleasant day for hiking.  We didn’t actually get into Shenandoah maintained trails until we crossed a set of power lines. The transition was like night and day.  I was relieved to see that our friend, Chris Jones, was on top of the trail maintenance. We had been told that the Shenandoahs would be the first time we could walk without watching our feet, allowing us to look around more. 

The trails were great and did allow us the freedom to look around more. Now we should be able to spot those bears we’ve been searching for. We saw butterflies, turtles, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, deer tracks, but not a single damn bear.  At one point I heard a big crashing in the woods behind me and I thought this was finally our time. I turned around just in time to see a big limb fall out of a tree.

The AT parallels Sky Line Drive all the way through the park and has numerous road crossings. I was a little concerned that we would always have the sound of traffic in the background, but that hasn’t been the case so far. It might be a different situation this weekend with Memorial Day coming up, but we hear that rain is expected all weekend so the crowds shouldn’t be bad.

We passed very few people. We did see Sebastian slack packing sobo and his knee was feeling much better. He will be rejoining the hiking world tomorrow. We talked to some other people that passed him after us and he saw a bear just after we left him. 

We made it to the shelter by 4 and were trying to decide if we were going to push on or stay for the night.  Chef came in and tried to convince us we could make it to the camp store before 7 to get some ice cream. It took us an hour to convince ourselves it wasn’t possible so we would just stay put for the night.

About 15 people filtered into the shelter over the next couple of hours and to the last person, every one of them saw a frigging bear today. Bunny and I made  it a point to not talk today and to keep a little distance between us to no avail.  Gnome said he was making noise and talking when he saw his.  Everyone was willing to share their pictures with us. 

A bear has been hanging out around this shelter.  Gnome has decided to sleep on the upper level.  I’ve already hung my bear bag, but I kept a peanut butter cup out to bait underneath the other person who is sleeping in the shelter. He’s a fast mover. He can safely absorb a bear mauling and recovery period AND still summit Katahdin before we do. Let’s hope bears like peanut butter as much as dogs do.

EFG

Bunny started shuffling around a little before 7. She is definitely getting antsy about getting out of town.  We hurriedly packed up to get ready because we thought they might be strict on the shuttle times. When we went down stairs, No Worries was working out shuttle times with everyone. Stinger needed to go to the post office before heading out, so we agreed to a 9 o’clock shuttle with him which left us enough time to get one more town breakfast at Hardee’s. 

We exchanged info with No Worries when she found out we were planning on going to South America this winter. She’s headed down in early ‘19 and then is going to be van living on the west coast next year when we are hiking the PCT.  She dropped us off just a tenth of a mile too far which made me have to cross back over the interstate to maintain my trail purity standing.

Entry into Shenandoah NP is free, the only thing that threw us a bit was that they wanted to know an approximate itinerary and we haven’t even bothered looking at the lay of the park. I just grabbed the trail data book and chose some rough locations based on getting us out of the park in 7 days.  We are planning on a short day today since a thunderstorm is predicted for early afternoon and we haven’t done any hiking for 3 days.

The walk to the first shelter wasn’t bad at all. We started in fog which quickly burned off. We had a sunny and humid day.  There were bugs flying everywhere but not bothering me. Bunny obviously did an outstanding job treating our clothes with the permethrin because I wasn’t bothered in the least. When I looked back at her, she was surrounded by butterflies, bunnies, and unicorns.  The little princess has joined the expedition.

There was nothing spectacular about the walk to the shelter.  I saw nothing that made me think we are in a National Park. We saw the map of the park and the southern end is mainly just a wide spot along the road.  We passed Train Wreck who we knew was slack packing south today. He’ll be doing a work for stay tomorrow at Stanimals and then we might be in about the same location on Thursday. 

ATweather.net did something they haven’t done before—they got the forecast right for today. They predicted storms at 2.  We could hear thunder below us to the east since noon.  I went up to an overlook and saw a sea of clouds.  This encouraged us to get to the shelter and get water all by 1:50. Festus was already there fretting about staying or going—he’s mileage driven and a short day like this is a challenge for him.

Gnome, Bunny and I set up our beds and got organized.  Doc and Chief Ranch Legs came into the shelter just as the rain started picking up. We had met them before and at Devils Backbone Brewery.  They were just getting back on the trail after returning from Damascus Trail Days.  Not too long after that a girl section hiker stopped in.  She’s from Colorado Springs and just finished the Colorado Trail.  This is her first day hiking on the east coast.

Ultimately, over 15 people ended up in and around the shelter last night including Chef, whom we had met back at Four Pines Hostel.  He’s still carrying a guitar so he played a little James Taylor before my Benadryl took affect. There may have been snoring, there may have been crying because of the snoring, but I’m pretty sure I slept fine.

EFG

We came to town with the intention of taking a double zero, but this morning when people started stirring, it was me, NOT Bunny that said “one more.” My feet got tore up when my boots failed on day 95. In spite of what some ‘nay-sayers’ (No Worries) believe, I had a tremendous amount of debris in my shoes rubbing between my wet socks and soaked boots. The backs of my heels got huge hot spots on them. I also got blisters on the undersides of my toes. My feet were a mess.

I had also been itching quite a bit the last few days. I attributed it to bug bites but after a day in town, it was apparent I had poison ivy and it was spreading. On Sunday, I woke up and my right eye was almost swollen shut. Bunny wanted me to just suck it up and use some calamine cream that was in the hiker box here. From my scouting years, I knew I needed some bigger intervention than that. I finally convinced her to contact Dancing Dog and get me a subscription for prednisone. I’m already starting to dry up on just the second day. Alice had also sent us some spray that is steroidal, which is, no doubt, helping speed up the process. I remember Jay Hamilton used to say I could look at a picture of poison ivy and breakout.

As a few people may have noticed, I had also fallen quite a bit behind on blogging. A couple weeks ago in a shelter, I was talking to someone who was vlogging their trip. I said I’m doing it the old fashioned way like our forefathers did; I write stuff out daily and upload it with pictures to the internet when I get to town. His response—“That’s so 90s.”

Even if it is primitive, it got Bunny to do the vast majority of the work on this town stop. She sorted out all of the food that our trail angel, Alice, sent to us at the hostel, did the laundry, treated our clothes with insect repellant, and dried out most of the gear. All this freed me up to type to the point of hand cramps.

Stickers and Lady Bug took off on Sunday morning and they are now 27 miles ahead of us. It’s doubtful that we’ll catch them any time soon. Patches is definitely gone for now. When she comes back, she will be 3 weeks behind so our only chance of seeing her is if she follows our blog and comes out to do trail magic in Massachusetts when we pass. Gnome caught up with us today, but he’s debating about going back out in the morning. He has less of a time crunch than we do. He’s walking the AT and if he doesn’t get done this year, he can finish next year. We have to finish this year because we are hiking the PCT next year. Another hiker family is falling apart.

No Worries had to get off trail for a month because of an injury. Not a trail injury. She fell while visiting DC and got an infection. She’s going to start hiking again around June 1 but will jump ahead to her tramily in New York.

Bunny finally accepted the extra day. She even embraced it with a nap this afternoon. We spent a bit of time at a coffee shop this morning before we walked all over town looking for Gnome. It’s hard to find a moving target. We went back to Stanimals and let him come to us. The only other thing we did today (other than go to the P.O. to mail our cold weather gear ahead to Peter and Marcia) was eat…and eat.

Stanimal has some issues with Plod Along, or, rather, vice versa. The experience we had with his Glasgow location has really gotten under Plod Alongs’ skin. We tried to convince him this location was completely different and that we consider it one of the best hostels we have stayed at. It’s water under the bridge now.

We are packed and ready to go in the morning once we have breakfast. Everything is dry with only a 60% chance of late afternoon rain. We’ve made contact with Bob and Chris whom we met on the Camino de Santiago last year. We will get together with them later this week passing through Shenandoah. Right now, my main concern is getting the most time possible in the king sized bed we have for one more night.

EFG

Today was “town motivation” driven. We weren’t necessarily in a hurry but we were driven to action. We waited until a few people left before we got up just so there would be room to spread out. We did manage to get ready in less than our usual hour and a half but that was due in large part to the continued presence of the cottonmouth by the privy— I’ve been known to hold out for up to 5 days to avoid digging a hole; a half day to town isn’t even a challenge for me. I let Bunny decide for herself and she also chose town.

It was only a short 5 mile hike to town with more down than up, but it was raining. Not a downpour to cause us to break out the umbrellas, just a drizzle where our hats would provide enough protection. As long as my glasses stay dry, I’m fine.

We didn’t even bother with any overlooks. We passed the Lowe family (Bobby, is your family from VA?) cemetery and Mayo homestead. We tried to guess if this was the creator of mayonnaise or the founder of the Mayo Clinic. Bunny chooses to believe inventor of hamburger sauce, I, the supposed pessimist, choose to believe a connection to a life saving doctor.

We were to the highway where the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive meet by 11:30. We couldn’t quite determine where the visitor center was so we just opted to call Stanimal to pick us up. Now it started to rain enough that I broke out my umbrella. We had 20 minutes to kill before being picked up and there was a mobile popcorn trailer just begging for us to have some. We obliged. I got cheddar and Bunny got caramel. I tried to convince her to share and mix but she wouldn’t oblige. She grudgingly let me have 5 kernels to mix in mine. Her touching generosity brought a tear to my eye.

We saw a van pull of with a familiar face driving. It took us a few minutes to place it and then remembered No Worries. We hadn’t seen her since the Fontana Hilton when she fell off the platform with an armload of beer. She tried to convince me that she hadn’t been drunk at the time, but then I reminded her that she had followed me into the men’s shower to use the electrical outlets before the fall. She reluctantly admitted she MAY have been a little tipsy. Then she had to go and recall our first meeting at the NOC when I had definitely been feeling no pain and ate half of her dessert. Bunny took her side remembering this fictional event.

Stanimals in Waynesboro is completely different from our experience in Glasgow. This is a new setup and very hiker accommodating and friendly. Stanimal, personally, spends most of the day here interacting with the hikers. He has a policy of not turning hikers away and has a capacity of 25. Tonight, there were 27. Two unlucky hikers got couches (not us, not my problem).

There were several people we knew already here (not counting Lady Bug and Stickers), Geo, Summit, Rocket Man, Rick James, Sebastian, Murphy, and Pilgrim, which left us plenty of new people to meet yet still feel comfortable being among old friends. Unlike usual, we chose to shower and start laundry before we went out for ice cream and burgers. Sebastian was going to cook a large supper for everyone but Bunny couldn’t wait. I thought the food might take the edge off of my hiker hunger so I obliged the extra meal.

EFG

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

We heard everyone moving around and packing up, but I swear there was an elephant in our tent sitting on us. I managed to move the elephant completely to Bunny’s side of the bed so I could get up. By the time I had gotten the bear bag down and had water boiling, Bunny had chased the elephant completely out of camp. Needless to say, with all the pachyderm interference, we were the last to leave camp at 8:15.

It had lightly rained over night. The humidity was high and everything felt damp. We were walking in a fog (both mentally and literally). We had a short climb to the top of Priest Mountain with a few overlooks on the way. By the time we made the top, we were above some of the clouds and had partial views. What goes up must go down. We had almost a 3,000’ drop to the gap. The corollary statement applies now—what goes down must go up. We still had one more mother of a climb to get to the brewery.

Of course it was raining. It’s still preferable to having the insects swarming and the high hear. Plod Along passed along word that Monday had been an all time record high for the area (records from 1912). We heard they got off trail for a few days to let the heat pass. It’s gone and been replaced with rain. Seriously, I’ll take rain in any form over the bugs and heat, especially since we got the umbrellas. They are part of our “must have” equipment from here on.

We crossed the Tye River and climbed 2.5 miles to Harpers Creek Shelter where we stopped for a lunch break. We checked the log and saw that Stickers and Lady Bug camped by the river last night and stopped here for second breakfast. They were probably getting close to the brewery by the time we finished. Chili Dog and Goldilocks (both men despite the name) stopped in while we were eating. They camped with Patches and Gnome last night and told us they were not going to make the brewery tonight.

There was still a 2,400’ climb looming. The river, oops, trail, was very slick so the old folks were going slow. One of the guys we passed at Spy Rock last night passed us and we noticed he didn’t have a pack. He said the whole group was slack packing today and the rest of the group had taken a lower blue blaze bypass to avoid the climb. Double cheaters. We made it a point to get a picture at the top in front of the sign to show we are purists (and obstinate).

While we were climbing in the rain, it occurred to me that it has been raining ever since Noah had gotten thrown under the bus. Can we expect 40 straight days of rain? My dad told me he had heard of sections of the trail ahead that have gotten washed out by heavy rains. As long as we don’t have to swim to finish the AT, I’m still happier than minus the bugs.

We didn’t make it to Reid’s Gap until 6. We called for the free shuttle only to find out that it stops at 5. Here we were in a dense fog and rain and their response was to “just hitch in.” If there would have been traffic, I wouldn’t object. We tried for 15 minutes before calling to plead again. They said they were too busy and didn’t really need any more business—hitch or give up, they didn’t care. Places that pretend to be hiker friendly, but really aren’t, really tick me off. Like Top of Georgia Hostel with free rides to town but they don’t tell you when until you’re late and then want to charge. I was ready to give up and hike on.

Bunny had her heart set on a beer and wanted to try another 10 minutes. Up to now, only 3 cars had passed and they all gave us the emphatic “hell no” by switching lanes to pass us. It all happened at once: 3 more of the slackers emerged and an SUV stopped. We didn’t feel obligated to help the others (since they were cheaters) but one was Spenders with his dog, Murdock, that we really like (both of them). She agreed to cram us all in and go out of her way to take us to the brewery.

Elizabeth has a 17 year old son that wants to hike the AT when he graduates from high school next year. She is building up good karma for him by picking up hikers. Her dad is also a builder in the area that put up several of the structures at the brewery. When we got there, she decided to go in and have a beer since her son wasn’t going to be home for another hour. This trail angel saved our sorry, wet butts and kept us from having a miserable night on the trail. We were still going to have a miserable night camping in the rain, but at least it would be with beer and burgers in our stomachs.

We went into the restaurant and Stickers met us at the door. Lady Bug was trapped in the tent waiting for the rain to lighten up before she attempted the crossing from the camping area. We saw probably 20 people we knew including all the cheaters (“hike your own hike” doesn’t mean we can’t smugly judge you). Savage is the only one I’ll cut slack with her fused discs. We of course gave them crap and showed our picture from the summit in the fog and rain. They in turn showed us all the beautiful water falls we missed.

We ate supper with Stickers. They have been at the brewery since about 1:30 so he was not feeling any pain. The place was amazing. Anheuser-Bush InBev has recently bought the place and they are dumping money into the place like mad. The former owner is now the CEO and they are letting him call all the shots for at least 5 years before the place goes completely corporate soulless. In the mean time, they still plan to cater to hikers, but the showers still aren’t ready—not until June 1.

Lady Bug and Stickers led us to the camping area and we set up camp in dark and rain. It wasn’t that bad with the umbrellas. It was possible to get everything in the tent and stay dry, but the humidity was terrible in the tent. It poured most of the night but we could stand it with our beer/burger bellies.

EFG