Day #73 - 78

June 1 – June 7

Miles Hiked: 891.7

Miles to Katahdin: 1293.6

We made it up and over The Priest on June 1! I’ve been dreading that mountain for a while because the descent on the other side leads down to Cripple Creek. That name makes me cringe and I have been envisioning being crippled by the time I reached the bottom. My knees don’t love downhills, but this wasn’t so bad and we got some great views.

We’ve really lucked out on the weather so far. We haven’t had many crazy storms and the temperature has been pretty tolerable. Last year they had a ton of rain which is no fun to hike in, especially for days on end. In those cases, your stuff never dries and starts to smell terrible.

There have been a lot of rocks to traverse lately. I almost did the splits when I slipped on a root. It doesn’t count as a fall if your butt doesn’t touch though! I haven’t fallen yet! Knock on wood!

We reached Waynesboro, VA on June 3. When we reached town, we grabbed some delicious hot dogs from a trailer near the road before calling a list of trail angels to get a ride to our hotel. A woman who goes by Miss Lady picked us up and gave us a tour of town before taking us to our hotel. Waynesboro is incredibly hiker friendly and you can get a ride pretty much anywhere.

I was able to wash my pack in the hotel bathtub. It is/was disgusting! I scrubbed it with some Camp Suds in warm water and was able to get a bunch of dirt and grime off, but it still smells pretty nasty. At least washing it should help a little. I put it outside to dry in the sun and was shocked at how fast the water drained and the pack dried. I’ll definitely need to wash it again before the trip is over.

On June 4 I spent a few hours at the local library updating my blog. I had fallen really far behind but made some good progress. I was also able to call my sister to wish her a happy birthday. I was craving Arby’s for dinner so a group of us headed that way. True Story and Wiki met us there. It was so good to see them! Our group is finally staring to join back up again. We walked back to the hotel in the pouring rain. Luckily, Bluebird and I had the forethought to bring our rain jackets to dinner. The rest of the group joked about making a Chinese dragon out of their tent flies and using that to keep dry on the trek back to the hotel. I would have loved to see that!

We stopped by the Chinese buffet on our way out of Waynesboro on June 5. A fellow hiker’s fiancé joined us for lunch. Someone burped and another hiker said “Hey guys! There’s a lady in our presence!” referring to the fiancé. I said, “Hey, what are Bluebird, Simba and I then?” I guess female hikers aren’t considered ladies.  

We made it to the Shenandoahs on June 5. We each had to register when we entered the park and carry a permit on our packs. No one ever checked them, but at least we can say we followed the rules. I used my first bear pole today. It’s a tall metal pole with hooks arranged around the top. You use another pole to hoist your food bag onto one of the hooks. I did it on the first shot! It can be tricky because you can’t really see the hooks well and food bags can weigh around eight pounds. At the end of a long pole extended over your head, that weight can get tricky to manage. True Story said it’s like playing a carnival game. Everyone watches you and laughs. Definitely true!

On June 6 I arrived at the shelter we planned to sleep at early in the day. The terrain in the Shenandoahs is really easy, so I did 13 miles by 2:00. I had to shoo a doe off the trail because she wouldn’t get out of my way. The deer in the Shenandoahs are very used to humans and don’t run off when you approach. It’s great for wildlife sightings but not so great for the safety of the animals.

I was flipping through the shelter register and noticed that someone named Plan B on the AT said they had left a dozen four-leaf clovers in the back of the book. I checked and they were still there! I grabbed one and have been carrying it in my journal ever since. I’ve spent my whole life looking for a four-leaf clover and have never had any luck finding one. I can’t believe he (or she) found so many! Soon after I put the clover in my journal, two trail angels named T-squared and Mama Bear showed up at the shelter. They pulled cold beers and soda, apples, and candy bars out of their day pack and put them on the picnic table. It’s amazing how fast that clover worked! They also left a sign saying they would be cooking hot dogs for hikers the next day at a campsite a few miles away. Double trail magic! T-squared and Mama Bear’s son hiked the AT a few years ago and is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) now. They are doing trail magic as a way to repay some of the kindness he has received. So awesome!

The night of June 6 a whippoorwill kept me up most of the night. I consider myself an animal person, but I would have gladly paid someone to shoot this thing down. Whippoorwills tend to start calling as soon as the sun sets and continue loudly throughout the evening. It’s like a rooster crowing just outside of your tent. They definitely are NOT a favorite of thru-hikers.

I hiked part of the day with a guy named Thor the Red. He’s around my age and studied political science and public policy and has a master’s degree. I think people would be surprised at how well educated many of the hikers are out here. It’s not a bunch of reject hobos. Just a group of people that decided to break away from the “norm.”

We stopped at a camp store today where True Story tried to buy three cans of beer. The cashier told him it was a two drink maximum so he had to put one back. Muffin Man purchased a 6-pack, which counted as one drink, so he had no problem.  True Story was less than pleased.