Date: 2006-06-05
From: Reed's Gap

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: light rain

Got an early start out of Reed's Gap this morning at 6:15am trying to get into Waynesboro by this evening. Just after leaving the gap I saw my fourth bear on the trail since Springer Mountain. He wasn't more than 150' off to the side of the trail. Thankfully he didn't like me so he ran off into the woods. Just past this was a great viewpoint at Cedar Cliffs. This spot also gave me a chance to warm up a little in the sun since it was overcast and really cool when I left out of camp. After crossing over the Blue Ridge Parkway again the trail climbing Humpback Mountain and followed a stacked stone wall along the ridge for a while. I am not sure what the purpose of the wall was, but it took a lot of people and time to build. Not much exciting happened between Humpback and the next shelter but some good hiking. Donkey, Hot Springs, and I made it 14.4 miles to the shelter by 11:30am. After a quick break we pushed on to Rockfish Gap another 5 miles by 2:00pm. After getting to Rockfish we grabbed a drink and set outside in front of the convenience store for a while just talking to the people coming in and out of the store. Some occasionally asking if we were homeless or hikers. Since no one offered to give us a ride into town we went over to the Information Center across the street where they had a list of trail angles that gives hikers rides into town. While we were sitting in the parking lot waiting we watched a film crew shooting a seen for Evan Almighty the sequel to Bruce Almighty. When our ride got there a little old lady named Mrs. Francis got out of the car to greet us. She asked where we needed to go and our response was the YMCA. On our way into town she stopped by the local outfitter for a few minutes for us to do some shopping. On the way out of the outfitter we picked up Bud and Carnivore, which were already staying at the YMCA. After ridding around town for a while with Mrs. Francis, Bud finally convinced Mrs. Francis that she was on the wrong side of town. This is a really long story but to shorten it a bit she was lost and had passed the YMCA a while ago. Finally we found our way back to the YMCA area after running one red light and two stop signs. She let us out at the post office so Donkey could pickup his new backpack and from there we walked back down to the YMCA. We went to register for a camping spot for the night but later decided to stay at the local church hostel. We also met back up with Jangles and Baro in town after just over two weeks of being separated since Trail Days and they were staying at the church hostel as well. So after Donkey and I ate the buffet at Ming Garden we moved from the YMCA to the hostel for the night. At the hostel I met a lady from Alabama named Bama. After a little talking I found out she is Chad Avery¢s. Chad and I worked at camp together many years back so it was good to meet her. After eating Jangles was about to go wash some cloths so Baro and I went along too. While we were out we grabbed another bite to eat while waiting on our cloths to wash. Tonight back at the hostel we just watched some TV and rested. Tonight at the hostel: Bama, Hot Springs, Donkey, Baro, Jane, Silver foot,Rush hour, James, and Baldy Locks