Date: 2006-07-11
From: Montebello

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The Camel and Little Billy Goat Gruff checked in this morning from the Quality Inn in Waynesboro, Virginia, just south of the gateway to Shenandoah National Park. They have now hiked 389 miles and have 539 miles go. Jeff said his weight has stabilized at 160-165 pounds, and Mary is at 107. Their next big stop is next Monday at the Old Meadow¢s Lodge in Shenandoah National Park and the next night at the Skyline Resort, 10 miles down the trail.Here's a recap of their last two days:Day 35, Sunday, July 9: They did 13 miles, ending up at the Harper's Creek Shelter. The highlight of the day was seeing a timbler rattler on the trail.Day 36, Monday, July 10: One of their toughest and most frustrating days yet. A park ranger deserves all the blame. Mary tells the story:"What happened is yesterday we hiked about six miles to the shelter, Maupin Field Shelter. When we got there, we kept hearing about this place all the hikers go; 12,000 hikers go there. Called Rusty¢s Hard Time Hollow,, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. It¢s like a place you can get beer and hot dogs and hang out. It¢s basically free, and you can donate whatever you want. You see cards at all the shelters telling about it."It's off the trail about three miles. We says let¢s try it and go to it. We hike all the way there and nobody was there when we got there, but it looked like the place down the street from us (in Mount Orab). It was really trashy looking and junky. It said no tenting. It had a place to sleep in this hot attic room. Jeff said he got bad vibes from the place. They did have this big container of real cool water, so we took some beers and left some money for the beers and got the heck out of there.¢Anyway we left there, and it was tough because we didn't plan on walking that much, so we had to walk all the way back. We decided to keep walking on the main highway instead of getting back on the trail to see if we could save time, because it¢s quicker than walking on the trail."We had met this 72-year-old man (George Walgrove). We had met him earlier on the day. I saw him and I said there¢s that man we just met. Then I asked if he could give us a ride a little closer to the next shelter. He was real nice and we get a ride to the Humpback Visitor¢s Center. We go in and see the first ranger we¢ve ever seen. We say, how do we get to the trail from here?"It was supposed to be an easy day for us. They tell us how to get there, so we walk over there. We preceded to hike this very tough hike to the observation point on Humpback Mountain. We¢d already hiked about 10 miles. We get up there and we can¢t figure out where is the trail. We can¢t find it. There¢s this blue trail which is supposed to connect to the AT. We go right and get to the sign that says for the next shelter and it¢s like another six miles."By this time I¢m the maddest I¢ve ever been in my whole life. I said the F word every other second. I was so mad at the ranger for giving us bad directions. We don¢t really have any choice because the next day we had to hike into town. We ended up hiking about 20 miles that day. I'm exhausted. We started at 7 or 8 in the morning, and we hiked until 6 at night. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I had two beers that night. I called that ranger every name in the book."We finally got to the shelter. Of course, it was beautiful."So anyway, of course I wanted to quit again. I said I'm renting a car in Waynesboro and coming home. I said this is no fun, this sucks. I was so angry. Finally, I was so tired about being so angry. Eventually, I just starting praying and asking god for help with my anger. Finally it started dissipating."Anyway we went to bed about 8 and then we got up and only had to hike five miles into town. That was like a walk in the park. Then we get to the Rockfish Gap Vistor¢s Center. They¢re like super helpful, trying to help us to decide where we can decide where to stay. They have a list of trail angels. We called one and he said he can be there in seven minutes. I said I need to stop at this outfitter's store. He waits for us while I get my socks (and a headlamp and body glide for blister prevention). He takes us to the post office and we get our box. The box we lost we finally got. We tell him some of the place where we could stay. He tell us the quality inn is a good place. You also get a hiker¢s rate. 50 instead of 70. He gave us a card and said if you want a ride back to the trail tomorrow call him and he'll be there."