Date: 2014-04-12
From: Atkins, VA

To: Chestnut Ridge
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: clear sky

Got up and headed to The Barn for breakfast. I will have to say that I am really disappointed in The Barn. It's the only place for hikers to go and it's less than a 1/4 mile from the trail, but doesn't seem very well run. The burger yesterday was ok, and it was big, but not as tasty as I expected. Sat a a table with Two-weeks, Carol, Trillium and Nails, ordered coffee and some pancakes eggs and bacon. ehhh. I put my pack in the mini-van, stuck my 5lb fanny pack on, with my poles of course, and headed up the trail for a 20 mile slack-pack for the 1st time. This could be one of my favorite days! Again the weather was perfect the trail was open to balds and farmland, and I only had 5 lbs with me! Even though Trillium and Nails were slack-packing too, I never saw a soul for the whole day. I took about a 30 minute break on top of a hill overlooking farmland, took my shoes off, ate some lunch and basked in the sun. Very rare for me to stop like this but sometimes you have to slowdown and enjoy the surroundings and I did just that even though the bumblebees were all around me. But that's what happens when the flowers start to bloom. Finally! Spring is here!At the end of the 20 miles I meet up with Two-weeks and Carol at VA 625. They gave me a bunch of food bars, tangerines, a fruit punch Gatorade that I pounded in 5 seconds, and most importantly a 6 inch Subway sandwich with no mayo. Yay! Supposedly his daughter and Nails were still an hour away so they watched me repack as they chatted about the Mexican restaurant they were going to tonight. Mmmmmmmmmm. Jealous! I thanked them, took a picture, threw my 35 lb sack on my back and headed up the hill. Trail parents of the year! You really don't know how nice slack-packing is until you put the full weight back back on. Oh My! My pack was not this heavy! Who put rocks in the bottom of this? Wow! Going up the hill I again had no plans on where I was going to stop. I debated night-hiking for the first time, but was just going to see how I felt when I got to the next shelter 4 miles up this hill. Half way up I ran into Spaghetti and Motor taking a rest. Spaghetti asked me why I was hiking the trail, which is a very common question, because for the most part not many hikers can even answer the question. Cause we really don't know. Come to find out they were in a deep discussion about the trail. If you didn't make it to Katahdin, (the finish) would the hike still mean anything, or is the end goal so important that it's the only reason why we hike? It was interesting, and it had me thinking as I left to continue of the hill. Both of the guys are from Tennessee and out of school, with Motor continuing on to medical school after the hike.Not far is Chestnut Ridge, an open viewed bald with a 360 panorama, and I hit it just in time.....at sunset. When I entered the woods and headed to the shelter I stopped, looked back, and thought to myself.... What a great place to sleep under the stars. The temperature isn't bad, the scenery is awesome, and I still wanted to "cowboy camp". I turned around threw my sleeping bag on the ground, devoured a poptart.....(the pumpkin pie one...yummy) crawled in the bag and stared at the full moon and the few stars that I could see. What a great ending to the day.Song of the day, Why Can't We be Friends?, -War When I think of this song I can't help of thinking of the Simpsons. It was Homers fight song when coming into the ring. Just hilarious!