Date: 2006-05-25
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter 

To: Waynesboro VA
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

During the night, we were joined in the shelter by Hobbit. We had last seen him while staying at Elmer"s in Hot Springs, NC. We are surprised by how many people hike in the dark; we're not interested in trying it! We have a hard enough time staying on the Trail during the day let alone in the dark. Cathy was awake and ready to go at 7, but Craig wanted to sleep in a little while longer. An early hiker arrived to have breakfast at the shelter (Glow Worm), so we decided to get up and get going. Almost immediately we met a southbound day-hiker. He said the 5 miles into town would be the easiest trail we ever did. What he didn't remember was that it was downhill the whole way for him. So, while the trail didn't have rocks or roots, it was uphill nearly the entire way. We climbed 830 feet on "the easiest trail we ever did"-NOT! We passed through the remains of the Rockfish Settlement and arrived in Waynesboro just as it began to rain. After a quick stop at the outfitter, we headed to the Office of Tourism to tell them about our anticipated package. They were wonderful! Based on our earlier phone message, the director, Leanne Crookshank had notified everyone in the building that they should sign for a package for Craig Simons. She assured us that someone would be there all day and would accept our package. Then she offered to drive us to lunch--Burger King--so Craig could get the Whopper he's been craving. He ate 3 whoppers, extra large French fries and four large cokes for lunch! He was a happy boy. From Burger King we called Lynne to let her know we would be at the library until she got out of school. Then we hitched a ride to the library. As soon as we got out of the truck, a young man pulled up and asked if we were the Simons. It was Ander Ross, Lynne's 17 yr old son.. He said his mom needed us to come to her class today because the class has a field trip scheduled for all day tomorrow. Ander drove us to the elementary school where the students had painted banners and were all waiting outside to welcome us (see pic). It was very exciting for them and for us! They gathered around and had many questions about the gear we were carrying. We went inside to the classroom where another banner and comfy chairs awaited us. We gathered in a circle to talk and share stories. Each of the children had selected a trail name and wore a name tag, so we could feel like we already knew them. Each also had a question for us, and we had fun answering each question, then unloading our backpacks so they could see what we carried. As the school day ended, the class presented us with a wonderful surprise-Trail Magic! They had each brought ingredients for GORP and gave us 2 large bags of Trail mix (see pic). YUM! We will really enjoy that as we hike, along with lollipops we got from 3 of the boys. It was great fun being with the class; they are so smart and curious and well behaved. We went home with Mrs. Ross and with in an hour, LeeAnn called and said our package had arrived. Andrew drove Craig to get the package and, happily, it was the right phone. Craig had it working within an hour. We later had a delicious dinner with her family then spent a very relaxing night in their home. You couldn't ask for a more fulfilling day.