Date: 2017-06-29
From: Reeds Gap/Devils Backbone Brewery

To: Paul Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: light rain

Day 58Thursday, June 29, 2017 Reeds Gap VA 664/Devils Backbone Brewpub (842.5) to Paul Wolfe Shleter (856.6)Miles:  14.1 miles in 7 hours with one break2017 AT trip miles: 856.6Total AT miles to date: 2143Weather: Partly sunny/overcast at times, warmer, 70sDinner: Mushroom Orzo Pasta and a protein barHikers: Tinker and Bell, Mama Bear and the three children, half a dozen in passingWildlife: Deer and a mink carrying a chipmunk And today is the last full day on the trail.Except for the constant sticky feeling, I slept great last night. Took advantage of the $5 hiker breakfast (eggs, potatoes, bacon, biscuit, fruit and coffee¢no beer), then bought a croissant, then a green smoothie¢while catching up on writing, reading emails that made me tear up and charging my devices¢until the free shuttle brought us back to the trailhead. It was warmer than yesterday¢of course not starting until 10:30 a.m. didn¢t help. I thought it was more humid too, until I realized my glasses were just filmy and hadn't been cleaned in some time.The trail would have been very annoying if it hadn't been for the fact that I'm almost done. At least the rhododendrons are mostly absent now. But much of the day was spent hiking over cobbles, boulders and assorted broken rocks. It was only toward the end, as the trail intersected with other park trails, ones accessible from nearby parking lots, that they became smoother. Coincidence? I think not. I saw the usual, now almost daily, deer sightings and what at first appeared to be a squirrel with a dead chipmunk in its mouth¢which would be odd, right? It got closer before bounding off over a log and was more weasel like. So perhaps a weasel or a mink. Squirrels and chippers typical cohabit peacefully. And squirrels are not carnivorous¢unless something has gone terribly wrong in these Virginian forests.Sounds of mundane life can be heard all the way from up high¢dogs barking, someone mowing their lawn. Tomorrow I'll be back down there, a part of that life again. I look out one final time over the waves of rolling ridge lines toward the Shenandoahs, goosebumps rising, a lump forming in my throat. I know I've hiked all the way from Georgia to be here. I listened to all of my Bruce Cockburn songs including sources of these nostalgia:- All The Diamonds In The World, the first Bruce Cockburn song I discovered and one which I'd frequently requested to be played by my college radio station disc jockey husband - Wondering Where The Lions Are, one of my theme songs from my 2011 NFCT thru-paddle trip- Last Night of the World, the first song of a concert Sam, I and our son Kagan attended in Madison a few years back, on a night in May, the date and year some nut job had predicted the end of the world My theme song for this trip is Ahead By A Century, by The Tragically Hip¢because its both an ear worm and it's the first song on my playlist. In case you were wondering.Something about the path reminded me of my last day approaching Katahdin and with a jolt I realize I'm in the same mental place as I was a year ago¢playing music, envisioning Sam meeting me at the end, getting all emotional while at the same time looking forward to ditching these damp clothes. This incredibly odiferous backpack. My other pair of hiking undies now has holes, so they'll be history come tomorrow. Actually just about everything I've been wearing for the past fifty-nine days. The same group who camped last night at the brewery is all here tonight at the shelter. I'm camping next to the family who has told me that they are watching installments of Mary Poppins. We are set up next to the small, narrow waterfall¢not unlike yesterday's blue blaze (which incidentally all seven of us took). I jumped in a small pool, this time with most of my clothes on, both to cool off as well as to rinse away some of the salty sweat. The waterfall just outside my tent is white noise and the warblers are announcing dusk.Six miles. On half page of the guidebook to go.