Date: 2019-07-01
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Lewis Mountain Campground
Miles today: 8.2

Today Rick took us to town for breakfast. I didn¢t really need to go to town, but Thumper wanted to. I think the temptation is there in this area with all the roads and waysides and campgrounds, but town was out of that and I didn¢t see the need. We went to McDonalds and I don¢t really eat fast food, so I didn¢t get anything. Rick dropped us off at the road we slackpacked from. I was out of water and should¢ve filled up at McDonalds, but I didn¢t want to hold Rick up and there¢s something about that pressure that I just didn¢t want to mess with. There was a water source right near the road, but it was pretty filthy. I filtered it anyway though and it came out crystal clear! Yay Sawyer filters! We started our day with an uphill and then reached a picnic area. We had snacks here. Thumper used the toilet and noticed that someone must have missed the toilet because there was a pile of poo on the floor! Lol how do you miss? Asking for a friend. We headed on from there with some more ups and downs and reached another campground. We at least wanted to stop for the camp store. Judge me all you want (because at this point y¢all are anyway right?), but I really do like having the campstores and waysides. I like civilization. A lot of thru-hikers hate the Shenandoahs because of all the tourists and civilization, but I love it. It means picnic areas with bathrooms and trash, it means waysides with hot food, it means stores with candy bars and soda, it means a place to camp with a bathroom and fire pit and sometimes a view. I personally like it and maybe that¢s just because I¢ve been in the woods so long it¢s really nice to have some luxury living on the AT! Again I was never a huge camper. I love to hike, but backpacking and carrying this stuff around is just a lot every day. Having a car and being able to pack whatever you want, omg. I could have tiki torches and twinkle lights and candles and s¢mores and drinks and all sorts of fun. I¢ve seen people with a literal carpet they were sitting on to eat dinner outside their huge tent. #goals Prediction about whether Deb becomes a glamper or not? The real questions. After chilling at the store, we decided to stay. Shock lol. They were incredibly friendly there and had a hiker cabin with bunks for a really cheap price. So we did it and I got beers and s¢mores stuff and we glamped! Sort of! We took showers and were nice and clean and hung out with the most adorable Corgi at one of the cabins. I don¢t know who¢s seen ¢Same Time Next Year¢, one of my fave movies, but for some reason this reminded me of that. A cabin with a sort of 50s style feel and an old couple coming to visit every year as tradition. It¢s got a sweet vibe here and I like it. Grandma Deb here to glamp in the Shenandoahs! We saw another hiker, Freebird, and invited him over to have dinner with us and s¢mores. I was a little annoyed because Thumper offered our beers, and even though I definitely wanted to invite him and have time with other hikers, I¢ve been buying the beers since Thumper can¢t and I specifically chose out beers I wanted. If you didn¢t buy it, it isn¢t yours to offer! Lol. I¢m stressed about money, who isn¢t? But seriously, as much as I love these waysides and all and am trying to make myself as happy as possible given the circumstances, I¢m spending money. And I¢m trying to treat myself in an effort to help myself through this. And Thumper¢s like, hey here¢s our beer! And I¢m like, THUMPER. He¢s very social and I like that, as we really have a lot of fun together, but sometimes it¢s annoying. I¢m a generous person normally, but can definitely be stuck in a frugal mode where I don¢t want to share. It¢s not a good thing, but I was having enough issues already. Just let me have my beer. I communicated and it was all fine. Freebird is totally awesome and I was really glad he joined us. We made a campfire and s¢mores and they were very good, a real treat! We had a tough time keeping the fire going, but it had its moments. Freebird went down to stay in his tent and we headed to bed. We offered for him to stay in the cabin, but he wanted to stay in his tent and I get needing space sometimes. Too many people maybe. Two raccoons walked right by us while we were hanging out and I was happy there was a bear box for food. They didn¢t care one bit that we were there! I don¢t know that I¢ve ever seen raccoons so up close and personal! We quickly put the food in the bear box for the night. Tonight was a good night. It was a great campground with a nice peaceful vibe and our little hiker¢s cabin was great. Everyday I¢m working towards getting happier on trail. It¢s nice to have Thumper for company and to be in such a fun place as the Shenandoahs. Little Debbie