May 26 - Central VA/Shenandoah NP

DAY #71
START LOCATION: Rockfish Gap/Waynesboro, VA
FINISH LOCATION: Blackrock Hut
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 20.0
TRIP MILEAGE: 872.1
MILES TO GO: 1,306.0

I slept heavily in the hotel room and I wanted to keep sleeping. But,
Red Kelty, SpringKat and I had lots to do. I was up by 6:45. We had to
eat, repack, blog, return some phone calls, settle the room and hit up
the outfitter. This was all in an effort to hit the trail by 10AM.

We saw a trail angel outside the Quality Inn and he offered to give us
a ride to the Rockfish Gap Outfitter. I really didn't need anything
but I got sucked in nonetheless. I only intended to buy a backup fuel
canister, but I ended up buying bug juice, a pair of socks, sock
liners and the fuel. An employee of the outfitter would give us a ride
back to Rockfish Gap. As we loaded up his pickup truck I had a
problem... My water bottle, where was it? I looked all over the
outfitters front porch. Nothing. I thought back to the trail angel
that gave us the ride to the outfitter... I never took it out. Well,
what a place to lose a Nalgene bottle... In front of a place that
sells Nalgene bottles. I'm about 4 minutes I went from losing my water
bottle to having the replacement.

We got dropped off at 10:45AM, a bit behind schedule. There were other
hikers gathering there that had neroed or zeroed in Waynesboro and it
was a bit of a reunion. It turned into a bit of a social event. We
chatted it up, had a few laughs and all reluctantly pushed into the
woods by 11:30.

I hiked with a duo that I'd met a few days before... Menno and Mexico.
They were a very engaging couple guys and we talked lots as we hiked
the 7 miles to the last shelter immediately before Shenandoah National
Park. Their pace was perfect for me too, so we stuck together.

At the Calf Mtn Shelter we stopped for a late lunch... Like 3PM late.
We decided we'd push the remaining 13 miles to Blackrock Hut as
planned with the hope we'd make it before dark. I went to use the
privy and saw one o the largest spiders I've ever seen. It wasn't as
big as a tarantula but it's body was as large as my index finger digit
and it's legs were long enough that he spanned the width of the toilet
seat he sat on. We locked eyes, and he crawled down into the hole.
That was it. I'll hold it. Now, i don't wuss out with bugs or spiders
too often. But this thing did it. I was skeeved out.

Menno, Mexico and I pushed hard. It was humid and hot when the sun
shown through, but since it was later in the afternoon, it wasn't
getting worse. We had some very spirited conversations that helped us
pass the relatively uneventful miles. We passed a three groups of thru
hikers that decided to camp in lieu of pushing to the shelter. Two of
which hadn't planned for the lack of water in this stretch. So, the
three of us contributed some of our water to their cause. I doled out
just enough... I was just about empty when we rolled into Blackrock.

We arrived at 8:30PM... My latest arrival in camp yet. The shelter
wasn't full, but it was crowded. I wanted my own space. I tented
nearby. The sun was down fast and it got dark in a hurry. I got water,
set up the tent and ate my dinner by headlamp, serenaded by the
shelter snorers. It was 9:45 when I finished dinner.

I will be sleeping in late tomorrow. Another big mileage day planned.
Hoping to see a bear.

-natedog