After taking 5 zeroes (4 for the wedding and 1 for the hiker bug), I traveled back to Reeds Gap and walked to Waynesboro. The 19 miles was fairly easy because Marie had my pack at a hotel in town, so I got to slack pack for one more day. It rained on and off throughout the late afternoon, and when I got to town, I learned it was going to do a lot more than that on the following day. Geez, call me soft, but I took another zero. I was glad I did because it stormed all the next day. In fact, the weather had been terrible during the entire time I was off. Great timing for me!
With improved weather, I started into the Shenendoah National Park the next day. Spaceman and Rocket, a couple I met earlier in my hike, arranged a ride with a trail angel and let me tag along. I hiked with them for a good part of the day. This time of year, there are a ton of section and day hikers in the park, so we ran into our fair share. It can be strange because they often want to stop and chat, and I often feel obligated to let them know the big 3 answers: California/Pittsburgh, March 10th on the Approach, and Maine. Yes, all the way to Maine, baby!
The first day in the park, I decided to push on past the shelter at 20 miles because Spaceman and Rocket were camping ahead as well. Also, the bugs at that particular hut, as they call them in the SNP, were very bad. My friend, Pele (GAME '04) who introduced me to long distance hiking 5 years ago, thinks that bugs are my biggest enemy on the trail. She thinks they are the real reason I've gotten off in the past. She'll be glad to know that I'm still hiking even though they are in full blood-sucking effect. Turns out, pushing on was a great idea. Red Rider who is slack packing Indiana Jones through the park, offered us a ride back to the Grace Lutheran Hostel where they were having free spaghetti dinner. He said he would drive us back in the morning, so I hopped in the car. Yeah! The dinner was great and the cheescake made by one of the older parishoners was FANTASTIC!
On the way back to the trail in the morning, a bobcat ran across Skyland Drive in front of us. When it got to the other side it stopped turned back and looked at us. It was a good start to the day. The weather remained nice with only a little sprinkling. I hiked most of the day with Indian Jones. The AT has turned into Cayenne's Trail of Wayward Boys because not a few days go by that I don't spend at least half a day listening to the life story of a twenty-something boy. Its really very sweet. I feel like big sister.
At Hightop Hut that night, I found a decent tent site even though it was pretty packed. As I was making dinner, I discovered that I was sharing the space with the Fatpackers. I just read an article in Backpacker Magazine about this guy that takes people on hikes to help them lose weight, and here he was sitting next to me at the picnic table. Apparently, he charges each of them $1700 to go hiking through the SNP. This does not include airfare. Could not believe it. I gotta get into that racket.
I spent the next day hiking by myself. It was a nice change. I wish I could say that the sights were amazing but I find the park to be just so-so. It is not my favorite part of Virginia. It is, however, a favorite tourist spot for many. I know this because the waysides are full non-hiking visitors. The park has many waysides and restaurants that serve food, so one can imagine that this is why some thru-hikers have fond memories of the place. On this day, I had dinner at the tavern at Big Meadows. I'm used to people staring at me, but they were really looking at me like an alien that day. I was the only sweaty hiker in there at the moment. Didn't stop me from eating a giant plate of nachos and an order of fries. Not it did not. That night, I hiked on to the campground and found some fellow thru-hikers to share a tent site with.
I woke up a little later the next morning. I had a breakfast of probars with Hansel and Gretel, the brother/sister team that let me share a site with them. While we were eating our trail food, the neighbors at the campground were making bacon. Torture. Is this becoming a food blog? Also, campgrounds are so noisy. People were up so late. Like 11pm. I had to listen to a couple who were about my age ask each other over and over again about the status of their son's bowels. "Did he poop yet, honey?" "Do you know, did he poop?" Jeesh.
The Skyland Resort was calling me that day, and I arrived just in time for lunch. When I got there, I ran into so many guys that I had met before: Disco, 6 string, Bean Pole, Dayman, and Mean Gene. It was really nice to see them all again. I was afraid that I'd be meeting only new people. After lunch, I hiked on to Pass Mountain Hut where Evergreen and Bum Knee were already set up for the evening. Even more friends I already knew. I assumed they all went to trail days, but none of them had. They just had a more relaxed schedule.
The next night, I camped with some of these boys at Compton Spring. Disco and 6 string played a little music and we enjoyed the evening until late night when it stormed and stormed. The rain was pretty heavy, it actually bounced into my tent a bit, but I stayed dry enough, and the next day I found myself in Front Royal where I did the hiker ghetto dry-athon where you string all your wet stuff all over the place to let it air out. So classy.
All right ya'll. Next time you hear from me, I'll be past 1,000 miles.
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