Date: 2006-04-26
From: Blackrock Gap

To: Jarman Gap
Miles today: 11.3

TuesdayDrive from Syracuse to Lewis Mountain Campground. Arrive about 9PM. About 15 deer between Shenandoah Park and the Campground. One other creature Amoeba doesn¢t get a good look at. May have been a deer, it was deer-colored and small deer size, but the shape was more like a cat. Hard to see in the dark-dusk.Hello 4 old friends! Hello one new friend, Dixie, Purple Rose and Purple Sherpa¢s new little Skipperkey, a rescue dog they¢ve had for about 3 months. Full of energy!WednesdayBlackrock Gap to Jarman Gap, 11.3 milesThunder, lightning and rain overnight.Start 8:45, overcast, temp 40¢s.Garlic mustard in bloom, dogwood and purple violets too.Mountain laurel sporting new leaves.Light pink phlox, 5¢ highWhitish, purplish, pinkish vetch.Yellow violets, dandelions, chickweed, pussytoes. Very very fresh bear scat, but no bear in sight though they look around intently.Trail 12 inches wide, gravelly and duffy, no mud.11AM 10 minute snack at the top of a risePurple Rose and Zig Zag talk of hikers they¢ve met in Shenandoah. Mark, Batman and Robin¢s Nest, Trek, Pop Log and Red Ranger, Bleach so-called because he wears the same white t-shirt day after day, another thruhiker whose name they didn¢t catch who wears a necktie, Hatteras Jack who started March 2 used to work on navy submarine, Coconut Monkey from Greenville SC who started March 8. Wege and her husband, section hikers. Cake (formerly Cupcake), a section hiker. Lumbermack and Lab Rat, now known as Sunshine. Last year Purple Rose and Zig Zag had met Lumbermack and Lab Rat at the grocery store on 606 or 608.Trail names. Many of them have a dark side. Amoeba¢s does. Mark has informed ZigZag her trail name is the name of the manufacturer of papers used to roll joints.Webworm nest. Trees leafing out. Deer. Squirrels. 12:10 Hello to Nugget. Nugget? Nugget from Harrisburg? Nugget NOBO thruhiked in 2003. In Great Barrington, his wife joined him for a visit. They saw Amoeba hiking into town and gave her a ride. Nugget, what's happened since?Well, since summiting Katahdin in ¢03, I haven¢t been able to get long-distance hiking out of my head. I wanted to do the PCT but my wife and I agreed that trail is too far away. So, March 3 I started on the AT a second time. Recently I've had some equipment trouble. 3 days before Montebello my pack buckle broke. My shoulders took a real beating but I made it to Dutch Haus where Earl Arnold fixed me up with a spare. Nugget keeps up with Ducky and Softy (Just Ducky and Soft Serve), a married couple from Massachusetts who also thruhiked in 2003. Amoeba met them in CT/ MA. They braved a severe nor¢easter to get to the next shelter where they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. This year Ducky and Softy are biking the perimeter of the US starting from Daytona FL. Another 2003 thruhiker is biking it starting from somewhere out west. Along the way Ducky, Softy and that thruhiker (sorry I don¢t remember his name) met up! At Turk¢s Gap Purple Sherpa and the doggies have snacks waiting: cheese, crackers, and carrots. Loner (a deaf thruhiker) and his dog Pete pass through. He thinks there are about 20 thruhikers ahead of him.Pink azalea.Spiderwort in several pastel colors.A nice hike. Back to the campsite for supper inside the warm VW. Too cold to sit outside. Good food, good friends, good conversation.