Date: 2008-06-07
From: Loft Mtn Campground, Shenandoah National Park, VA

To: Smith Roach Gap, Shenandoah National Park, VA
Miles today: 12.8

I slept very sound last night and woke up at 5am.Rainbow Slick and I wanted to get our walk in by noon, so we had decided to get as early a start as we could.I was still really tired when I did wake up, so I took my time getting ready.I packed up my stuff and even took my tent down because I needed my hiking poles for the walk....and I use them to hold the tent up.I had been enjoying the peaceful morning inside my tent, but as soon as I crawled outside, then black flies started swarming and biting.They were very bad....the worst I've seen this far south.I noticed Gator was trying to hurry and get packed up too. He stayed in the tentsite next to mine.I decided to carry my full pack today, even though Goosebump The Snow Princess was going to pick us up at noon. The last time I carried it half full, it just didn't ride right.Rainbow Slick and I grabbed a few pastries and ate those, then started walking north on the Appalachian Trail at 6am.I got some relief from the black flies when I started walking, but they were still bad for a while. We eventually walked away from the most of them and I started really enjoying the walk, even though it was very humid and hot.It was about a mile of fairly open trail at first and there was a lot of dew on the overgrown grass....and lots of bear paduke on the Trail. :-)There was so much bear paduke that I even saw where some hikers had stepped in it and slid.We climbed up to Loft Mountain and stopped at the overlook for a short break and some water.I could see the closer mountains, but the air was so heavy with humidity that the mountains 10 or more miles away were barely visible.Rainbow Slick and I headed down the mountain and came to a sidetrail to a spring. We decided to take advantage of the cool spring and walk about .2 miles to get to it.It was a great spring! Flowing really nice and very cold.We both drank about a liter and emptied the warm water out of our bottles and refilled them with the cold water.We descended about 600 feet to Ivy Creek, and then climbed 500 feet up the next hill.Rainbow Slick was leading and I had to walk a little faster than the pace I've been walking so far this year.I'm still trying to go slow like I said I would in the beginning of the year after I had read Liteshoe's book...."The Ordinary Adventurer". (Her book even won an award last month)....can you bahleeeeeve that!? :-)Anyway, I had to walk faster to keep up and it actually felt good.We passed by the sidetrail to Pinefield Hut without stopping.We climbed another 500 feet, then descended 500 feet to Simmons Gap.We climbed 700 feet up the next hill, then descended 700 feet to Powell Gap. (There was lots of those little hills today) :-)It was hot and humid, but I was having fun because I had walked away from those nasty little black flies.We stopped at an overlook just before we got to Powell Gap.There was a girl there, but she already had her pack on and walked north.Rainbow Slick and I stayed there for a while and cooled down, then started the last little part of today's walk.We passed the girl, but didn't stop and talk. We thought that just maybe Goosebump The Snow Princess would be there early...with ice cold sodas.When we planned out today's walk, Rainbow Slick made sure Goosebump The Snow Princess was going to bring refreshments for us. (I think he felt he would need trail magic after walking half a day) :-)The girl we passed showed up and Rainbow Slick told her if she wanted to wait till his wife showed up, she could get in on the ice cold drinks. She waited! :-)Her name was Bear Puncher and she was here doing a section of a couple hundred miles.I had to ask about her trail name. :-)She said she had been sleeping in her tent and she started dreaming that a dog was nudging her. She kept dreaming that the dog wouldn't leave her alone, so she punched it.Turned out she was dreaming it was a dog nudging her, but it was REALLY a bear! He ran off. :-)Goosebump The Snow Princess showed up right on time!...half an hour late, but she had ice cold sodas! :-)Bear Puncher had a soda and an apple, and then Dude showed up and got in on the cold sodas.Bear Puncher and Dude walked on and we all headed back to Loft Mtn Campground.It was so hot and humid that we decided to head down to a waterfall and cool off.I took a picture of Little Jack Spencer. He looked bad! :-)He was having a blast on his first camping trip, but he was learning that the rocks are hard when he falls and blackberry bushes have thorns and black flies bite and dirt tastes bad and life is GREAT when you live outdoors! :-)Goosebump found a trail to the falls from a book that said it was a .8 mile one way walk downhill.We all headed to the trailhead and when I checked the mileage post, I saw it was a 2 1/4 mile one way walk....downhill. We went. :-)I had been very sticky for several days and really needed a shower. I found that shower....an ice cold shower right under Doyles Falls.At least it seemed like it was ice cold because the temperature was near 100 degrees.We all played around in the falls for about 30 minutes before we realized we were getting hungry and we still had a long way to walk to get back to the cars.We got back to Loft Mtn Campground and Rainbow Slick got the fire going and we had 3/4 pound Angus burgers and hotdogs over the oak coals....umm, umm!For a day that started off with swarming black flies, it sure turned out to be a good one!This was another one of those days where I squeezed every ounce of living out of it I could. :-)Another great day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)