Day 59 – Easy hookups

I woke up early this morning getting ready to get back on the trail at a decent time. With the magic of yesterday’s trail, I now have enough food and snacks to not have to stop in Waynesboro today and will instead hike to Shenandoah National Park. With the plan to walk part of the day tomorrow as well and then return to Waynesboro to rent my car for the walking days.

The best part about waking up is… Everything!

Overall it was a great morning. This morning I had a real bathroom at my disposal, a picnic table for breakfast, and sunny skies. Sir Pissalot and I (yes, that’s the actual name of the trail), hit the road and stuck out our thumbs to hitchhike back to the trail. Within 2 minutes an older lady stopped and picked us up. He had to rearrange some things in his car, but he left room for us and our backpacks. He actually hiked the trail in 1995, lived just down the road, and was happy to take us back to the trail. Shout peanuts!

Then back on the trail, as we were heading back to the trail, a guy stopped and asked us if we were hikers and offered us Gatorade, candy, and chips. A quick hitch and a magical trail at 8am, what a morning!

Unfortunately, after an easy first mile, the trail was pretty tedious most of the morning. Lots of stones…

Apollo Creed wouldn’t stand a chance…

I guess at least the terrain was flat, so that’s something. After a few kilometers of rocks, I enjoyed a nice view and took a break there. Before I even hit 6 miles on the day, I was back on the same type Trail Magic as before. He apparently drove away from the parking lot and toward this road junction to minimize the number of day hikers and maximize the number of day hikers he received. After that I had a pretty steady climb for about 5 miles, which wasn’t too steep for the duration. At the top I had a quick lunch and again enjoyed some views.

rockfish gap

The rest of the day, the trail mostly descended as I headed to Rockfish Gap outside of Waynesboro. Along the path there were many stones stacked, forming a kind of wall. It looks like they probably did it quite a long time ago, maybe the first farmers to use it as a fence?

There were a couple of frustrating sections in the early afternoon that were pretty rocky and technical, but after that much of the trail was pretty decent and involved a lot of moderate switchbacks, which was awesome.

Clubber Lang wouldn’t stand a chance…

During this time we received some light sparks, which were not heavy. Especially when it was forecast to rain heavier this afternoon. Not to mention it’s a million times better than the rain a couple of days ago. The last few kilometers went by quite well and quickly. As I came out of the woods at Rockfish Gap, I noticed that the popcorn stand just down the road looked open. So I headed there, joined Navigator soon after, and ordered a couple of hot dogs, an ice-cold Cherry Coke, and a bag of popcorn. A good way to (almost) end the day!

After eating, Navigator and I headed back to the trail. Which consisted of a short walk along the horizon path before diving back into the forest. We continued until we found manageable tent sites on the outskirts of Shenandoah National Park. I set up my tent and got settled just in time for a few storms to pass through.

Statistics for day 59:

21.1 miles

3,606′ ascent, 3,783′ descent

Reid’s breakthrough to the stealth site

5DSLC…

Stove use times: 10

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