Date: 2011-05-24
From: 0.6 miles after Gravel Springs Hut

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: broken clouds

(In which I leave the Shenandoahs and don't take a shower)In the morning River Rat, German Shepherd, Buffalo and I meet on the trail and all end up hiking together. Being each faster than average hikers, none of us have had the opportunity to hike in such a large group before, and the hiker caravan is a fun new experience. We pass Eagle twice as he mixes his road walking with his trail hiking.When we reach the last wayside, we realize that, while all of the other "waysides" have been restaurants with stores, this one is only a hiker shelter that happens to inexplicably contain "wayside" in the name. We've just left Shenandoah National Park, and none of us are sorry to see it go.Book Smarts joins the caravan at the "wayside" shelter, and the five of us chug onward, propelled by our combined inertia. We make 18 miles before 3pm, eager to get to the first shelter with a shower since Partnership Shelter, but when we arrive we are disappointed to learn that it has been out of order since 2007.At the shelter I meet Train Wreck and Two Medicine, retired brothers from Montana. They stand out even among thru-hikers because of their long, untrimmed mustaches that go along with their full thru-hiker beards. I ask Train Wreck how he eats with such a long mustache, to which he replies, "years of practice". Their eighteenth century homesteader appearances belie razor sharp intellects, and I learn that they are likely the two most technologically savvy hikers I've met on the trail and are carrying a tablet computer and MyFi hotspot (Train Wreck) and a netbook computer (Two Medicine). They ask me about the Kindle, which they researched, and I chat about the limitations of programming for it, which the brothers consider, having programming experience. Two Medicine, I learn, worked as a chemical engineer for an oil company at an oil field in Montana before he retired, and would fix most of the electronics to avoid waiting for the parts to be flown in from across the country.One of the lessons the trail quickly teaches is to be careful about judging people by their appearance. I think about Swift, one of the most homeless looking people I've ever met, who worked as a lawyer, CEO for a lumber company, and political lobbyist before he retired, and has enough money to spend a reported twenty-thousand dollars on one of his previous thru-hikes.After a leisurely two hour lunch break River Rat and I hike another five and a half miles to the next shelter to place ourselves in reach of what we hope is a two day hike to Harpers Ferry. We are the first hikers to arrive at the shelter and the only others who show up are Cayenne, a thru-hiker we meet for the first time, and Pete and Mary, section hikers out on their first, difficult day. Even though rain looks likely, we all decide to tent, having grown used to the quiet, bug-free solitude, and so in an occurrence I've never witnessed before, the shelter sits completely empty for the night.Cayenne also worked as an organic farmer, and so out of sight in their separate tents she and River Rat chat about vegetables and growing seasons. Having gotten in to our tents before 9pm this marks the earliest night for me or River Rat in a while, and it feels good. When the rain comes, it is just another part of the hiking experience, and we will wake up wet or dry, pack up our tents in the rain or sunshine, and hike through whatever weather there happens to be tomorrow.