Date: 2009-06-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 125.0

Dear readers,Once again, I find myself at a loss as to where to begin. The good news is I am taking two zero days with my family right now and have nothing but R and R planned, so hopefully I can get all caught up on things I wanted to journal about. Yesterday, the Goonies hiked into Pine Grove Furnace State Park, crossing the official halfway point (mile 1,089) 3 miles prior. It's been cold and rainy for the past few days so nobody felt up to eating a gallon of ice cream. A few tried, even fewer succeeded. Gangsta is also double-zeroing (the boys dubbed a double zero a "Robert Parish") here with her husband and her father and sister also arrive today. We are staying at the summer home of a friend of extended family and it is fabulous. Cozy and relaxing-just what we need. We haven't zeroed in 500 miles (not recommended) and this weekend couldn't come quick enough, but more on that that later. Let me rewind a bit...Upon leaving Shenandoah, the last section of Virginia consisted of the infamous "Roller Coaster" portion. Ten climbs in 13 miles. It was daunting and intimidating. Well, let me tell you, when all was said and done, we thought it was all a bunch of hoohah. We couldn't believe how much hype surrounded it! The trail felt like any other portion of the trail south of Virginia. Yes, there was more elevation than we'd seen in awhile, but it was nothing compared to the first 500 miles of the AT! I guess it's all relative... I hardly noticed 6 of the climbs. Most were all less than 500 ft. in elevation gain. Sure, if it was your first time backpacking, it'd probably kick your butt, but having 900+ miles under our belts made it feel like nothing. Simply a lot of hype. Don't be scared of the roller coaster! After nero-ing into Front Royal and spending one night at a hotel in Front Royal, I was getting antsy and tired of spending money. After doing the usual hotel morning ritual of lying in bed watching country music videos with Gangsta, we walked outta the hotel room at 10:59am, a minute before checkout, ready to hit the trail. WindUp came with us, but the boys were feeling extremely lazy and decided to spend another night in town. The Goonies were temporarily splitting up... by gender! And the girls were thrilled. Don't get me wrong, we love all male members of the Goonies, but after 76 days of hiking together, we appreciated the estrogen-only energy. I can't say I missed the Seinfeld quotes/references or the Dick Vitale impersonations. Sometimes, I think those are the only things to come out of the boys' mouths. It was just us... women in the wilderness, hiking together, enjoying the peace and quiet. It was wonderful.We made plans with the boys to meet them in 4 days time at Harper's Ferry, so until then were the "Girl Goonies". Now that we are farther north, the number of female thru-hikers seems to be dwindling. We often find ourselves being the only females at the shelters at night. A group of females thru-hiking together is so rare, some people assumed we were the Packadivas! (they are a week or so behind us... miss you, girls!) For two of the nights it was all women in the shelter (Cricket showed up!). Can't remember the last time that was the case! It was fun, but I think our bodily functions stunk it up equally as badly as the boys.   Despite pushing ahead of our own Hermes, Saint, and Rusticus, there've been some other hikers who we've been staying on the same schedule with for a couple weeks. They are Jeremiah Johnson, Sawman, Spaceman, Cuppa Joe and Paulman, Cricket, Hi-C just to name a few. We don't see them all every day, but at least a few times a week. Goodbyes never seem to be permanent on the AT. The weekend was a much needed change of pace for all. WindUp, Gangsta, and I enjoyed our girl time to the fullest. There was a calm, quiet, peaceful energy around camp in the evenings that doesn't seem to exist with the boys around. Also, it was nice getting to know other thru-hikers a bit better. The three of us passed mile 1,000 together. Dayhikers looked at us in disbelief when they asked us how far we've been hiking for and we said a thousand miles. It was empowering and created stronger bonds amongst us, but we were excited for a Goonies reunion at the ATC when Monday rolled around. More from my next entry...Happy Trails,Wags