Date: 2005-06-06
From: Montebello, VA

To: Cedar Cliffs
Miles today: 24.3

Breakfast was at 7:30 sharp. Lois runs a tight ship and she is just like a mother when you are at the Dutch Haus. This morning people were running a little slow so I got in on the 7:30 shift. This was good because I wanted to get out of town as soon as possible. I had a lot of miles I wanted to do today. I said my goodbyes and Earl took me to the post office. Why in the world I sent myself a maildrop there I do not know. I already have enough food to get me to Waynesboro and with my plan to accelerate the pace I had a lot more now. Not to mention, I have a maildrop in Waynesboro! Earl then took me to the trailhead and off I went. It seems that summer has begun! Temps today are supposed to be near 90 with high humidity. On the ridges it will probably be in the mid 80's or so. Figured that it would happen that way. Go from cold and wet to instant hot. I would rather have the heat though! It is 38 miles from here to Waynesboro. I was going to shoot for around 27 today which would set me up well to get to Waynesboro early on Tuesday. The whole goal was to catch up to Break. If she pushed and got in Monday and was in a hurry to leave I might miss her by just a few hours if I got there late Tuesday. Probably an unlikely scenario but I wanted to cover all bases. Throw in the Priest and the Three Ridges, both of them tough climbs, and I had my day cut out for me. I made the first 5 miles to the Priest Shelter in good time. I ran into the Garland 5 taking a break there so we talked awhile. I loaded up with water, a big necessity today, and again headed out. I told Wolfsong about an email I had received from Lonesome Dove. It included a picture of me from Trail Days last year. When I looked at the picture I had to laugh because standing next to me was Wolfsong. I did not know her then and it was pretty humorous that a cameo picture would surface a year later and the person I had just seen was in it. When I did this area last year it was a wet, miserable, cold day. This year it was the opposite. As I climbed and climbed my energy was being sapped very quickly. I made a point to drink a lot of water but it was like pouring water through a sieve. Last year Spiderweb and I flew over this section because it was so miserable out! I did run into Red Hat as I started the climb up the Three Ridges. She is back on the trail! I finally, and I repeat, finally made it to the top of the Three Ridges. I started the descent to the Maupin Shelter where I was going to get water and check the register to see if Break had been there. By now it was about 6:30. I was tired and my legs felt a little like jelly but I was going to move on a bit more. I got my water and there was no sign of Break having been there last night. I began to think she had made the big push and was at the next shelter, 16 miles away and only 5 from Waynesboro. I left planning on going for aother couple of hours or so. Another thing, other than the Garland 5 and Red Hat I didn't see another soul today. Definitely between groups! At 8:00 I began looking for a place to toss down my sleeping bag. No such luck. The area I was in was very rocky and on the side of the mountain. I kept walking and it got darker and I was tired. More tired than I had been in a long time. 8:30 and still no place, 9:00 and still no place. Around 9:30 I came to the Cedar Cliffs, a nice cliff overlook with a few grassy spots. I knew immediatelty that I wasn't going anywhere else. Out came the sleeping bag and in I went. Too tired and too hot for dinner I munched on a snack and laid down. What a long day! But, I had made it so my walk to Waynesboro would be fairly easy.