May 25 - Central Virginia

DAY #70
START LOCATION: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Rockfish Gap/Waynesboro, VA
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 5.0
TRIP MILEAGE: 853.1
MILES TO GO: 1,326.0

I set a record for my camp breaking time... I was on the trail by
6:30AM. It was a soupy morning at the P-Dub. We trudged through some
mud and muck from the shelter through a dense rainforest to Rockfish.
It was all good... It was town time. I arrived at Rockfish and there
was Saguaro, my fellow March 2 starter heading back onto the trail. He
was beig dropped off by a trail angel that immediately offered me a
ride into Waynesboro. What timing, as it was starting to rain heavily.
My fellow shelterers arrived within minutes and we all piled in.

Our first stop... Food, of course. What else? We had a delicious
breakfast at Weasy's Kitchen where I had a full French toast breakfast
and a free glass of chocolate milk. Fantastic.

We all hit up the laundromat across the street and got all that wet
stuff clean and dry. I have never been so thankful for a laundering in
my life. I was able to relace my boots while I was there... Not bad.
My stock laces lasted 853 miles.

Red Kelty, SpringKat and I split a very spacious hotel room at the
QUality Inn. We cleaned up ran all over town and did our resupply
errands and did more of you guessed it, eating!

The feedig frenzy was capped by the best Chinese buffet I've ever had
at the Ming Garden. Thru hikers note: definitely eat here! The spread
was gigantic and it was cycled out very quickly. We gorged.

We will be hitting the outfitter on the way out of town as the boys
have a few gear issues to fix. Me? My gear is good... I just need a
backup fuel canister. I'm so excited for the Shenandoahs. I've been
guaranteed I'll see another bear. How's that for a jinx? It'll be
great regardless. I can smell the halfway point! It's less than 2
weeks away!

I'm also excited I'll be seeing my buddy Smokestack again. He's going
to rejoin me somewhere near the back of the Shenandoahs in a few days.
It'll be great to have him back out there.

-natedog