Date: 2007-10-18
From: Stealth site .6 miles past Rockspring Hut, VA

To: Stealth Site 3 miles past ByrdÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Nest #4 picnic sh
Miles today: 20.0

What an Unrestful nite, I think it was because my legs and feet were aching all nite and dead tree limbs kepts falling around me (one small one actually hit my tarp and bounced off). There are signs all over warning of the danger of falling limbs. I actually had a dream last nite that HUGE limbs were falling on me in my hammock.I got up around 3:00 a.m. to water the leaves and I turned my headlamp off to look at the stars. Stunning, and wouldn¢t you know it, I saw a shooting star! I wondered if anyone in Luray was looking up at me while I was looking down at them.It was 58 degrees when I woke. I was up and hiking by 8:00 a.m. First thing, 15 minutes into it I saw a freakin BOBCAT!!! SO COOOOOOOL!!!!! It confidently and stealthily slithered up the mountain side after walking across the trail. It was probably watching me hike by, but it sure was beautiful to see. Only one I¢ve seen since Georgia.Today was a cool day (long and painful) but cool. Almost every mountain I climbed (which was like 7 of them) had a great view or overlook. It was another perfect hiking day, in the 70¢s, a little overcast at time and breezy.I hiked past some horse stables and got a gatorade out of their machine, and looked at this girl shoveling A LOT of horse poop out of the stables. Not sure which one of us (her or I) smelled worse.Then it was off towards another climb, back down, and then to the Pinnacle, which sounds very intimidating, but was a breeze. So I get to the Pinnacle picnic area @ 11:45 a.m. to get water and eat a quick lunch (beef jerky and gorp again¢¦YUCK!). I notice this group of people @ the picnic pavillion, and I smell burgers and hot dogs and I¢m about to die, it smelled SO good and I LOVE hotdogs.Well, it just so happened that I somehow randomely chose to take my pack off at a picnic table closest to the restrooms (where I¢d get water) and wouldn¢t you know it, this picnic table also happened to be right next to the pavillion. Then the next amazing thing was some people from the group came over and asked me about my hike and they ended up inviting me over for lunch! LOL Ok ok¢¦I KNOW what you¢re ALL thinking¢¦.I was yogi-ing right? Well, technically I didn¢t, they approached me, I didn¢t approach them.I had no choice but to accept this wonderful invitation and this large group of incredibly nice people were from Main Street Baptist Church in Luray, VA and get this. The ONLY day of the ENTIRE YEAR they do this picnic is the the 3rd Thursday of October, and guess what today is!? How lucky am I? Hee hee (all future SOBO¢s mark that date in your calendars). So first I meet a man named Jamie and he decided he wanted to adopt me as his grand daughter. Before his wife passed away last year, they had been married for 61 years! His family actually owned a bunch of the land that now makes up the Shenandoah National Park. They used to bring their cows and sheep up the mountains to graze, but in 1933, the government took the land (quoting Eminent Domain) and after 1933, they could no longer graze their animals on the land. SNP was made a national park in 1934. What are the chances I¢d meet someone like that today?Also was a 25 year old woman who was visiting from NYC. I feel like a putz because I failed to get her name, but she¢s moving to Costa Rica so she can learn fluent Spanish, but she¢s a special ed teacher in the Bronx! Just cool people. Good luck with your journey!!So lunch, I was full after 2 hot dogs, 1 hamburger, beans, potato salad, chips, pickles, devlied eggs, bottle of water 2 cookies and a hot cup of black CAFFIENATED coffee¢¦..I was pleasantly full that is. So I realize I¢ve been off the trail for a while, and I¢m sure my metabolism has slowed down again, but boy did it come right back after hiking for 5 days.I have to pass on this hilarious joke Jamie told at the picnic:A guy comes to work w/a thermos. His buddy asks, ¢What is that?¢ The guy goes, ¢A thermos.¢ His buddy asks ¢Well, what does it do?¢ They guy goes, ¢It keeps hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold, you ought to get you one¢ The next day his buddy shows up to work with his very own thermos and the guy notices and goes, ¢Hey..see you¢ve got a thermos now, watcha got in it?¢ His buddy proudly says, ¢Hot coffee and a popsickle!¢ (buddum boom!) Ok ok, maybe not David Letterman caliber, but I thought it was funny.So MANY MANY thanks to Main Street Baptist Church of Luray for feeding this ravenous hiker¢s stomach and for welcoming me into your space for this lunch. You fueled me for a 20 mile day!I tore myself away around 1:15 p.m. and still had 12 miles to go¢¦ugh (I was ready to take a nap with my now full tummy). On my way down the Pinnacle, I ran into a family who are on a 6.5 month RV trip around the U.S. They are home schooling their 2 sons and 2 daughters and they are learning U.S. History by visiting the places they are studying about! How freakin cool is that? The youngest daughter (probably about 8 years old) aske me if I ever get scared or lonely since I hike and camp by myself most of the time. (How adorable¢¦you should have seen their eyes when I told them that¢s what I do). I told her I didn¢t get scared unless it got really cold and I didn¢t get lonely because I had people like her to talk to all the time.They all headed on, but I soon caught up to them and their dad admitted they were a little turned around and thought they might haved missed their side trail. I pulled out my map and showed them where to go back to (they¢d just missed it a few 100 yards back). He thanks me and goes, ¢See kids, what would we have done without Certain?¢ Made me laugh and sort of reminded me of a line you¢d hear in the Brady Bunch. Then it was on to what I think has to be the best view in the entire park, Mary¢s Rock. It¢s a .1 mile side trail (up of course) and all I know was the view was so impressive. So glad I took the time to go there. Mountains for miles, you could also see US 522 below (where I was headed next) and the colors of Fall starting to show on a hazy Virginian day. WOWEE!!! I finally left and headed down to Thorton Gap, and I met 2 people from Kansas who had come out to visit her mother who has dementia. This woman was visibly struggling because her mother didn¢t recognize her. I told her that we just don¢t know f dementia sufferers are ¢in there¢ or not, but it sure mattered that she made that visit. I wanted to encourage her.I walked to Thorton Gap to the closed visitor¢s center to try and find water. I¢ll tell you, if it weren¢t for all the picnic areas and visitor stations, I¢d be hiking with zero water. Almost all springs north of Doyle River Cabin are dried up.Now it was about 5:00 p.m. and I knew I needed to hike till 8:00 p.m. to make 20 miles, so up the next mountain I go. It wasn¢t too bad at all, and I¢m able to hike steadily without having to stop, so that helps. I saw the most impressive pile of scat I¢ve seen thus far though¢¦talk about laying a cable! LOL (I had to take a picture)It got dark and I put my headlamp on. I¢ll admit, I can get creeped out hiking at nite alone, but I spend my time making up my own words to ¢These are a Few of My Favorite Things,¢ and that kept my mind occupied. I came up a perfect place to hang and even though it was 7:45 p.m., I stopped. I knew I¢d made really good time. This was too easy, I got everything set up andas I was typing this I realized this sweet older lady from the church at lunch today insisted that I take 2 apples with me and guess where those apples are? In the side pockets of my pack, which is hanging on my hammock. Damn..gotta get up and put those apples in my bear bag, which is of course already hanging. I just don¢t want to take chances out here, especially in this park. Duh¢¦..Ok¢¦apples are hung now, it¢s 67 degrees in here @ 9:50 p.m. My feet feel like knubs at this point, but another 21.2 miles tomorrow (which will not only be my longest day ever, but will be the first time I¢ve hiked back to back 20 milers), and I get a shower for the first time in 6 days! A zero day in Front Royale is definitely in my plan now. Incessant will be picking me up where the trail head crosses US 522, so I¢ll have wheels to get around town for resupply and laundry. Thanks Incessant. I told her to just drive into town and ask the locals where the exact location is, townspeople are usually pretty up on that stuff. One more long day¢¦then rest.~Certain