Date: 2015-05-01
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0

Day 59 (day 1 of rest) First day off! We woke up relatively late (around 7:30 AM... such laziness). We went to breakfast and saw many hikers we had not seen in a while like Laugh Track, Code Red, Dopey and Tree Ninja. It was awesome to have finally caught up with Tree Ninja as we had last seen him in the Smokies. He has been one day ahead of us for over 40 days and we were always motivated to push on in hopes of seeing him again. Not Yet (who is here on Trail Journals, by the way!) finally got into town and came by. The four of us chilled for a good portion of the morning in the motel room. I spent the afternoon icing my ankle, writing updates for the journal and aimlessly browsing online (with my phone). We met Not Yet and Tree Ninja at Ming's Garden, an all-you-can-eat buffet, for supper. Ming's holds a special place in thru-hiker lore, it's one of the definite places one should stop by. They even have a dedicated hiker room! The restaurant is huge and has a vast selection of asian food specialties, seafood, sushi and salads in addition to many dessert choices. Of course, many abundantly packed and overflowing plates were had; we were all exceptionally full. Apparently, yesterday, a hiker had stayed there for over five hours and eventually slipped into a food coma. He took a nap in the booth in the restaurant and was eventually kicked out.Shrugs was even inspired to compose another haiku:Ming's Garden buffetSo much food available!Distended stomachsThe ankle is doing alright, although the only walking I did was to and from the buffet. The swelling seems to have gone down.I'll write a bit more in tomorrow's entry on the ankle situation but, I just realized, Waynesboro marks the end of the Central Virginia portion of the AT and is the entry to the Shenandoahs National Park, which means it's time for the CENTRAL VIRGINIA SUMMARY:- This is the longest section, around 230 miles. It can get a bit discouraging, I think this is were many are hit with the "Virginia Blues". There is no sense of any tangible progress and the hikes do, at times, blur together as there are stretches with very little variety.- Pearisburg was a nice little town with many services. We only neroed there, but one could comfortably zero there as well. The section out of Perisburg was memorable due to the many ridges we hiked on. Very rocky terrain. - Virginia is NOT FLAT!!!! So, so many people claimed that once they hit Virginia, they anticipate being able to put in 20+ miles a day, which many have, but NOT solely because the terrain was permissible. 1) Shelters are extremely awkwardly placed, so, unless you stealth camp, you have to choose between a 11 mile day or a 21 mile one. Most have been opting for those longer days. 2) Our endurance and strength have increased, making the numerous uphills and downhills less noticeable.- Two important landmarks: Dragon's Tooth and McAfee's Knob. McAfee is great, Dragon's Tooth is horrible, unless you enjoy vertical descents along a sharp, rocky cliff. Do NOT attempt in the rain.- That being said, there was a very easy and flat three days out of Daleville. It was a welcome break.- The last stretch right before Waynesboro (especially out of Glasgow) was difficult as the Trail seemed to have reintroduced a continual stream of steep hills, many of which were quite rocky at times.- The Three Ridges Mountain is particularly traumatizing as that is where I hurt myself.- Waynesboro, the biggest Trail town so far (pop. ~22,000), is great. I am happy my ankle's ligaments decided they had had enough at this point because this is one of the best places to take a few days off!- We saw a few more deers and I have noticed an increase in the number of bird species we have seen. So many flowers are in bloom, the Trail is colorful and renewed; the best gift of Spring.- My summary would be incomplete if I omitted a mention of the great amount of rain we had. The state motto is "Virginia is for lovers"; lovers of rain, perhaps?- Axon