Date: 2006-11-28
From: Waynesboro, Va

To: Dripping Rock, Va
Miles today: 14.5

Happy 11th birthday to my youngest grandchild...Cody. :-))) I slept well in the motel last night. It really felt good to get cleaned up and rest up some after making my way through that mess in Shenandoah. I walked over to the motel's breakfast and was surprised that it was fairly good. I had thought about walking up to Weasie's to eat, but decided to stay and eat right where I was. I had a few hard-boiled eggs, a bowl of bran cereal and two waffles...and lots of coffee. The coffee sure wasn't Starbuck's, but it was OK in a pinch. Ha!! I went back to my room and watched the Weather Channel. Looks like rain on Friday, but pretty good weather before and after that. My ride back to the Trail wasn't due to show up until 9am. I checked out of my room and when Tom Brown showed up, we headed for Rockfish Gap. He had to stop at the PO and mail something, so I took the opportunity and mailed home two maps that I'm done with now. My backpack is heavy enough. :-))) Tom drove me up to Rockfish Gap and we stood there talking for about 25 minutes. He's an interesting guy who's spent some time in west central Africa. He had me sign a register he keeps of hikers he's helped out. I started looking back through it and saw that he started in '03 and I knew quite a few hikers that he's helped out from '03 to this year. I thanked him for the ride and headed south on the Trail just after 10am. Waynesboro has about a dozen people who offer rides to hikers. I don't know of another Trail town that has that many Trail Angels helping the Trail walkers out. Thanks Tom Brown and Waynesboro!! I had been very worried about just how bad the Trail was going to be south of Shenandoah. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked the first 6 miles without having to get around even one fallen tree. It's amazing how much difference there was between here and Shenandoah. A mile into my walk this morning, I got to within 20 yards of five turkeys before they took off running. Five minutes later, I got to within 20 yards of a two point buck with lopsided antlers...one long and one short. There was also a small doe near him and they both took off running. I was about five miles into my walk and I realized that I was feeling great and having fun again. A clear Trail to walk on sure makes a difference...and a good motel stay helps too. :-))) I stopped by Paul C Wolfe Shelter and signed the register and used a few smiley face stickers, and then I sat there and read back through the entries. I got out three of the six slices of pizza that I saved from dinner last night and had packed out for today. That pizza tasted better today than it did last night. I left the shelter and started the long, six miles, and 2,000 foot climb up to the summit of Humpback Mountain. On the way up, I ran into two-day hikers and stopped to talk for a while. The guy's trail name was Old Fat Dad and he has done half the Trail so far walking short sections of it. He explained why there wasn't as much damage to these trees...there was more snow in this area than ice. The girl didn't have a trail name and said this was the extent of her hiking experience. I headed on up the hill and in a few miles I ran into two Trail maintainers. One was working and the other was walking a section to see how bad it was. He said his crew was coming out on Saturday to clean up a section. They won't have it too bad because at that point of the day, I had only walked around about six fallen trees. I was still feeling great at about 10 miles into my walk. I think that not seeing so much devastation is helping my attitude. :-))) I really didn't enjoy the last three days I walked in Shenandoah. I just walked as fast as I could to get through there. I was getting closer to the summit of Humpback Mountain and started running into some patches of ice still left over from five days ago and a little more tree damage, but still not even close to what I saw in Shenandoah. I was walking along and the handle of my left Leki broke right off just below the handle. The metal snapped for no reason at all. Sure am glad I wasn't leaning on it in a situation that I could have fallen when that happened. I lengthened the shaft of the Leki and will have to use it like that until I finish my walk. I got to the summit of Humpback Mountain and walked out on some rocks for a view. I sat down and had the rest of my pizza for dinner. Sure is a beautiful day to be in the woods. The Trail took a bit more damage on the south side of the mountain and there seemed to be more ice still around. I walked on another few miles and found a flat spot that I've tented at before just north of Dripping Rock. It's not far off the Trail, but it's the last flat spot for over five miles. I was sitting there eating some nuts and Ritz Pieces for dinner...my second dinner, when Goatmilk came walking by and we talked for about 20 minutes before he headed on to the next shelter. I first met him way up in Maine. :-))) It looks like my plan of summiting to end this year's walk on Thursday, Dec 7th at The Homeplace in Catawba is going to work out just fine...that's their southern pork night and they have some of the best fried chicken along the Trail. :-)))