Date: 2018-07-18
From: Lewis Mountain Campground

To: Powell Gap
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I slept like a baby last night. The owls were quiet, and so was everything else. I crawled out of my tent around 6:45 this morning and headed to the women¢s restroom.  I can¢t believe it!  A real restroom with real toilets that flush!  The joys of hiking through a National Park!  When I came out of the bathroom there was another unusual looking moth.  This one looked like a fallen brown leaf.  I learned the other moth is called a Luna Moth.(thanks to a reader). I will look this one up when I can too.  Hugs and I went to the lodge to say our goodbyes.  Forest Diva, Dozer, Bo Diesel, and Nigel the store manager was there.  They¢re all a great group of people!  A few hugs and a few fist bumps later we were on our way. Forest Diva, Hugs, and I made our way to the trail. Forest Diva went North and we went south to make up the 14 miles we missed yesterday.  We were slack packing.  Nigel let us keep our big packs in the lodge while we hiked today.  The terrain was excellent!  We had one rock scramble and it really wasn¢t that bad.  It was unusually cool this morning, so our water consumption was less than it has been.  That¢s a good thing, because water sources close to or on the trail are getting scarce.  Just as I mentioned that to Hugs we walked right past a creek...go figure!   There were plenty of raspberries on trail today.  No hiker should go hungry this time of year.  No bears should go hungry either. Speaking of bears, I saw another one today. He was a big guy!  My poles clanking around scared him, so he took off running.  Hugs didn¢t get to see him. Hugs had the lead part of the day.  There were branches and sticks on our path. She accidentally scooted one around in the trail. She turned to make sure I was ok. I told her I was ok. Then I took a step.  She turned to find me on the ground!  2 seconds is literally all it took. 14.5 miles down the path, and we popped out on the road at Powell Gap.  This is our third time to see Powell Gap. First was the day Hugs dropped her phone. Second was the day we went back to try to retrieve her phone, and third was today.  Now I¢m quite partial to Powell, but I hope I never see Powell Gap again!  It was 8 highway miles back to Lewis Campground where our packs were located.  We started walking and hitchhiking.  Two beautiful yellow canaries were playing and flying around near us.  Hugs pulled out her phone, but it was too late. They flew off.  I think bird pictures are the hardest to get. Only a minute or two went by before a couple from Georgia stopped the truck and gave us a ride. Lee and Leanne.  Very nice folks!  They took us 3 or 4 miles up until it was time for them to turn off.  We stopped at every overlook on the way and chatted a little.  He¢s retired, and she¢s a school teacher.  The back of that truck was pretty warm because it had s topper on it.  There was a cooler back there but the sign on it said ¢caution Snakes¢.  I wasn¢t about to look!  Lee knew we were hot and thirsty so he handed us both a cold PBR...I guzzled mine down.  We said goodbye to our Trail Angels at their exit and started walking again.  It was only a minute or two before Yoan stopped.  He¢s a Bulgarian who¢s currently living in Richmond.  He¢s a painter & was on his way up for a day trip.  He took us to pick up our packs at Lewis Campground then drove us up to Big Meadows Wayside. We had great conversation along the way about mountain ranges in Bulgaria, and hiking the A.T. It was a quick ride, we thanked our final Trail Angel and headed into the Big Meadows Wayside to see what it was all about.  We knew Forest Diva would be meeting us for dinner tonight so we were just going to get a snack. Well, 8 pieces of fried chicken and an order of onion rings later we were afraid dinner was ruined.  I tried one of the blackberry milkshakes everybody raves about. It wasn¢t at all what I had hoped for.  I didn¢t drink much of it.  From the Wayside it was nearly a mile walk with our full packs on. I had already taken off my boots, so I was full packing in Crocs.  A bicycle came up from behind and yelled ¢LEFT¢.  Hugs immediately turned around and said ¢yes¢!  She thought he was offering a lift!  We laughed a little about that!  Registering for our campsite went smoothly as a deer grazed across the street.  They have no fear in the park.  I liked our last campground better, but this will do.  It¢s packed full of tents and there¢s a hot water problem.   Forest Diva arrived later. She had hiked to this campground earlier, but shuttled all the way back to Waynesboro to pick up her vehicle.  She stopped at Lewis Campground to see if we were there. Nigel let her know we were already gone. He sent autographed bags with her for us. They will be great for the shower room!  So Forest Diva is now tenting beside us for two nights.  Then she has to go back home and do the mom thing she loves so much.  The three of us went to the lodge. We all saw a stunning sunset.  It brought tears to Forest Diva¢s eyes.  We had another much smaller dinner and listened to a guitar soloist sing and play. Forest Diva and I danced a couple of times.  It was another fun night!   Just as things were wrapping up, in walked Nigel!  He¢s off duty now and this place was his former job before he moved to Lewis Mountain.  We visited a couple of minutes and took some photos.  It¢s pretty awesome how 2 days at a campground can result in such good friendships.  It¢s now way way past hikers midnight!  It¢s past everybody¢s midnight!  Sleep wellUntil Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018) Where¢s your faith?