6/13/08

Got up early and walked the last 8 miles into Rockfish Gap. Rockfish Gap is a major transit point – a US highway, an interstate and a railroad all cross the Blue Ridge Mountains here. It’s also where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends, and the Skyline Drive begins, and also the southern end of Shenandoah National Park. For all of that, it’s pretty underwhelming – one hotel and a few empty storefronts. But there is also a small office offering “tourist information,” and this is the door to the wonderful town of Waynesboro.

Waynesboro rivals Damascus as the most hiker friendly place on the trail. When you reach the tourist information center, you just tell them you’re a hiker, and they start making calls for you. There is a list of people in Waynesboro, most retirees, who are willing to be called up whenever a hiker needs a ride down to town from the gap (or back up, for that matter).

Twenty minutes after I arrive, I have a ride into town. And Tom doesn’t just dump me downtown – he gives me a tour, gives suggestions on where to eat, and tells me about the prominent role soap – box derby racing plays in the community. (There is an annual race down Main St. One local boy won a nationals championship, a feat that earned him a monument in the city park.

I spend the afternoon ransacking a Chinese buffet, and then hit the internet at the excellent public library before checking into the Lutheran Church. Grace Lutheran runs a free hostel in their church basement during thru-hiking season. A/C, cots, fridge, microwave, TV, internet, showers, pretty much all any hiker could ask for except laundry – and there’s a Laundromat not far away.

6/14/08

Zero day in Waynesboro. Ran a couple errands in the AM, then spend all afternoon in the public library, reading and staying off the burned foot.

I was hoping my repaired hammock would have arrived today, but it has not. And since tomorrow is Sunday, it looks like I’ll be in Waynesboro until Monday. Given the foot, that probably isn’t the worst thing.

6/15/08

Another zero day. Attend church in the AM, but since the hostel isn’t open on Sundays, I need to find a new place to stay. Thoughtfoot and I agree to split a motel room at a place 2 miles out of town. Halfway there we stop for lunch at a Burger King, and a guy sees our packs and offers to take us the rest of the way. Score another one for the kind folks of Waynesboro.
Later, Thoughfoot manages to look up with some other hikers who are heading out to see Indiana Jones. I’m tempted, but instead I opt to spend the whole day off the foot, reading and watching AMC’s Clint Eastwood Marathon.

6/16/08

At 8:30am, Thoughtfoot and I get picked up at the motel – by the same guy who dropped us off yesterday. When we say we haven’t eaten breakfast, he takes us to Weasie’s, the local diner for breakfast – his treat. Again, you can’t beat Waynesboro for friendly locals eager to help hikers.

There is good news and bad news today. The good news is that with some time to kill, I stop over at the outfitters and get myself some new shoes. The boos I’d hiked in since Springer need some repairs, and the spare pair I’ve had send to me are, I now realize, very, very heavy – much heavier than I will need anytime soon. So the outfitter hooks me up with some low – cut hiking shoes – they look like sneakers – that are wonderfully comfortable. Of course it helps that they are half a size bigger, accounting for the fact that my feet have swollen after 800 miles.

The bad news is that my hammock still hasn’t arrived. The really bad news is that due to a miscommunication, he hasn’t even mailed it. Since I’m at going to stay in Waynesboro for another three days, I’ll have to have it sent to Elkton, a town 45 miles up the trail that I otherwise wouldn’t have needed to go to.

All is not lost, though. It still goes down as another zero day spent resting the foot, even though I did walk a couple miles around town doing various errands, and it doesn’t feel too bad in the new shoes.

6/17/08

Thoughtfoot and I got out of town in the morning (thanks again to the volunteer shuttle drivers of Waynesboro), and do a fairly easy 8 miles by mid-afternoon. As always, the first day after a layoff is hard, but the trail in Shenandoah is so well graded that I’m still making decent time. The foot hurts, but I knew it would, and the easy trail makes it tolerable.

Thought about doing more today, but decided to camp at Calf Mtn. Shelter with Butterfly Moon, Firesocks, August, Poppins – Thoughtfoot.

6/18/08

13 miles today, some of it spent walking on Skyline Drive. The road offers some pluses and minuses in comparison to the trail-the pluses are that it’s wonderfully level, which is nice for my bad foot, and that its slightly straighter. The downsides are that walking on asphalt is hard on the feet, ankle, and knees after a whole day, and that the road has a lot less shade than the trail. The road is also actually a much prettier walk, what with nice views of the valleys every mile or so – the trail is mostly a long green tunnel, with trees and underbrush surrounding you and taking away the views. In any event, since the AT and the Skyline Drive cross every mile or two, I end up switching between one and the other all day.

Spend the night at Blackrock Hut, a shelter overrun with 20 + hikers. They are here because of Bojangles. Bojangles is a thru-hiker who dropped out a few weeks ago after 700 miles. After enjoying the comforts of home for a week or so, he missed the camaraderie, and so is out here in his pickup dispersing Trail Magic. It’s an amazing thing, but when free food, Gatorade and beer are being offered, hikers just seem to come out of the woodwork.

6/19/08

Hard day. As before, the foot starts hurting more after a few day’s walking on it.

Highlight of the day was making it to the first wayside in Shenandoah. Part of what makes hiking here so comparatively easy is the waysides = basically the equivalent of interstate rest stops, with burgers and sandwiches – as well as having showers and laundry. (Much too expensive to actually camp at the campgrounds, though) Sitting down to a chicken sandwich, fries and a blackberry shake in the middle of the hiking day is a real treat, believe me.

I do 17 miles today before stealth camping in a spot that is probably against SNP rules. I’m really just too tired to go much further. By the end of the day, my foot is screaming, and it takes half a vicodin to fall asleep. Just as frustrating is the way the pain is wearing on me. When I’m walking, especially on nice flat sections, the pain isn’t too bad – about like having a pebble in the shoe. But having that pebble in their every step all day long is exhausting. And when I stop, it hurts worse.

Shenandoah is supposed to be the easiest part of the entire 2175. Nice level paths, and easy re-supply, all before the heat gets really bad. It’s where I was told that even a putz like me can do 20-mile days.

Instead, I’m pretty much grimly slogging on, behind schedule and wanting to make time, but with a foot that makes me want to cry if I go much over 12 miles a day.

8 miles in to Elkton tomorrow to pick up the hammock, then hopefully back to do some more before dark. May even cross the 900-mile marker. Of course, the other way of looking at it is that it’s the 1375-mile to go marker.