Date: 2004-06-07
From: Spy Rock

To: Reed's Gap
Miles today: 19.4

Showered, full of Applebees food, tired, and surrounded by the smell of wet socks, I write this journal. Today was a day of hellacious climbs and pleasant surprises. I¢m in Waynesboro a day early¢¦how I got here I¢ll delve into in a moment. I¢ve been awake since 5:45 a.m. which is when today¢s journey starts. I awoke at the crack of dawn to find a misty sky with light but no sun. I sat up on a nearby rock and waited. Sure enough, ten minutes later my early rise was well rewarded. I called to Booboo & Beartracks ¢the sun is rising¢ and heard the response: ¢Night¢¢¦ I watched it rise alone. Slowly the reddish orange orb appeared over the horizon alongside a huge cotton cloud. Ever so peacefully it levitated to its proper place in the sky and I sat transfixed. I was still lost in the morning¢s charms as Beartracks and Booboo began to stir, then I heard Beartracks say ¢Beatbox come look at this!¢ On the mud atop Spy Rock sat 2 places with fresh paw prints. One set was VERY LARGE with 5 distinct claw marks. The other was relatively large with 4 toes and less sharpened claws. Our best guess is that BOTH A cougar and a coyote (or similar animal) had been within 15 feet of us as we camped on the rock¢¦WOW!...GULP!By 8:30 a.m. we were all fed, packed, and entering the trail: a late start for me, an ¢early¢ start for both of my sleep-hoarding companions. We covered two 500-1,000 foot climbs in the first 4 miles and stopped near the top of our second climb: The Priest. I mentioned that I was enjoying my hike and Booboo chipped in: ¢I figured you¢d enjoy being on the Priest¢¦ha, ha.¢ Chalk one point for Booboo. On top of the mountain we met 3 section hikers, all from the Baltimore area. We chatted about school and they shared apples and peanut butter with us. They also let Booboo use the cell phone to contact home. One of the men did acapella music for 16 years and we talked long enough that Booboo ¢reminded¢ me we needed to hike. I thanked the gentlemen and we pushed on refreshed. We dropped 4.5 miles straight down the mountain from an elevation of 4,000 feet to the Tye River at 1,080 feet¢¦of course we would go back up just as high. As we took a break my head began to pound relentlessly, good thing a 3,000 foot climb was not awaiting me; oh, wait, it was. Three Ridges is the last 2,000 (+) foot climb from middle Virginia to New Hampshire. Northern VA, West Virginia, Maryland, PA, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut are all lower in elevation and do not dare ¢Challenge¢ with climbs like 3 Ridges¢¦this was AWESOME NEWS, but only made the ascension seem more daunting. I led the way for the first 2 miles and over the first 1,000 feet. My head was splitting and I yelled at Booboo for his loud radio¢¦one can only take so many songs by the Eurhythmics played loud and sung off key. We took a break at the shelter and Booboo gave me Aleve. This was a wise idea. Booboo can be the most obnoxious hiker¢¦slowly I¢ve learned to handle the former quality and enjoy the latter. As I left the shelter, medicated, I pushed ahead and covered the next 2 miles and 1,200 feet in no time flat. I zigzagged over what appeared to be infinite switch-backs and hopped rocks¢¦only 1,000 feet left.The final climb was anticlimactic, which was fine with me. I stayed slightly ahead of my radio-playing, off key singing companions¢¦I love them, but not their noise. By 4:45 p.m., dripping in sweat and plum tuckered out, I sat atop 3 Ridges. The climb was everything I had expected¢¦and I won¢t see another like it until New England¢¦WooHoo! We breezed over the next 2.5 miles and my headaches finally ebbed. We joked and had a mini ¢race¢ over the mountain. Booboo nearly killed himself :-). Despite minorly blistered feet, I was feeling great as we hit Maupin Shelter ¢ 17.7 down. I laughed hysterically as Booboo talked loudly about a strange (to some :-)) red-headed hiker named Esoteric Ninja¢¦then ¢Ninja¢ walked out of the privy probably having heard the whole conversation ¢ HA!. After I recovered from laughing at Booboo, we headed out for an easy final 2.3¢¦or 1.7 miles.We had planned on going to Rusty¢s Hard Time Hollow¢¦a hostel with no electricity run by a tough-as-nails Mennonite¢¦he even has a hot tub run by a wood fire. While that sounded fun, Booboo mentioned his parents could drive us to the YMCA in Waynesboro and dinner might be possible. Dinner?...our decision took 2 seconds¢¦I looked at Beartracks and he at me¢¦roll the dice on dinner. We thought we were going to hike 2.3 miles, but upon seeing the road at 1.7 miles we were done. 19.4 of the toughest miles were complete and we went to go hitch ¢¦30 seconds later we found our hitch: Booboo¢s folks.Booboo¢s parents were so happy to see him¢¦His mom even gave me a hug. We drove to Rusty¢s to see what was up. Crazy sign¢s lined the drive in¢¦¢one threatened to harm any person who mentioned Rusty¢s on the internet¢ (not a fan of the technology). I laughed as we walked in to see Lindsey (now named Giggles), 2-Cent, Caterpillar, and others. In addition to the hot tub I saw more crazy signs, basketball, Frisbee golf, and more. As much as I¢ve heard Rusty¢s is amazing I also heard something else: ¢Applebees¢. This was stated by Booboo¢s parents¢¦we left Rusty¢s. As I listened to Booboo and his family I laughed. I could see so much of Booboo¢s personality in them: they rocked! They not only took us to dinner, they treated us. I had a coke, split Buffalo Wings with Booboo, and had a sirloin & riblets combination dinner with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I was in heaven! Now I¢m back at the YMCA to camp, showered, and filled with food. I¢m ready for bed. FINAL THOUGHTS:¢¢        I used a fly-infiltrated privy today¢¦eww¢¦I wish I would have just dug a hole. ¢¢        Snicker¢s Marathon bars are awesome! (Booboo gave me one).¢¢        I¢m signing registers as the B-Boys (Booboo, Beatbox, Beartracks)¢¢        Postmodernism and its writings suck! I keep having the joy of reading one hiker¢s delightfully pointless entries.¢¢        I may slackpack tomorrow for the first time :-). This is when your have a ride, so you only carry food and water, not a full pack. ¢¢        I¢VE LOST 15 POUNDS!!! (According to the YMCA scale which may be wrong).¢¢        Krispy is now 1 day ahead¢¦I¢ll catch him yet again!¢¢        Ever since my time of ¢mad stress¢ last week God has been blessing me. Thank you for all your prayers.Goodnight, BEATBOX   ttt ¢¢