Day 71-14 Miles Today from Gravel Springs Shelter to Mountain Home Hostel- 2,200 feet up to 3,700 feet from below in total 1,048 a miles
Lullaby of Rain
I slept very well in shelter last night while the rain jet was heading on the tin roof throughout the night. Milkbone and Coolwhip were already in the shelter when I arrived. Threads and Viking joined us a little later.
Feeling very good this morning when he appeared in some dead songs and goes to the way. I’m going to do a few roads by road because the views of the path are tarnished.
It is still wet with low clouds. You can’t see much about views. It is a quiet Monday at 7:00 am with very few people. For a long time, only one car happened to me.
The rain does not depose me
Although it is a sad day, I am really quite optimistic. The last days have been wet and miserable, but at least it has not been too cold. The views have been non -existent.
The paths have been good for the most part. They are quite soft with only a few rocals in some sections. I guess when the CCC built the AT, they really had a good path of soft land. You can see the retention walls.
Perhaps it is the fact that I am on the other side of the Shennies or it is very likely that it is the fact that I go to a shelter for a Nearo tonight. I can wash all my unpleasant clothes. Wash my unpleasant body and dry everything. I know that I carry an additional pound of water weight with my soaked tent and everything that is wet at this time on my back.
Freedom!
Last night we were talking about the freedom that the Sender of the Appalaches gives to a person. Many times we do not have access to the Internet, so sometimes we have no idea what is happening in the world. Politics really doesn’t matter, what is happening in the world really doesn’t matter. We are isolated from these distractions.
There is also freedom just by having a small amount of possessions that are taken to their backs. I can give an inventory of everything that is in my backpack at this time. It is such a small number of articles. There is something very relaxing in purging things that we believe are important in life.
Every day I packed all my possessions, I put them on my back and leave the place I called home during the last 12 hours or so. Then with all my necessary possessions on my back, walk to the next place that will return home. Freedom.
Planning
My goal is now to close the gap between where I am now and Pawling New York, where we started our walk last year. As soon as Knockerz returns, we will start where we stopped our flip flop last year at Great Barrington Massachusetts and then we headed north. That will leave any section that does not complete here and dwarf. At least that is the plan and one thing that I know with certainty after a thousand miles on this path is like God, if you want to make God laugh, tell your plans.
If you want to laugh at AT, make plans beyond today. The plans never seem to solve the way he planned them, but they always work. I guess this is another life lesson to reflect. Planning is good to give it a general direction, but ultimately, you must follow the current. Along the way all kinds of things happen that return you from your plans. Similar to life. But your backpackfalls and start a new day whenever they have given you another day every morning.
Virginia is flat
The path from Compton Gap was almost completely flat by miles. This is one of the flattest lands I’ve seen in a long time. I know that I will finally make many curves today to eliminate the elevation of the Shennies.
The crowd
I have been walking alone and I have not seen anyone when I suddenly went up to a column of 75 older people who marched along the way. I took the step to the side and greeted each one. I went from seeing anyone on the way to all the sudden seeing 75 people at the same time!
On the limit of the park, the path took a descent very steep by a rock struggle. It was slow, but there were many places to put your feet.
Old trees
Then, the path became a bit of the jungle with many trees hanging on the path. Of course, all those extremities of the trees were covered with water that threw me every time I got into them.
After the rock fight, here were some extremely large trees that would be present for many miles to come.
The path continued to wander through a forest with very large trees that include some large trees. Old trees always have sizes sometimes with a 100 -year -old appointment.
Government land
Finally I arrived at a surrounding area that knew it was the land of the government I had seen in YouTube videos. It is a large extension of earth with a near 8 feet triple height of covered spikes. The views were in a valley with mountains rolling in the distance. Multiple red roof buildings make it look like I have entered a Spanish town.
Welcome home
I will be in the shelter shortly. It’s just 12:30, so I will have a lot of time to dry, do my tasks to return to the early path tomorrow. At least that’s what I thought.
The B&B mountain house is right on the path. It is a great old house dating from 1800. The main house had a hiker box that I attacked first. I was able to get a good part of my upcoming refueling needs of the box.
One of the Lisa owners greeted me. They had a lot of cheeses who had obtained from the supply of surplus foods that were normally donated to the center for older people but had excess. I enjoyed a great delicious cheese slice that looks like a piece of cake. She also gave me some bread ends to make cheese sandwiches.
I sat on the porch enjoying the peace and tranquility of the garden eating cheese and drinking dark coffee.
The other owner Scott took us to Front Royal, which was a super cute city. We ate at the Thai restaurant. Then I went to the grocery store. Because I used the road restaurants in the Shennies, I did not need too much refueling food. By the time we returned, they were the late 8:00 ISH and had much more to do.
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