Date: 2011-06-23
From: Harpers Creek Tent Pad

To: Rockfish Gap entry 4/4
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: light rain

Fraser Fir-June 23rd, 2011This is my final entry on this dayYear Eight-Day Ten23 total miles hiked todayStarting location: Harpers Creek Tent PadsFinishing location: Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro, VirginiaI added around three additional miles to this trek today.The whole purpose was to bypass ¢The Rocks¢ at Humpback and shave a couple of miles off of the trip and get me to Rockfish Gap in a timelier manner.As we have stated before, the trail is a classroom. Amen? I was instructed in carefully following directions and evaluating every path before committing to a trail today. I climbed up to the bottom of ¢The Rocks¢ before realizing my mistake. Nonetheless, I am not mad or blaming anyone.I have my health and I am still in great spirits!!   8--------) big smiley face! Heading north, I pass Dobie Mountain and maintain a downward trek toward the last shelter in Central Virginia, Paul C. Wolfe Shelter.The shelter is full when I arrive but that is certainly o.k.I hang out with some other hikers by Mill Creek as I make up the grand finale of Gatorade, etc¢¦These guys are using some type of glow in the dark wand to filter their water and they are carrying about the same amount of weight that I am hauling.One of the guys, whose name I fail to get, is a familiar sight from the Priest Shelter last night. So we know he is moving pretty good.The humidity level has to be near one hundred percent. Fortunately for me and some of these other big time milers today, it is less than eighty degrees outside today! 8-------)) super-duper smiley faceThe climb out of Paul C. Wolfe was every bit as brutal as the elevation profile made it out to be. I am hot, tired, exhausted, not hungry at all but just ready to get this climb over with.Kinda like taking a spanking that you just know is a coming. Five miles to Rockfish Gap.I try and keep up with the other ¢slack packers ¢if you will, but their day in/day out hiking techniques leave me in the dust. Again, I am o.k. with this because all of my exercise to prepare for Virginia occurred last winter and this early spring. The six week period between my last excursion up here and now left me with no exercise preparation whatsoever. I kinda just jumped in the deep end and prayed for the best. On a different note, and one that is worth repeating: my blue Montrail trail runners for the 2011 hiking season have been the best hiking tennis shoes ever! They are not water proof, but hey, blisters have all but been a non-issue both this spring and this summer! ?After the big climb out of Paul C. Wolfe and the Mill Creek, my body let me know that I was done for the day. I moved along at about one and one half miles per hour to Rockfish Gap. The psychology really played in as I would constantly anticipate the grand exit at any moment.I hate it that Central Virginia ended this way because I was in a pretty ticked off mood. I had pushed so hard and there was literally nothing left. I was screaming at the trail for some type of reprieve.I took it personal when I started ascending a small ¢up¢ as I edged closer to Rockfish Gap. An up???? You have got to be kidding me. The last time that I was this emotional about finishing off was probably my Fontana to Clingmans Dome 36 mile-one day slack pack.No one told me about an up??Get over it crybaby!!To no avail, I was five minutes early for my rendezvous with my wonderful shuttle driver from Waynesboro, Bill.I call Bill and he is literally minutes away. I try to straighten up my gear and stuff so that he will not have to meet me as some chaotic fool who cannot find anything when my ship is ready to board.I take quick inventory of the things that I will need to have my hands on for the almost two hour ride back down to beautiful Buena Vista!Bill is an awesome man. He offers me a bottle of water and we have light discussion for the next two hours or so as he educates me about the area; some of the changes in the immediate trail and of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I am so hungry and can hardly wait to eat my first real meal in over two days! 8----)) super smiley!!Once I get to my car, I get gas and a sprite.Since it is around 7:00 pm, I opt to start looking for somewhere to eat. GORP is not on my radar whatsoever!The area is pretty rural and as I travel southbound on I-81, I recognize many of the areas that I walked across to get from the Roanoke Area to Buena Vista.My first real choice of fast food joints is in Daleville. Daleville, the home of Homer and Therese Witcher.I start out by getting an Angus Burger Meal at McDonalds. I have never had the Angus Burger and rarely buy hamburgers from restaurants but today is a special occasion.My meal is gone in less than 120 seconds (fries and drink included)I drive across the street and fill up on the cheapest gasoline that I have seen all summer. It was like $3.35 per gallon. 8---))))   yes!!Next to the filling station is a Taco Bell.I order a steak Baja or something or the other meal and it is gone in less than 120 seconds: soft taco, drink and all.I would hold off until I got over the Virginia/North Carolina line before having my third crack at dinner for the evening where I partook of a fish o filet meal with an apple pie. Again, there is no slowing me down. Less than 120 seconds and that fish o filet was history!ohhhhh, I hope that I do not get sick. Talk about gluttony!!The sunset drive from central Virginia to the state line was outstanding. I cannot think of a better interstate to be travelling along this evening as I immerse myself in the greenery of this area we call Appalachia.Talk to you soon.