Date: 2003-10-17
To: How far can you hike????
Miles today: 26.3

As I figured, we didn't hear the alarm, so we were off to a late start with the sunrising with a fiery glow. We should've known, you know what they say...red sky in the morning, sailors....er...hikers, take warning. It was cold but not rainy when we set out at 7:45 AM. Three miles into the hike, we were joined by Marc, and managed to pull a 3 mile an hour pace for the first 3 hours. Stopping at Big Meadows, Marc left us to slack pack his other 3 hiking buddies. We stopped for a quick soda and phone call as I was checking on a job offer I was receiving but only got the answering machine. For the next 2 hours we maintained the 3 mph pace and decided to stop into Skyland for a cup of coffee as the day had not warmed much. We ran into several Southbounders (SOBOs) who had gotten stalled at the inviting lodge there. I made another phone call regarding the job offer and got to talking on the phone for a half an hour before I knew it. 'Guana came to give me a cup of coffee and a time check. I excused myself as I still had to hike at least another 10 miles that day. Onward and over the hills we flew until around 5 PM the fog and rain began rolling in. We had achieved 23 miles by this time and were about to climb Mt. Pinnacle. We surmised that the weather was rapidly decaying however and didn't want to get stuck up in the mountains with that kind of climate so we opted to hike Sky Line drive for the rest of the night. The fog was so thick that 'Guana could be 20 feet in front of me and I couldn't see her. Then the rain started pelting us and it was freezing. A ranger pulled over when the rain was light and asked to see our backcountry hiking permit. We had one of course, it's free and you register for it as you enter the Shenandoahs. He kept looking at us funny so we figured there was probably some escaped convict on the trail. It seems a popular place for criminals to hide these days. He let us go on our way so we headed off into the increasingly heavy rains. Two hours later he pulled up beside us and did a rare thing...offered us a ride. We were grateful for the offer we told him, but we were trying to do a marathon day....even though we were beginning to freeze at this time. We told him that we were going to hike to the Panorama (restaurant). And we did just that.....but what the ranger didn't tell us was that the Panorama closes at 5:30 PM and we arrived at 7 PM. It was pitch black by then and we had hiked over 26 miles so we were ready to call it a day. In fact, we were ready to dry ourselves in a hotel. We figured we might be able to get someone from one of the hotels in the town of Luray to shuttle us there. So we went to the only payphone at the Panorama and got no dial tone. It all seemed hopeless at that moment and we were getting very cold. At that moment, however, a family from the Baltimore area drove up to use the bathroom and offered us a ride to town. We were so grateful for their spontaneous generosity.We arrived cold but in good spirits to the Budget Inn. We both agreed that we were still feeling like we could have hiked some more miles, but it was best not to risk hypothermia in that kind of weather. So we dried our socks and boots and I made another phone call. Over the course of an hour, I hammered out the details of my new job - Executive Director for the Merrimack Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. Start date October 30, 2003. Just one week after the projected completion of our hike. So winter in Massachusetts it is for me, Sonic. The position would be an interim one and I look forward to working again. Not bad for a day - hike 26 miles and land a job