Date: 2008-06-06
From: Riprap Mtn, SNP, VA

To: Loft Mtn Campground, Shenandoah National Park, VA
Miles today: 10.5

It was 6:30am before I woke up today. I had deer walking by the tent a lot last night and I was tenting in a bunch of leaves, so I woke up to the noise of crunching leaves each time one would pass by.I even had one walk so close to the tent that he walked into my guideline.Sure wish I would have had a firecracker to light....maybe that would have scared them off so I could sleep.The noise is the main reason I don't sleep near shelters at night. I like it quiet and usually have it very quiet each night when I stealth tent.I was packed and walking at 7am.Just before I got back out to the Trail to start walking north, I heard someone call my name.I looked back and it was Gator walking towards me. He had tented about a mile south of me.We walked together for about 15 minutes.We came across some guts on the Trail of a small animal...maybe a possum, a short time later.I started walking away from Gator and came up to the 3rd snake I've seen on the Trail....another 4 foot black snake stretched across my path.The woods are definitely getting buggy out now with all this heat and humidity.I understand we have some very high temps coming up for the next week. I can tell there's lots of humidity in the air with just my eyes....I can barely see mountains that are no more than 10 miles away....and I'm soaking wet all the time too!I needed water pretty bad. I only had a little to drink last night. I thought about getting water from a stream just before I started climbing Black Rock Mountain.I knew there was a spring at Black Rock Hut which was .2 miles off the Trail.I'm glad I waited because it was good cold water coming out of the spring....oh my, that sure tasted good! :-)Gator came down and got water and Bus Driver, Red and Thought Criminal were there too.I talked to my ol' buddy Chief yesterday. He's sending me a package to ATC headquarters.I'll bet he put a lot of thought into whatever it is that he's sending me! :-)I walked out from the shelter and finished climbing Black Rock Mtn.There's a nice rocky area that the Trail goes through with lots of views to the west.I got a picture of Bus Driver walking towards me while I was stopped taking pictures of the valley.I kept walking...and sweating....and squishing horse flies as the landed on me for a meal.It really makes me feel good each time I flatten one of those buggers! :-)I kept walking and got to Loft Mtn Campground shortly after noon.I sat my backpack down in the breezeway and went inside and got a cold soda and a small bag of Doritos.My oh my....that cold soda tasted soooooo good on this hot day! So good in fact that I went in and bought another one and a small bag of Fritos. :-)I sat in the breezeway way for a couple hours and watched a bunch of hikers come walking in.Each one of them looked like the heat was really dragging them down.Steadfast and HiLo went right for the ice cold 89 cent beers!The beer is way cheaper than the sodas here, but it would only take one or two beers on a hot day like this to make me fall down.....and since I haven't fallen on the Trail yet this year, I stayed with the sodas. ;-)I had about three hours to kill waiting on Rainbow Slick, Goosebump The Snow Princess, Baby Bump and Little Jack Spencer to show up.I spent the whole time in the cool breezeway too. :-)They did show up about 3pm. I hadn't seen them since last year, so it was great to have them come here to spend the weekend.Goosebump The Snow Princess's brother Mike and his wife Jen came along too.We rode around and found two campsites...one that would have shade all day for them, and one that had mostly shade for me.I got a couple of great pictures of all my stuff on my picnic table and all their stuff on their picnic table. (Look in today's photos to see the difference between the stuff a long distance hiker carries and what weekend campers bring) :-)BUT.....I spent all my time over at the "weekend camper's" table because there was tons of great food! :-)We were grilling chicken over the campfire when I heard someone call my name.I looked up and saw Hog On Ice coming.He said he knew I would be here from my journal and decided to stop by and say hello....and he brought me food! A bag full of powdered mini donuts. Now I wonder how he knew I liked those? :-)It was great having him come out and we were able to talk him into staying late and eating with us and enjoying the campfire...even though he had to work the next morning.Good luck Hog On Ice on your upcoming 2010 thru hike!....and I can't thank you enough for coming out and spending the evening. :-)We had only one other hiker come by and I called him down to where we were. It was Dude.I invited him to stay for dinner and he said that he might stay and eat just a little.....yeah, right! When does a thru hiker only eat a "little"? Ha!Dude ate a lot!!! :-)What a great evening....spent with Trail friends!I finally headed off to my tent after another one of those loooooong days that I talk about, where it seems like you couldn't squeeze another minute of life out of that day no matter how hard you tried. :-)Another GREAT day on the Appalachian Trail. :-)