Date: 2006-06-14
From: Rod Hollow Shelter, VA

To: Blackburn AT Center, WV
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I have no idea where I am. Is it Virginia, or is it West Virginia? I think the ridge where I almost got struck by lightning is the border, and I did take a right off the ridge to the hostel...so it¢s Virginia? But I'm so tired of my little rendezvous in Virginia that I¢m sticking with West Virginia. Hoorah, a new state!I apologize that everyone is stuck reading my ramblings. Not every day is thrilling out here, and most days are exhausting. Had I hiked another 3 miles today I could have camped at the 1,000-mile point, but I just didn¢t have it in me. Today was the "Roller Coaster," a section where you climb 800 ft, then descend the same amount...10 times! I once was forced to go to an amusement park over Spring break with a hangover. Needless to say, I'd rather do that again than revisit this roller coaster in Virginia. I¢m zonked!I couldn¢t be more excited for tomorrow and Friday. Lots of milestones as well as an exciting adventure to an undisclosed location. Can you guess where Chardonnay will wind up?Cheers,Chardonnay***********An Update from Cabernet (Lindsay)***********Tonight is my last night in the Shenandoahs. I feellike a lot of thru-hikers raced through the park -probably partly due to the fact that the shelters areimperfectly spaced, and partly because people aregetting anxious to be done with Virginia. TheShenandoahs are the last major segment of the 550-milestate. I took a week to get through SNP (Shenandoah NationalPark) and I'm glad I did. Yesterday I finally saw abear! I happened to look up and saw a bear next to thetrail about 50 feet ahead. I stopped quickly andbacked up several steps. After a few minutes the bearhad wandered to what I thought was a safe enoughpassing distance, so I started walking up the trailagain. A few steps later, I saw a bear cub poke itshead up and run into the woods on the opposite side ofthe path as its mother. I thought, "Well this just gota lot more dangerous." So again I backed up, furtherdown the trail, and waited for 10 minutes or so beforeI tried again. The mother bear and her 2 cubs wereprobably 30-40 feet off the trail in a clearing. Iwalked by, keeping an eye on the mother bear (she wasBIG) while she kept an eye on me. I wanted to watchthe cubs because they were adorable, but decided thatwasn't the safest choice, so I kept going. I was alittle scared. Mother bears can get very protective. That day I also saw 15 deer, including two does withfawns! That might be more deer than the average NewJersey resident sees in a day. Apparently, when SNPopened, there were no deer. They released 50 or so andnow there are several thousand in the park. (With nopredators other than cars, they recover quickly.)Today I saw 5 deer including another mother and baby.I also saw an owl and got rattled at by the fourthrattlesnake I've seen on this trip.I went to the last wayside (grill/store) in SNP todayso that I could get a blackberry milkshake, but alasthe milkshake machine was down. It figures. Instead Igot some fruit and a Flintstones Push-Up popsicle. AsI sat outside enjoying my treats, I got to see morewildlife. Not 2 minutes after the wayside closed andthe employees left, a raccoon came out of the woodsand went straight to some trash cans. The cans in thepark are probably meant to be bear-proof, but they'redefinitely not raccoo-proof. I watched this raccoonclimb in and out of the trash can several times. Ithrew out my trash in a different trash can and wasshocked when it started moving a minute later and adifferent raccoon popped out. All week the weather has been wonderful: 60s - 70s andsunny or partly sunny, and not humid enough tocomplain about. It's raining right now and it rained alot two nights ago. This is the only significantrainfall I can remember since May 26th! Even thoughit's constantly raining up north, it's been pretty drydown here. My feet are starting to feel better. I've been hikingmore slowly and taking frequent breaks. I stretch outmy feet a lot every time I stop and this seems tohelp. The insoles I bought in Waynesboro seem to bedoing the trick too; my left arch is much higher thanthey were a week ago. It almost matches my right one.My spirits are certainly higher than they were uponentering the Shenandoahs and I hope my feet continueto get better. It would be nice if they healedcompletely sometime in the near future. We'll see.Cheers,Lindsay