Date: 2012-06-11
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Waynesboro VA
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: light rain

It takes me way to long, close to two hours, to break camp every morning. Nothing to it really, should take only 30 minutes tops, but the problem is getting motivated to move at middays pace early in the morning. Breaking camp consist of, getting my eyes open (hardest part) reaching behind my head and turning the valve that deflates my neo air mattress while still laying on it. Sometimes as the air is released you find a root or rock in a unforgiving place which speeds up the whole wake up process. 2 minutes?Next, sit up (almost as hard) and stuff my sleeping bag in its dry sack. Hmmm a lil harder so say 4 minutes.Roll up the air mattress (pain in the butt) and put it in its bag. I hate this part so 4 minutes.  I sleep with all my gear in the tent (2 man fly creek, gotta love it) so unzip the door and push it all outside. A conservative one minute. To help keep junk out of my shoes (going to get in hiking anyway) I put my them on inside the tent. Important so lets say I take my time, say, 5 minutes?Now get out and remove the fly (rain cover) this consist of pulling 6 tent pegs out of the ground (and scraping the dirt off) unbuckling 3 straps, unclipping 2 straps and stuffing it in its sack. 2-3 minutes depending on the dirt.Next, release 5 plastic hooks and unclip one clip from the tent support pole. Detach the tent support from three corners of the tent and then fold the support up and stuff it in it's sack, do the same with the now free tent. As many times as I have done this it should only take 45 seconds but lets say 3 minutes.Okay, eat breakfast (I don't cook) and stuff the afore mentioned gear in the pack. Hmmm my breakfast is usually the same as my snacks during the day, I can chew that sugary stuff up in 30 seconds flat but let's assume I was being gentlemen like with manners and all, 10 minutes and another 5 to stuff the gear in the pack. 36 minutes total, so why does it take 2 hrs every dang morning to get on the trail? Someone left their tent (still up) with apparently some gear inside at the shelter. It was there when we arrived and we assumed that the owner hit the sack early. When nobody stired by morning, concerned thru hiker (one) went up and had a peek inside to find it deserted.  Extremely  Unusual thing to do, giving rise to speculation. Did he or she get so tired of carrying it that they left it to save weight? Did someone get hurt and had to leave in a hurry? Did they wonder off and get lost? Did a bear have a late snack? Rain set in pretty early this morning but not before I reached the first overlook. This was the flattest valley floor I believe I've seen, most always the valleys are rolling hills with small flat spots in between. This one looked like it was 50 or maybe even a 100 miles of relatively flat grassland with a few small towns here or there. The rest of the overlook views were hidden by rain or fog. I've wanted sometime now to mention some of the trees in this mountainous region. Its easy to see that a lot of these trees have lived an incredibly tough life. A good example is a tree near the extreme north of Piney River, as it gets it's start down Cold mountain. Amazingly this tree has grown atop of a huge sixteen foot boulder. At first sight, from the front, it appears to have grown out of solid rock. Walking around to the back, you can see the tap roots stretching down the side of the rock seeking the nearest soil for nourishment as well as its only means of anchoring itself to the ground. A hundred or more year old tree, dead or dying, perched on a giant rock towering overhead is no less than, an awesome sight to behold. It's hard to say how that tree could have lived like that, perhaps the back side of the rock was once covered with soil, as it is nearest the slope. But if true, how could it be, the trees just behind it and the same age,on the same slope, look normal at the base? Looking up at it, I couldn't help but attempt to ascertain, with some scrutiny, just how tenacious to life these trees can be. Retread and me both run out of food today so when santa's helper drove by, as we were crossing the blue ridge parkway, with trail magic, it couldn't have come at a better time. That give us the fuel we needed to boogie on in to town. Waynesboro actually has a list posted on the guardrail where the trail intersects the BRP with phone numbers of people who give free rides to town. Hovered under our rain jacket, we in what's now just a drizzle, called Jim who picked us up after only a short delay. Dripping wet I got in his car (feeling guilty) and he drove us to a over priced hotel but the cheapest in town.