Tuesday:
AT Miles = 21.5 / 881.0
Other Miles = 1.7 / 33.1
Total Miles = 23.2 / 914.1
Wednesday:
AT Miles = 21.3 / 902.3
Other Miles = 0.6 / 33.7
Total Miles = 21.9 / 935.0
Sorry for doing the double entry thing to you again. I was really tired last night and the plaqce I was camped didn't lend itself to keyboarding.
On Monday night I was figuring I would hold myself to the 13 miles to the next shelter on Tuesday, but it seems I got my hiking legs back and I was cruising up the trail Tuesday morning. I was at Blackrock Hut (all the shelters in Shenandoah are called huts for some reason) at 12:30. That was very early, and it wasn't a particularly pleasant location. Also, I looked in my book and saw that Loft Mountain Campground, a drive-in campground, was only 7 trail miles away. The weather was hot and muggy and the camp store has cold drinks and junk food. Reason enough to keep hiking!
So I hiked on and arrived at the camp store about 3:30. A soda, some junk food, a shower, and a beer, and next thing I knew it was quarter to five. According to my guide book the Loft Mountain Wayside, about a mile and a half by trail from the campground, closed at 5:30. I desperately wanted to go there and get a bacon cheeseburger, so I took off at top speed and got there before 5:30. Needn't have worried, as they actually don't close until 7:00PM. So I relaxed in the air conditioned snack bar and had a bacon cheeseburger, a BLT, and a chocolate milkshake. I also spent some time chatting with another thru-hiker, Slag Line. Finally, I filled my water bottles and headed back up the very steep half mile side trail that connects to the AT. I hiked a short distance north on the AT and passed the spot from which I took the picture in yesterday's blog entry. It was beautiful with the setting sun in the west and I searched out a spot just down the trail which was just big enough to squeeze
my hammock and tarp into.
Sometime around midnight I woke up to the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder. The wind poicked up and had the trees my hammock was hung from swaying in different directions. It was quite a ride as my hammock bounced up and down and twisted this way and that. All that fury, and only about a half dozen big fat rain drops on my tarp.
I looked at my book last night and discovered that the Big Meadow Lodge was only 23 or 24 miles away, and decided that if I could I would get a room there for Thursday night. This morning I tgried calling the resrervation number a bit after eight, when I was at a place that had decent cell service. Well, the service is somewhere out west and is open at 8:00Am mountain time. Damn!
so I hiked on and around 11:00, when I was at an overlook on Little Roundtop Mountain, I called and got a reservation. Score! I am all hot and sweaty and sticky now, but tomorrow night I will be living in the lap of luxury and enjoying it for all it is worth.
Right now I am sitting at a picnic table in a picnic area that is a tenth of a mile off the AT. It is almost 4:30 and I have hiked a bit over 19 miles so far today. My plan is to relax here for a bit, cook my dinner (since there is water here), clean up a bit, then finally fill my water bottles, head back to the AT, and hike a couple more miles up Baldface Mountain and find a place to hang my hammock for the night.
From here it is 13.8 miles to the trail that leads from the AT to the Big Meadow Lodge. If I hike a couple miles tonight and cut that down to 12 or less, I can easily make it to Big Meadow before noon tomorrow. Hopefully my room will be ready and I can check in and take a shower before heading to the dining room to eat lunch, but if the room isn't ready my stinky self will be in that dining room anyway.
I have just a couple of chores for the afternoon; laundry and a small bit of food resupply. The rest of the afternoon and evening is to be spent enjoying some good food and drink and hopefully taking in the advertised live entertainment in the lounge in the evening. Yeah, this hiking thing is tough!
Well, there are thunder storms moving through the area right now. I hope I don't get dumped on until after I cook and eat my dinner, and ideally not until I've got myself set up someplace for the night. Please, just a few more hours!
Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com
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