Date: 2006-05-22
To: Chris' Notes - On The Trail (4) With Old Goat
Miles today: 0.0

CHRIS' ENTRY________________________________________________________________This day was scheduled to be only 12 miles, a welcomed break for me from the mountains and long days. It was as beautiful a day as was the other two, sunny, cool in the morning, and comfortable in the afternoon. My idea of perfect camping weather, sort of like Air Conditioning at night, cool hiking weather then warm lounging weather later on. Sweet!!Early on we passed the white haired lady and her dog. The dog was walking well and we asked about the fall. She said he was ok. Dad asked her trail name, she goes by "Harry and the Hendersons". Harry is the dog and I'm guessing she and her husband are the Hendersons, but I'm not sure. Like I said before, she, her husband, and her dog are the cutest. It's nice to see people out there enjoying life rather than complaining about it all the time.Half way through the day we passed Rockfish Gap, where I64 crosses the AT and most hikers go into Waynesboro, VA. We walked over to the welcome center. In waiting outside for my dad's cell to charge we were offered 3 rides to Waynesboro in about 20 minutes. Not bad for not trying. After leaving we met 2 other thru-hikers we had seen the day before, they had just stumbled upon a bear on the AT. They clapped their hands and made noises and it ran off, not your typical TV/Movie ending, but typical of most wild bear encounters on the east coast. Too bad the media only dramatizes the bad things.After entering Shenandoah National Park we got to the trail register where dad filled out a backcountry permit. I had already gotten mine while parking my car. There was another gentleman there dong the same. He was planning a section hike of 10 days through SNP. The one thing I noticed about him was he seemed really down on things. Throughout the day I heard comments like "I tried to get my sons out here, they would not come", "come on, you can find something to complain about" etc. For me that snapped me back to my job. It seems some of the people I work with really like to complain about life, it¢s depressing. I find that attitude more so at this job than the last one. Hopefully things will change as people turn over at work. It was refreshing to talk to the thru-hikers on the AT; they were all there because they wanted to be and were mostly having a great time. For lunch we found some tractor seats on top of a mountain to sit on. They were near a bunch of radio & microwave antennas, those I could have done without, but looking the other way was nice.About 4pm we got to the shelter we were staying at. We found some tent sites, mostly on hills, and settled in. Later on "Posy Picker" showed up. Dad had met him early on and caught up by skipping a 0 in Waynesboro. We also met "Texas" and his friend, saw the section hiker, and saw 2 other thru hikers from the day before.Posy Picker is an interesting guy. He lives in Montana and has an interesting home. It has an organic vegetable garden that supplies all of their vegetables. He has a wind generator (windmill) that creates enough power to power his home, plus some excess, which is sold back to the power company and pays his taxes. His profession is making reproduction antique Shaker furniture by hand. They are sold to museums. He has a PhD in Botany and was a professor for a while, and oh, did I mention he's hiking the AT for his 4th time. It sure is intresting the people you meet in this world.In the evening I made a campfire, jut because I wanted to. It was fun. Then off to bed we went for another long day of hiking.