Date: 2004-05-13
From: Rock Spring Hut, VA

To: Day 56: Elkwallow Gap, VA
Miles today: 22.9

On AT Day 56 I once again got up at 3:50 a.m., but since I had to deal with my tent I was not able to get on the trail until 6:05 a.m. The hike began with the temperatures in the 60-degree range under partly cloudy skies, but by 11:30 a.m. it had warmed to nearly 75-degrees and a brief rainstorm drenched me. Around the 9-mile point, I stopped for a snack and water (from a faucet!) at the Pinnacles Picnic Ground where I met a NOBO section hiker named Lucky Star. This 60-ish female was from OK and she was using one of the picnic shelters to dry the clothes she was rinsing out. We had a nice chat while I rested and drank and then I left her to finish her laundry while I set about climbing the remainder of Pinnacle mountain (3,730 feet) where I stopped and ate lunch at a particularly nice rocky overlook. During this brief break I was surprised to be interrupted by Lucky Star and shortly thereafter three young teenage boy day hikers. Four miles later, after enduring a brief but significant rain shower, I caught up with Lucky Star at Thorton Gap (she had not stopped to cover her pack or put on her rain-gear, tough women!) where we were both surprised and disappointed to find the Panorama restaurant closed until May 27. Despite not being able to buy soft drinks or other ¢real food,¢ we decided to sit on the low rock wall in the shade at the restaurant and eat our lunch while our wet clothes dried in the breeze.During this break a car pulled up and to my surprise the person who got out knew who I was, he also assumed that Lucky Star was my wife, Hot Chocolate. It turns out that he and I had met two months before as I entered the Double Spring Shelter in GA during a particularly heavy snowstorm. Not only did he remember my name, a feat which I am embarrassed to say I can¢t reciprocate, but he called me ¢Wrong Way FireBall,¢ in honor of my misadventure on that snowy evening in GA when I left the shelter and turned the wrong way and ended up re-climbing Mount Albert until the summit fire tower alerted me to my error and forced me to turn around and return to the safety of the shelter for the evening. At the time I knew my admission of this error was going to be a source of amusement to other hikers and my Wrong Way FireBall greeting confirmed this prediction. As was the case in GA, this fellow was there to help out his friend, Northern Harrier (the same guy who warned all of us about the poison ivy a few days earlier) who he was expecting to arrive at any moment. Unfortunately, as much as I would have liked to sit and chat with these nice folks, I told them that I had to be on my way since I wanted to put in as much mileage as possible this day so that I could be assured of getting to the Front Royal pick-up spot tomorrow early enough for my wife and I to be able to find each other, let alone get something to eat before darkness.This section of the SNP AT does not have many shelters (and thus, guaranteed water sources) so I was targeting a total hike for the day of around 23 miles to a spot just north of Elkwallow Gap, where I hoped to find water at the National Park Service run way station. I was pleased that in contrast to the previous three days, my energy level seemed to be improving, my feet didn¢t hurt as much and as such I was able to really ¢kick-it-into-gear¢ and cover the required distance with time to spare. Better yet, just before I reached Elkwallow Gap I was pleased to see that the AT crosses a small stream where I was able to easily gather enough water for dinner and tomorrow morning¢s breakfast. Given this good fortune, I didn¢t stop when I got to the turn-off for the SNP facility, rather I continued along the trail for another half mile or so and found a lovely spot in the woods to camp.One highlight of this evening was, given the clear danger from hungry bears (many of the other hikers had spotted mother cub groups and I had certainly seen their scat on the trail), I was forced ¢ for the first time ever ¢ to try my luck at hanging my food bags from a tree. I certainly hope that I don¢t jinx myself for saying this, but with the exception of the challenges of untangling the wad my rope had become in my pack, I was pleased to find that this fundamental backcountry skill was surprisingly easy to accomplish (I took pictures to commemorate the experience!). Shortly after successfully hanging my food, my campsite was visited by a pair of extremely large deer who paid little attention to my presence, my eating and my picture taking. The only thing bad about this campsite was the bugs, but I knew at the time that learning how to deal with these critters while setting up camp, eating, etc. was a skill that I was going to have to practice since it was only going to get worse as my hike to Maine continued.