Date: 2003-05-29
From: Harpers Creek Shelter

To: Waynesboro
Miles today: 27.3
Weather: heavy intensity rain

What can I say about today? We started out with a plan to do a long hike of 22 miles to a shelter 5 miles from Rockfish Gap and Waynesboro. Beekpr and I started our hike with a 2000 foot climb at 7 AM. When we studied the map the night before it looked like after that climbe we'd have a nice hike with one more climb later in the day but nothing quite worked out as planned. We started out with the threat of rain and almost immediately found the trial on that first climb full of what we call "rock rubble". This consists of rocks of all sizes covering the trail and on a dry day this trail condition will slow you down. It's eas to turn an ankle on all the loose rocks. It's even worse when they are wet which makes them very slippery. Well, they got very slippery fast since it started raining lightly at first at 7:45AM. The trail consisted of these rocks for the first 15 miles. As the day progressed the rain got heavier and heavier until we had a hard downpour that lasted over an hour around 1:00 PM. That flooded the trail and our boots. Lets just say the rain was relentless. With water sloshing in our boots we started up Bee Mountain and when we made the summit the rain let up enough for us to take our boots off and dump out the water and wring our socks out and then put the wet socks into the wet boots and continue the hike. At least our boots were a bit lighter without the water. With the weather conditions we didn't stop for breaks but did make a quick lunch stop under a large overhanging rock. That gave us some protection from the rain and let me put together a bagel and cheese to munch down. There wasn't any reason to stop for the overlooks to see the scenery since we were walking in a cloud most of the day so we just kept pushing on only taking our packs off briefly 3 times the whole day. When we came to a sign stating that the shelter was 5.6 miles away we both checked our watches and it was 3:00 and we both thought the same thing. We were already soaked to the bone and figured if we could make the 5.6 miles in good time why not keep pushing to Rock Fish Gap and get into a motel and get a good meal in Waynesboro instead of staying in a cold damp shelter. When we arrived at 4:45 at the shelter we decided to do the last 5 miles to the Gap and stayed just long enough to dump the water out of our boots again and wring out the socks, grab a quick snack, said our good byes to the hikers that decided to stay in the shelter and of we went. The rain ended around 6 PM and we arrived at the Gap at 7:00 PM, covering 27.3 very hard miles in 12 hours.We were picked up at the Gap by a woman tri athlete who took pity on 2 very wet tired hikers thumbing on the highway and took us into Waynesboro to the motel. God, it feels great to take a shower after being in the woods for 8 days.To all the Thru Hikers that are presently hiking in Central Virginia and to those that will be soon I hope you get to see more of this great countryside than we did. I heard on the radio this morning that we had measurable rain, and some of those days, Very Measureable, 12 out of the last 14 days. We've seen a lot of shades of Gray and no views through the hole in the hood of our rain jackets since leaving Pearisburg. We are thankful for the days we could see the Valley's and the row upon row of mountains. Some of the scenery we did see was breathtaking.I'm really looking forward to the hike thru the Shenandoah National Park up to Harpers Ferry, W.Va. I just hope we have better weathe to enjoy the experience. Beekpr's daughter, Melissa, will be joining us tomorrow to hike the next segment of the 151 miles to Harpers Ferry. I think she will really enjoy the National Park, I've heard many good things about this part of the hike. Well, I started out asking, "what can I say about today", and it looks like I couldn't stop talking about it. It's time to get this sore body to bed for a little rest now since we have a busy day tomorow with laundry, food shopping, Post Office, and a trip to the local backpacking outfitters. Hopefully I can find a new pair of boots.