The Shenandoah National Park

I have posted two entries so read the lower one first.

Fri 13 May Day 64
It is supposed to rain for the next ten days!! We are lucky that it hasn't started yet - tents were dry this morning. Great sleep in the tent, though it is always a pain having to pack up all your stuff.

We had arranged with a local trail angel (Tom Brown) to take us back to the trail at 8.15am. He has been doing this for 9 years and has met so many people. He had also visited NZ and said was the one place that he would like to take his wife to. I hope he gets to.

The cloud had set in by the time we started hiking - no rain really but walking through the mist. It was quite cool.

It was a long day - we did 20.7mi today. I am carrying a load of m&ms that High-five sent us in Waynsboro (thanks again for that High-five). They add a few pounds plus my feet had had enough by lunchtime. We reached the shelter (Black Rock Mountain) and it was full - but two nice section hikers kindly moved out and tented. It was greatly appreciated as it would have meant moving on and tenting somewhere further up the trail (to get ahead of the crowd).

Food done, blog updated, privy run to go, then a calf and foot massage.

Sat 14 May Day 65
Gee awake at 4am again - the two brothers that get up early did it again!! So inconsiderate. And they only ended up doing 13mi!!! At least they are not at this shelter tonight though.

Another day of misty cloud but nit enough to really get wet, just damp. First stop was a campground store - soda, beers, chips, ice-cream etc. Then on for another 14mi for a 21.4mi day.

As I was walking through the woods my attention was grabbed by 3 little bears running down the trail!! I stopped and stood still coz I couldn't see the mama bear. Two of the cubs raced up a tree and the other ran into the bushes. The mother then raced out of the other side. I would have been about 30m away and started to back up whole grabbing my camera out of my hip belt. I got two photos before they all came down the tree and headed into the woods. SO EXCITING!!!

I was buzzing for ages. My first bear siting.

The remaining miles flew by and the 21.4 was done in under 8hrs! But man my feet and legs are sore. Lucky tomorrow is a short day.

Sun 15 May Day 66
It rained, thundered and lightninged last night but it had stopped in the morning and we were underway by 8am. With only 11mi to do it was a quick day.

However, I was sore and it seemed like a tough time. The arrival of the campground at 12.20pm was appreciated- we dumped all our gear outside the camp store and ate food, did laundry and showered. It was great. Several hours passed while we waited for LEGO's sister to arrive (bringing trail magic food for us).

We were lucky to be able to use a cabin to set up the amazing selection of goodies - tortillas, avocado, tomatoes, chicken, cookies, sour cream, cookie dough, beer, wine, watermelon, and more. Before we had even started on this crazy amount if food, the lady next door came and offered us hamburger patties, pork chops(steaks), and pork tenderloin. They basically ended up cooking them for us and offered extra bread, condiments, pickles, lettuce etc to go with the burgers!!

We were all so full!!
At 7pm we left the campground and headed the .8mi to the shelter for the night. Crazy full.

Mon 16 May Day 67
Big day (22.7mi) today through to Byrds Nest #3 Shelter and it didn't go very well. My left shin is sore and I have had enough of my pack. It isn't fitting very well any more - the smaller hip belt that I got from LEGO keeps slipping and the internal frame padding has started to give up it's support so I'm carrying the weight on my shoulders again! Time for a new pack at Harpers Ferry (there goes the visa bill again) :(

It was a nice piece of the Shenandoahs but it's still cloudy so no view at all. I had pork steak sandwiches for lunch which were yum! Walking today was through light drizzle again.

Arrival at the shelter was appreciated but it was full (that's happening more often now). We have caught up with more hikers (Hazard, Malarky, Shepherd, Shoo-fly & Nero, Jukebox and Gray Wolf). There were two of us that set up on the floor but I ended up moving early on in the night as it rained a lot so I perched on the bench seat if a picnic table. It was as comfy as the floor and I slept and didn't get wet!

Tue 17 May Day 68
It was still raining when we got up this morning and it was a very unanticipated start to the day! Most of us had left by 8.30am and were heading to Elkwallow Wayside (which is a stop on the Skyline Drive with a store & grill). I managed to get to the 2.5mi mark of the morning and sprained my left ankle again!! I thought I would carry on but walked only another 200m and realized I couldn't do another 10mi. I am gutted - I had to walk up to a ranger station and got a ride with a guy going along the Skyline Drive. It is my first yellow blaze experience (missing part of the trail and skipping ahead). I have officially missed 24miles as I have decided to come through to a hostel and rest up for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I will try heading 4miles into a town called Front Royal for another nero. Fingers crossed the swelling reduces as quickly as last time.

- posted by enzed :)