Date: 2009-05-29
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

It rained again before we even fell asleep and I was glad that I was in the shelter. Ewok alerted me to the fact that he had been known to snore and told me I could hit him or throw something at him. I had anticipated an early morning, but by the time it came around, I felt like sleeping in- as if it were a Sunday morning! I was having some powerful, vivid dreams and wanted to savor the feelings from them. I got up a little after 7:30 and was surprised to see that several people had already left! They were so quiet packing up! I was impressed.      I got on the AT at 9:10 and at 11, I was at Rockfish Gap- five miles later! This was a special place for me to get to because Erik and I had come here last Christmas for my final backpacking trial, and now I had just walked all the way here from Georgia! It turns out that Erik had a conference in Charlottesville, so we made plans to get together with Certain and Karen on Saturday. I called Certain to make plans for a time and place where she could pick me up. After just having a shower and having done laundry at the Dutch Haus, I didn't think I would need it again so soon, but because of all of the wetness, I reeked! Socks are the worst smelling thing when they get wet. The spacing of the shelters in the Shenandoahs is not great. Because I did not want to hike an additional 21 miles that day, I only had about 7 miles to get to Calf Mtn. Shelter, where we had stayed last Christmas. I decided that since I had plenty of time, I could go into Waynesboro to see if there was a nice coffee shop I could hang out in and write for a bit. It became pretty apparent that there weren't any.... I asked my ride to drop me off at the ice cream shop I saw coming in. It turns out that it was closed (only open on Saturdays), but the girl outside let me in. Her brother had hiked the AT last year. I did not realize that 0.4 ounces of ice cream was going to cost me $5, but it was tasty, nonetheless.   I crossed the road to hitch a ride back, and felt stupid when the first four cars passed with no response. However, the next one slowed down and pulled over. It was a nice man named Dale, with his beautiful little daughter, Bella, in the backseat. Dale hikes regularly and was very excited about camping with his entire family for the first time that coming weekend. He proudly showed me the box for the tent he had just bought. As we neared Rockfish Gap, I saw a familiar, tall, lean frame. Hellbender! I had been trying to catch up to him ever since leaving Daleville! I could hardly contain myself. After Dale opened the lock on the door, I raced out, jumped up and down, and called, "Hellbender!" He was talking to a group of other hikers, trying to say goodbye to his parents who had visited him in Waynesboro, and start the next section with his dog, so he was pretty pre-occupied.    I entered the Shenandoahs with Leon, his dog Halifax, and Hellbender and Chompers. It felt really good to be with people again! Chompers had gotten a bit overweight while Hellbender was away, and had to get used to walking- especially with a pack. The first thing he did was find some feces to roll himself in... While Hellbender was dealing with that mess, Leon and I moved on. Soon, we were all joined by Teegan and Bonnie. I was so happy when I recognized the rocks that Erik and I had lunched on, and I knew the terrain all of the way to Calf Mountain Shelter. Leon and I were going to take a break at the green tractor seats to wait for Hellbender, but it started raining, so we moved on. When it stopped, we waited in a clearing. It wasn't long before I heard some Tina Turner lyrics being belted out. Yup, that was definitely Hellbender!   Chompers was really struggling on the hill after Beagle Gap and just started lying down in the middle of the trail to protest. Hellbender told me to go ahead. I got to Calf Mountain Shelter at 5 pm and it felt great to have so much time! The shelter was already crowded with section hikers, Mr. Ed, Lightweight, Bonnie, Teegan, and a few others. I had wanted to set up my hammock on the same two trees behind the shelter that I did last winter. Luckily, the spot was free. It was actually much more pleasant to set it up without all of the weeds (although it was much colder when the ground was bare!). And it seemed that there was more color in the Shenandoahs in the winter. All I saw today was green. Although I looked forward to having an evening to write, I felt very tired for only having hiked a total of 12 miles, so I lied down on the outside of my hammock for a bit, ate dinner, and then jotted down a few notes before going to sleep.