Date: 2004-07-16
From: Somewhere near Skyline Drive

To: US 33 at Swift Gap
Miles today: 14.5

The last two days I have eaten raspberries and blueberries like a wild man. I think I understand the love affair that bears have for these berries now. They are sweet nectar to a long distance hiker. Kinda makes it difficult to hike when you see all these berries calling to you. I got an early start this morning and took a break at Pine field hut. There was a couple still asleep there, their dog wasn't too happy about me hiking up on them. I ate breakfast at the picnic table and read the journal for a while. The girl had woke up when the dog growled at me. They were staying at shelters, then driving up skyline drive and going to the next shelter. It weirded me out a little, but that's ok. Another hiker was at a campsite near the shelter. Her sister had come to hike with her, but she had hurt her ankle. They decided to hike her out to skyline drive to let her hitch back to waynesboro, or another close town. The hike got a little warmer today, and I was sweating bullets as I hiked up Little Round Top Mountain. It wasn't all that difficult, but the nice cool weather of yesterday made me miss it. When I got to the base of Hightop mountain, I decided to take a good break at the overlook. I was laying in a corner of the parking lot with my feet up on my pack, and my head on my sleeping pad and my hat was over my eyes. I hear a vehicle drive up and I look over. This older man gets out of this big, long car and walks around. He sees me and walks over to me. I decide to be sociable and sit up. We talk for a few minutes and he says..."I've never undersood why YOU PEOPLE choose to hike so far". I tried to explain why anyone would hike long distances...beauty that many other people never see, excitement...he just gazes at me with dumbfounded eyes. You know....I believe this is the first time in my life that I've been "YOU PEOPLE". It's nice to belong! It didn't take all that long to reach Hightop Hut, and I was WAY ahead of schedule. Mary is going to pick me up in Swift Gap for a zero day and that was as far as I was going today. I decided to take a long break at the shelter. I read the journal, read my book, talked with a man and his son who had hiked to see the shelter and I slept. In all I spent around 3 1/2 hours at the shelter, which is really unusual for me. I couldn't stand laying around anymore, so I got my stuff together and hiked to the summit of Hightop. There is a walled spring at the top, and I needed some water. As I sat there filtering water, I saw 3 or 4 deer. They just stood around eating leaves while I did my thing. It was like something out of a movie, or book. I've seen tons of deer here in the Shenendoah, but no bears. I hiked the 2.8 miles to US 33 and skyline drive....it was time to wait. Mary had a huge drive and had to work this morning. I took my boots off, and put my windbreaker/raingear top on and just relaxed. This guy hiked up with the girl I had seen at the shelter earlier. She was hiking with her sister, but she had gotten hurt. We all stood around until Mary drove up in my car. It was great! We got into the car and took a quick drive on skyline drive looking for the hikers sister (she was supposed to come pick the hiker up). She couldn't be found, but the hiker said it was ok. Mary and I drove into Harrisburg and got a hotel. I showered and showered again...and we'll leave the rest of the evening there.