Starting Shenandoah National Park – The Trek

After spending the last four days in Damascus for Trail Days, getting back into the swing of hiking was going to be difficult. We woke up at the Quality Inn in Waynesboro, packed our bags and had breakfast. Our shuttle driver picked us up and took us to the trailhead. Today we were starting the Shenandoahs! It was exciting and surreal. We’re almost out of Virginia! It’s hard to believe we’ve come this far.

Hot days ahead

It was going to be a warm day in the low to mid 80s. Cody woke up with a cold that he probably caught during the days of hiking, so he was dragging around a bit. At the end of the day, a cold is 100 times better than norovirus, so we consider ourselves lucky.

Get news about Turk

Several miles down the road we received a call from Cody’s mom and dad. Turkenna’s vet appointment was this morning and then they called us to give us an update. After Turk went off the trail in Pearisburg, we talked about whether or not he should get back on the trail. The Pearisburg veterinarian believed Turk might have a major ligament injury. And without rest and reassessment you might need surgery. We left that conversation with the agreement that unless we had good news about her follow-up appointment, we would probably leave her at home as a reminder of the walk. We are lucky to have a family who is able and willing to care for her while we pursue this adventure.

To our surprise, when my parents called to tell them, they had incredible news! Our vet did a complete evaluation of Turkenna and found nothing wrong. She believes he most likely tore a muscle in his leg and is now recommending that Turk take a few more weeks off to rest. He also said that, from his point of view, there is no reason why he can’t get back on the court after this rest period. This was amazing news that came as a big surprise. Our family said they would be willing to drop Turk off to us after the prescribed rest. The prospect of getting Turk back took us by surprise. We needed time to think about what was best for Turk and us, so we told our family that we would have an answer tomorrow.

Magical trails and useful camping

With the day getting hotter we continued along the trail. With the lack of water sources in this section, the heat was hitting us hard. After a road junction, we passed through a much needed magical trail. Someone had left a couple gallons of water for hikers on this long dry section of trail. Grateful, we filled a couple of bottles and continued transporting.

Arriving at the shelter was like a triumph in itself. There were several familiar faces waiting for us at the shelter. We were warned that there was also a copperhead living in a hole just outside the shelter. We decided to pitch our tent and stay away from the poisonous snake. After setting up camp and having dinner we headed to bed. It wasn’t long before we passed out after our heads hit our inflatable pillows.

sleeping in

We slept until 8 in the morning the next day. It was much needed after the long, hot hike we had the day before. We had a quiet morning filtering water and having breakfast. We hit the road around 9am and had a few miles before our first drive into Shenandoah. It was going to be another hot day and we were looking forward to stopping and taking a break with some air conditioning.

What are the roads?

In Shenandoahs there are trails throughout the park. These trails are great places for a little resupply or a hot meal. It gives us something to look forward to as we walk through the park. Around lunchtime we had reached the roadside of Loft Mtn. We stopped, grabbed a couple of burgers, and split a Shenandoah favorite, a blackberry shake. It was nice to get out of the sun and into the air conditioning. We also got to see a hiker we first met in Georgia, Jerzy. It was so surreal to see Jerzy again. We didn’t know if he had gone off the road or ahead of us. We celebrated the kilometers we had conquered with it and then we returned to the road.

900 miles

It wasn’t long into the hike and we reached the 900 mile marker. These mile markers give us a lot of hope and motivation to keep moving forward. And the fact that the next mile marker is 1000 makes it even more exciting.

We stopped at a ranger station for dinner and then kept moving. It was getting dark and we needed to find a place to camp. We found a nice flat spot with some other hikers and settled in for the night. We watched the sunset one last time and headed to bed. Another day in the books!

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