Date: 2011-05-14
From: Johns Hollow Shelter

To: Budget Inn, Buena Vista, VA
Miles today: 20.7

Not much better weather this morning, drizzle and clouds/fog. Hit the trail at 8:00 feeling good, the shin seems to either be getting better or I'm just getting used to it. Don't usually take any Aleve during the day, but often take two before bed to help me sleep; going to try tonight without any and see how it goes. Drizzle quit early, but dense fog remained all day that condensed on everything, causing much "tree pee" as well as general dampness. Crappy songs in my head hiking, only a few more weeks until I pick up my MP3 player in Harpers Ferry, WV. I know these journal entries are often pretty basic and don't really talk about the hiking itself, so I decided to give a little insight into what goes on in my head, not just around it. I use most of my time hiking not thinking about hiking at all. Today was Zen philosophy, chewing on the thought that the trail and mountains are the immovable constants and that I need to remember to just be what I am; temporary and moveable. I thought about myself as water on the trail, being drawn North much like osmosis. Also, "La Cucaracha" kept playing in my head. Extremes much?Made the shelter at 4:30 to find it empty and picked up the trail register to see who had come through. Within 90 seconds the skies opened up and it absolutely poured rain. I'm extremely thankful that it managed to hold off until I was under a roof. My plan during the day had changed to add some miles and make it to Route 60 tonight, and spend the night in town instead of doing an "in and out" in the morning, but the rain made that not a likely plan. I only saw two people all day since leaving the shelter this morning, two southbound section hikers. I really must be in the dead zone between bubbles of hikers, plus it's Trail Days this weekend in Damascus, so many hikers are off trail.Fortunately again, the rain only lasted 10 minutes. As soon as it quit and the trees did most of thier dripping, I decided to risk further rain and not being able to get a ride and headed up the hill to hitch to town. Supposedly the book says that it's 2.4 miles to the road, but I did it in 30 minutes exactly uphill and there is no way in HELL that I'm doing almost 5 mph; I do 3 when I'm feeling really good. I think that AWOL might be a little off here. As I reached the road, the fog rolled in and visibility dropped to 30-40 yards. Also, there was very little traffic. This combination is not very condusive to getting picked up, so I decided to hitch until dark, then set up tent just inside the woods if no ride came tonight.It took over an hour, but finally a car did stop with a local that had been out fishing all day. He had such a drawl that I couldn't understand but every 10 words that came out of his mouth, but he seemed happy to do all the talking So it didn't matter that I had no idea in hell what he was saying as he brought me down to the Budget Inn in town. When we pulled into the motel, I realized that I have actually been here before! The first year I was involved with the EMS Memorial Bike Ride we stopped at the Subway in the middle of the parking lot and ate lunch on our way back to MN from Roanoke. Small world. Forecast looks like shit, 7 days of rain. Looking at the book though it looks like I can pull a hostel, B&B, hotel or motel almost every night this week, so warm beds! I may miss a lot of the views in SNP though. So it goes.   I arranged a shuttle back to the trailhead in the morning for $20. I really hate to spend that much money on a 10 mile ride, but I needed to know I could get back ot the trail with enough time to get a full hike in to the Dutch Haus B&B and hitching offers no such certainty.