Date: 2023-06-15
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Mountain Home B&B, Front Royal, VA
Miles today: 108.1

Google Photos Photo AlbumDay 1Rockfish Gap to Turk Gap AT miles 12.1Miles hiked 12.1Hard to believe the big day was finally here. My friend Paxton, from school, picked me up at 730 in the morning, and we headed towards Rockfish Gap, the Southern end of Shenandoah Nat'l Park. We had a great conversation on the way as Paxton is a guru on geology and rocks, and is always fun to talk to. We made my traditional stop at the Xion Crossing Sheetz to get some breakfast and head back out on the road. We arrived at Rockfish around 9:45. There we met up with my good friend Shigley who's going to do the first 3 days of the trail with me. We took some pictures and said our thank yous and goodbyes to Paxton. Then we were off on the beginning of my great adventure. It was a beautiful, sunny day with Temps around 67°. Big billowy clouds filled the sky as we began the Weaver and Shigley reunion tour. We spent several years running most of the 500+ miles of trails in the park, often talking about hiking the AT. We haven't been able to get together for a run in 2 years so we were both excited to get on the trail again.View from Calf MountainThe plan was Day 1 hike with a day pack, Day 2 hike with backpack minus food, and Day 3 begin hiking fully loaded. I'd spent most of the past 2 years getting out of shape so this seemed a sensible approach to me. Shigley was going to hike the first 5 or 6 miles each day then run back to his car and drive to meet me at whatever gap I planned to end the day at.Shortly after entering the Shenandoah National Park, we stopped and registered for our back country permits. Now it's official.SNP backcountry registrationWe saw a lot of wildflowers, and our first wildlife encounter was a big black snake, which we had to stop and admire. During the course of the day. We saw 5 other North bound hikers and a few day hikers. Continuing on we arrived at the summit of calf mountain where they have a circle of old metal tractor seats to sit on. We stopped there for a snack break and watch while a construction crew deconstructed an old communication site. One of the workers told us they were giving the mountain back to nature. After our break we moved on.Returning Calf Mountain back to natureWe quickly hit the 5 mile mark where Shigley turned around to run back to his car. He was going to drive and meet me at the Turk Gap parking lot. So, the next part of the hike was me by myself which was really pleasant. I saw four deer, one of which was totally unconcerned with my presence. His brother was looking at him like, why aren't you running? Of course, there were also all the other usual outdoor creatures, except for bears. The spring I had planned on getting more water at was nothing more than mud and damp rocks and I was running low on water but hoping to make Turk Gap before I was miserable. Shigley arrived at Turk Gap just before I arrived and greeted me with an ice cold Gatorade. Ahhhhhh  We decided to go to the Loft Mountain Wayside to buy some water. Once we got to the wayside, we bought our water. The snack bar smelled so good we decided to rough it by eating hamburgers in the snack bar.By this time it was getting late and we still had to drive back to Turk Gap and find a place to camp. We decided to continue roughing it by getting a campsite at Loft Mountain campground. I used my lifetime National Park Pass to get us a $15 campsite. We set up camp, drank a nice cold brew and were in bed by nine o'clock. Not a bad first day.Day 2View from Black Rock MountainTurk Gap to Brown's GapAT Miles 11.9 Miles hiked 11.9Last night and this morning were much cooler than expected for mid-June in Virginia so I was not eager to crawl out of my warm tent. We finally got moving well after 8, ate breakfast and were off to Turk Gap. Today I would be carrying my backpack minus my bear canister as part of my "get in shape for thru hiking" plan. This should be a relatively easy hike with minimal elevation gain and from past experience running this section the trail is in pretty nice shape.The hike took us over Blackrock Mountain which has some fantastic views. The top of the mountain is a jumble of black rocks (duh) and boulders. I took my time carefully climbing up to the summit. On the way I was passed by a couple of kids who were running up/hopping from rock to rock. That's OK kids -- someday you'll be old and we'll see how fast you scramble up this thing. At the top we sat around taking in the views and eating another snack before climbing back down. Shigley was heading back to his car and I was continuing on.  The air got a bit cooler and the clouds started rolling in on my way to Browns Gap. I had a feeling that rain was on the way.I arrived at the gap and the sun was back out and the temperature climbed with it. Shigley and I enjoyed a cold beverage then headed back to Loft Mountain. After dinner we sat around and watched the birds, rabbits and deer who all seemed like they were looking for a free meal -- especially the deer. People in the campsite next to us didn't seem any too prepared for camping and I wondered how they would fare if the rain showed up.Day 3Brown's Gap to Hightop Hut.AT miles 18.3 Miles total 20.4 Last night we had a bit of rainfall. Thankfully I stayed dry inside my tent. We awoke to a heavy fog and fixed breakfast and started packing up. This was Shigley's last day since he had to return to life in the real world and I would be continuing on the north bound leg of my journey. While taking stuff to Shigley's car I noticed our camping neighbors had spent the night in their car.  Today's hike would be the most challenging so far since there would be more elevation gain and I was hiking fully packed. We drove to Brown's to start today's adventure. The sun was out and it looked to be the beginning of a nice day. The first few miles would take us up and over Loft Mountain, our home for the past two nights. There were nice views from the cliffs and ledges after the summit/campground as we continued to my own claimed personal bit of real estate in the park, Weaver Mountain.  The climb up Weaver Mountain was pretty easy. I always feel like my ancestors are accompanying me on this climb. Unfortunately there are no views at the summit, just a jumble of rocks enshrouded in poison ivy and other assorted weeds.Weaver Mountain summitShigley and I met up at Simmons Gap and were enjoying a break and a snack when a hiker showed up carrying a pop-up tent and backpack full of snacks. He had thru hiked the AT last year, lived just outside the park, so had hiked in to do some trail magic. We enjoyed some snack cakes while being entertained with tales of his hike. While sitting there we kept hearing a stange sound when Shigley realized there was a grouse in the bushes behind us. We found the grouse and took several pics while is walked around undisturbed by our presence. Eventually the grouse walked off, Shigley left to run back to his car, and I continued on after thanking the trail angel for the snacks.On the last mile or so of trail before Powell Gap I got behind a hen turkey who walked in front of me for about 15 minutes. She would look back to judge our distance, waddle up the trail doing her turkey thing speeding up a bit if she felt I was too close. Finally, she wandered off the trail. Mountain turkeys are nothing like lowland turkeys.Shigley was waiting at Powell Gap when I arrived and we ate another snack and talked for a bit before he headed home and I headed up the trail. My plan was to hike bit past the gap and find a place to camp. That didn't happen. The next section of trail was a path midway up (or down) the mountain with a field of stinging nettles on either side. No choice but to keep moving forward. My original plan for the day was 13 to 15 miles. I ended up hiking much further than that looking for a place to camp.I finally decided the best alternative was to push on to Hightop Hut and Spring. No worse for the wear I set up camp, cooked a dinner of creamy chicken and noodles with olive oil and chicken breast. Fig bars for desert. Cleaned myself off a bit and was in bed at 8.Day 4View from Bearfence MountainHightop Hut to Stealth site mile 925.1 AT miles 18.6Miles hiked 22.6I slept great last night. This was my first real day on the trail and I was excited to get going. I packed up camp, ate breakfast, filtered water from the spring and headed out. It looked to be another nice day.  After about three hours of hiking I was about out of water so I stopped for water at South River Picnic Grounds. All the faucets were turned off. Really? Why? Nothing to do but hike on hoping I would find water soon. I ran out of water less than an hour later. Hopefully there would be water at the next spring. I passed some southbound hikers who told me they got water near Pocosin cabin. Good news! I was able to get water at Pocosin Spring and since it was such a nice spot so I took a break and ate lunch.  Once back on the trail I thought a lot about what I could ditch from my pack. This after only a half day of hiking today. I figured food and water would lighten the load the most but they were filed under the category of "Essential Items." Bad choice there. Then I thought of Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods where Katz just threw stuff out, including food so he could lighten his load. "Flung" was how he described what happened to the items he ditched when Bryson quizzed him about its whereabouts.I took advantage of one of the strategically located waysides in the park and stopped at Lewis Mountain Camp Store for a snack and to charge my phone and call dad. I found out I already lost my fast charger. The store had cheapo chargers for $8 (way overpriced) so I bought one. Once I had a charge on my phone it was almost impossible to find a signal. I eventually found a spot across the road from the store by a tree stump. No answer when I called dad. I'll try again tomorrow at Big Meadow.  A short while later I came to one of my favorite places in the park, Bearfence Mountain. A few years ago I almost froze to death while trail running here during our Polar Vortex run. Today I was about to melt from the heat. There is a somewhat challenging but very fun rock scramble on the blue trail that I planned to take. One of the scrambles on Bearfence MountainNot wanting to skip any of the AT I hiked past the southern intersection of the blue trail continuing to the northern intersection of the blue trail where I hiked, climbed, and scrambled south to where it rejoined the AT. I didn't think this through very well as the level of difficulty was much higher carrying a backpack and trekking poles. There were a couple of scary moments but I survived to tell the story. Back on the AT I retraced my steps until I was once again making forward progress.I still had another good climb up Hazeltop Mountain but it wasn't too bad of a climb, the trail was nice and coming down the other side was a gradual downhill towards Big Meadows. But, there was another long stretch of trail with no water. I hoped to find a stealth camp site close to the stream near Big Meadow. Nope. There was a stream but no place to camp. I met a SOBO LASH (Long a$$ Section Hiker) named Sugar Bear was also looking for a place to stop for the night. He's doing the trail in long section hikes and documenting his hikes on YouTube. We wished each other well and moved on. I ended up making my own stealth site about a mile up the trail. I contemplated hiking to the While waiting for my water to boil another hiker, Crossroad, stopped to chat. She was trying to make Big Meadow campground but didn't think she could make it by dark and her headlamp batteries were dead so I gave her my extras and she was on her way. I ate 2 Knorrs sides with chicken breast. I was pretty hungry and it was starting to get dark to I didn't wait until the noodles were soft choosing to crunch through them instead. After a quick cleanup and stashing my bear canister I crawled into my tent for the night. Not 5 minutes after I laid down my air mattress deflated. Too tired to mess with it I rolled over and slept like a rock.Day 5Stealth site at mile 925.1 to Byrds Nest Shelter #3AT miles 16.1Miles hiked 16.1Despite the flat air mattress I slept great and woke up ready to get going. The plan was to stop at Big Meadow for breakfast, buy more snacks, recharge my phone and head out. I intended to only hike about 15 miles depending on places to camp and water availability. The first thing I saw when I crawled out of my tent was a deer munching on leaves. I started packing up only to have the call of nature screaming at me. GO NOW! So off to find a good spot to, well, you know. Yeah, TMI, but there is somebody who's wondering¢¦A short jaunt up the trail and I was at Big Meadow Wayside looking for some biscuits and gravy. I even talked them into scrambling a couple of eggs for me. By the way, if something is not on the menu and they have to make it special, it doesn't always come out good. But, I was hungry enough to not care.The weather was again awesome as I made my way to Rock Spring Hut for water and lunch. Filtering water at a piped springI spent some time reading the trail journal from the shelter as I ate lunch. Just as I finished packing up it started raining so I had a 30 minute or so hike in the rain.  About 5:00 I ran into another hiker, CT, who was headed to the same campsite as I. About 5:45 the skies opened up and we were smacked by a big storm. He left me in the mud climbing the hill. (All these hikers who started in Georgia and have 900+ miles under their feet tend to float up hills.) I made it to Pinnacles Picnic Area frozen and wet. I got under the shelter and put on a dry shirt and rain coat and decided to cook dinner while I waited out the storm.The rain was relentless and I knew I couldn't camp in the shelter (park rangers had already cruised the area twice already) so I had no choice but to hike the remaining four miles to the shelter. The wind was howling and the rain was coming in waves. On the way I saw where I took an epic spill trail running in 2020 and was really amazed I didn't get seriously injured. I arrived at the Byrd's Nest Shelter #3 at 8:35 with barely enough light to set up camp. The rain was pounding but somehow I got the tent set up. I threw my waterproof bag in the tent with me diving in right behind. I got my wet stuff off, dried off best I could and used foot powder to finish the job. GOOD NEWS! My air mattress stayed inflated. It went flat because somebody failed to close the inflation valve all the way. I tried calling dad but the phone reception was bad so I'll have to try again the next time I have a cell signal.I turned off my phone and crawled under my quilt only to have water drip in my eye. The rain was blowing so hard it was coming in the tent vent. I tried blocking it with my waterproof bag with marginal results. I ended up with my wet raincoat over my head and passed out. Thank goodness I didn't need to use the bathroom after I went to sleep. The rain didn't let up the entire night.Day 6Rainy view up Skyline DriveByrd's Nest Shelter #3 to Gravel Spring Hut AT Mile's 15.4Total miles hiked 17.1I woke up to a windy, cold, rainy morning. The thought briefly crossed my mind to continue sleeping but reality dictated that the only way to get up the trail was to get up and get hiking. I put on my driest wet socks and driest wet underwear along with the rest of my still wet other clothes and began breaking camp. It went quickly. Although, the wind helped make sure that any part of my tent that managed to stay dry last night got soaked while trying to get it stowed. As I was leaving I saw one other tent still at the shelter. All the other hikers had already hit the trail.There was a spring close by that was only a .3 mile walk down s slightly steep hill. Great warm up for the day. While walking down to the spring, lost in thought on how I was going to get stuff dry enough to sleep that night, an explosion erupted from the underbrush right near my feet making me nearly jump out of my skin. It seems I startled a grouse who was probably off in its own little grouse world before a human startled it. I got my water and filtered it then trudged the .3 miles back up to my pack to begin hiking. I've already walked more than a half mile and none of it counts.  The wind and rain were still nasty but to make things more fun and more wet there were all kinds of weeds and bushes leaning over the trail. After a bit of walking I stopped for a snack and a drink when CT, the hiker I met yesterday, caught up to me. I had mentioned the day before that I lost one of my charging cables. He had an extra and gave it to me when we met. We then hiked to my favorite restroom facility in SNP: Panorama. Once the location of a resort, Panorama is now an impressive restroom facility. There are basically 4 big bathrooms connected under an awning. They each have heated hand dryers and electric outlets. Panorama, as a continuation of the mention of my epic trail running fall in 2020, was where I eventually ended up at 10:30 at night. As I was walking into the bathroom some tourists were coming out of the bathroom and they all moved quickly away from me like I was a villain in a slasher movie. When I got inside and looked in the mirror I saw why. I was covered in blood from my shoulders to my shoes from body surfing through the rocks. Memories.We spent about an hour there drying our socks and drawers, charging phones, and eating. Somewhat refreshed we headed back out to rehydrate out clothes. About midday the rain let up and although it was windy it warmed up a bit and seemed like it would be an alright day. My new hiking buddy soon left me while going up a hill with plans to stop at Gravel Springs hut.I hit Elk Wallow Wayside just as the sun came out. The ranger was giving a lecture on bears which was pretty interesting so I set my stuff out to dry and ate some lunch. I was going to order a burger but the chicken tenders were calling my name. Turned out to be an excellent choice as there were five big tenders and a huge order of fries. So it seems that the mange has put a severe dent in the bear population in SNP. They came up with a way to deliver medication to the bears that wouldn¢t compromise the safety of park visitors while ensuring the bears would take their medicine. The solution? Air drop acorns treated with whatever medication they needed.  After my tent and quilt were dry I started for camp. About 2 miles before camp it started spitting rain. Not wanting to deal with a repeat of the previous night, I ran most of the last 2 miles to camp. No rain yet, set up then took my food down to the shelter to cook dinner and talk with the other hikers. Surprisingly, they were all clearing out of the shelter to set up tents and enthusiastically offered me a spot in the shelter. It took less than a minute to figure out why - there was something big trapped under the floor and you could hear it trying to get out. Yikes! It¢s Annabelle!While I was cooking dinner one of the hikers warned us that the doors to the bear box were broken. We thanked him and continued our conversations. I then went to get some water and on the way to my tent, without thinking, you guessed it. Put my food in the bear box and closed the door. Oops! The part that was broken was the handle to OPEN the bear box. Fortunately for me the guy who warned us had learned from experience that it was broken so also knew how to get it open. Whew!After that bit of excitement it was almost dark so time for bed. Thankfully it didn't rain during the night.Day 7Gravel Springs Hut to Mountain Home B&B, Front Royal, VAMountain Home B&B Hiker HostelAT Miles 13.8Miles hiked 14.6One week on the trail! Today turned out shorter than planned. It was pretty cold last night and seemed like it took forever to get warm. Once I finally got warm I was reluctant to crawl out of the tent in the morning. No rain last night but a lot of wind. I finally popped the valve on the air mattress and had no choice but to get moving. The plan was to hike to Highway 522 where there was a trolley stop into Front Royal. I was going to hop into town, go to the local outfitters where they had a shower and laundry service. While waiting for laundry I would eat lunch, resupply my food, pack back up, and head up the trail a few more miles where there was another shelter.  This planned soon changed as not an hour into the hike the wind picked up a notch and it started pouring buckets. Not only was there a lot of rain, it was those big, cold raindrops coming down in sheets. I started frequently checking my phone for service and finally had a hint of 4G. I called Mountain Home B&B which has a cabin for hikers. I was fortunate enough to get through to Lisa, one of the owners, and reserve the last bed in the cabin, before losing signal. Fingers crossed that she got all my info.  I passed and was passed by several other hikers who, like me, were planning to find a dry place to get out of this weather. One hiker whose name I forgot had hiked the PCT last year and was trying to finish the AT this year in time for school in August. He told me he hikes about 30 miles a day. His backpack looked smaller than a kids bookbag. How does he do it? While we were hiking on a slick, rocky trail I was carefully placing my feet while watching where I was going hoping to not fall. This guy was waltzing down the trail oblivious to the hazards and looking over his shoulder the whole time he was talking to me.Six hours more of hiking in the rain and I was there. Scott, the other owner, thru hiked the trail in 2014 and is a strong supporter of hikers and was a driving force in Front Royal becoming an ATC recognized AT Trail town. They provide loaner clothes to hikers while they do laundry. I still had a dry pair of shorts so I chose a red polo shirt and was ready to go to town for my resupply. Scott drove three of us into town. Our first stop was the outfitters so one of the hikers could buy new shoes. I bought a long sleeve shirt to help stay warm. This late October weather looks to be around for several more days and I had packed for summertime. After the outfitters we walked to Martin's for trail food. Martin's also had a food buffet so we got dinner to go and called Scott to come get us.  After dinner I called Robin, Lynn and Phil, and dad and mom. It was good to talk to them after a week on the trail. By the time I got off the phone everybody else in the cabin was in bed asleep. (Hiker midnight is around 8 or 9). The hikers I¢ve met so far are out here to hike and aren't playing around.  There are those like me who have waited most of their lives for this opportunity and this may be their only shot at realizing their dream. There are others who are way past being kids but who aren¢t retirement age who saved up enough money to do this and basically sold everything and hit the trail. The rest are high school and college age kids practically racing the trail trying to finish before next school year or their new job starts in the fall. Yeah, I suppose there is a party crowd but I haven't seen that. One of the hikers at Gravel Spring, Merlin, said those hikers don't last and the ones you see now who started in Georgia and have made it this far aren't playing around.I updated my journal and tried to remember how to get pics from my real camera to the Internet. It is a pain so I gave up. I updated my journal and could hardly keep my eyes open so I took a shower and passed out.I need to figure out my Inreach in the morning. Breakfast is scheduled for 8:30. I hope to wake up early and get that done.Please email comments to:bobshike2023@gmail.com