Date: 2013-06-11
From: Campsite, Humpback Mountain

To: Rockfish Gap, Waynesboro, VA, Quality Inn
Miles today: 12.5

It was a dark night. Usually after I turn my headlamp off my eyes adjust pretty quickly to the darkness. I'm able to see shadows outside my tent. But last night it wasn't so. Just darkness. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't notice. But Mother Nature called in the middle of the night. I dreaded getting up. I had a creepy image pop in my head. What if when I crawled out of my tent there were "Blair Witch" type of rock circles and stick formations, with tent in the center? What would I do? I decided that it would definitely ruin my night, more than wet socks and rocky trail. Luckily, there was no such thing, but I still didn't venture far from my tent. I got up about 6:20. It was overcast and didn't look to promising. I fetched my food bag and packed up. The sky cleared out a bit. I took the rain fly out to the cliffs and held it in the wind again to shake off the water droplets. The wind was still just a-gusting!I put my wet clothes back on. My feet cringed as I slid them into the wet socks. A mouse seems to have chewed a hold in the side of the left sock. And he tore up the used toilet paper. And he pooped in my Crocs. Little bastard had a busy night. I headed out by 7:30 and went slow. There were plenty of hills to climb and several old stone fences to admire. Some looked new, as if they were build yesterday. Some looked centuries old. There were several opportunities to to hike to vistas, but I didn't go to any of them. My knee was hurting, and I was more than ready to get to Waynesboro. I realized that the quality of hike in the last few days had diminished greatly. It's been less about experiencing the moment and more about "getting there." I hate this! I realized that I can walk for miles without raising my head to look around. I'm moving slower, but I'm so focused on my knee. Is it hurting? Is it swelling? Is it better? Is it worse? Today, the knee is hurting more. I'm worried about it. Initially I thought I could grit my teeth and push through. Which I still could. But it's affecting the quality of my hike. Something is going to need to change. As I approached the Paul C. Wolfe Shelter, I heard the water rushing. Mill Creek, running in front of it, was swollen well beyond its normal size. I scanned up and downstream. There were no obvious places to cross. So I plowed right through, boots and all. The water reached up to knees. It moved swiftly along, but the bottom was flat. I crossed easily, but wow, were my boots heavy afterwards!The trail into Waynesboro was smooth and well graded. I appreciated that! Breeze and Buckles caught up with me, and we decided that we'd all split a room. They took off ahead. As I came to Rockfish Gap, I heard the I-64 traffic. Civilization. There was a piece of paper tacked to the guardrail. It was the name and phone numbers of local trail angels. With a phone call, they'd come and pick you up and shuttle you into town. Free of charge! It seems impossibly generous. I took a photo of the list. A day hiker approached me. She asked if I needed a ride. She would happily post-pone her hike and give me a lift if I wanted. I thanked her, but said that I needed to find the guys. She pointed me in their direction. They'd found the kettle corn/hot dog truck. I joined them there. I ordered a hot dog and gatorade. The vendor asked if I was a thru-hiker. I answered to the affirmative. He gave me a huge discount on my purchase! I've been thoroughly humbled by the special treatment we, feral thru-hikers, receive. I feel that the channels of generosity and hospitality flow so forcefully in one direction. I look forward to the day that I can reverse the flow and give back to the community that has treated me so well.While we were sitting eating out hot dogs, another truck pulled up. A big yellow truck. The driver introduced himself as "Yellow Truck." He asked if we needed a ride into town. We thanked him, but the guys had already called another name on the list. Yellow Truck gave us a flier with the names, phone numbers, addresses and map of many local restaurants and services. He told me to take down his number in case I needed anything. About that time, our trail angel showed up. We loaded in the back of his truck. He stopped at a local business so I could pick up a maildrop, and then he deposited us at our hotel in town. We checked in. I took a shower, and then called Yellow Truck to see if he would be available to take me to the doctor to get my knee looked at. He said he'd be there 3 minutes. He was. Yellow Truck drove me the 10-15 minutes down the interstate to Augusta Medical Center. I tried to pay him for the ride. He got offended. Instead, he gave me his list of trail angels along with a few other names and numbers that weren't on the list, in case he wasn't able to come pick me back up himself. Again, I felt that no amount of "thank yous" would ever be enough. As he pulled away, he told me to call my mom. As I walked in, I saw another hiker. We have a certain look about us, especially at this point in the game. It was Sonny. I recognized him by his shoes. He had on one black Croc (that fit) and one light brown Croc (that was way too small). He'd lost a shoe while crossing the creek in front of Harper Creek Shelter. I got checked in, and they saw me soon after. They took x-rays and did an examine. The x-rays looked great- a good, strong knee, the P.A. had said, and the examine turned up nothing. I was simultaneously relieved and mystified. The best diagnosis they could give me was over-use, inflammation and perhaps the early stages of tendinitis. The P.A. gave me a few strengthening exercises to do, told me to keep talking Aleve and Ibuprofen and to come to terms with the fact that I might not make it all the way to Katahdin in one go. So my hike wasn't coming to an end, but it might not be completed either. I had some soul searching to do. With this new knowledge, what shape might my hike take on? This is what I need to come up with. I have no interest in flip-flopping (hoping up to Maine and walking south). Nor do I want to skip any parts of the trail. Doing the miles in order is important to me. I might have to start slack-packing more, to take some of the excess strain off my knee, which is acceptable as far as I'm concerned. So maybe I will run out of time before I reach the official end. If there's anything left to, maybe Tom and I can section hike it next spring. But for now, I will continue north, slowly, gingerly. That's the current plan.Yellow Truck came to fetch me afterwards and dropped me back at the hotel. I headed down the Heritage on Main. I had a stellar burger (BLT with avocado) and french fries and two glasses of Pinot Grigio. Pathfinder came back from Ohio and joined me for a bit. It was so good to see her again. She's head into the Shenandoah's tomorrow. I'm envious. I'll zero in Waynesboro for the next 3-4 days to see if real rest makes any difference. I joined the guys back at the hotel. They were already tucked into bed. We watched sports and laughed at the day and the adventure. I was so pooped and my belly was fuller than I think it's ever been.