Date: 2005-06-03
From: Tye River, Va. 56

To: I-64 overpass; Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 30.0
Weather: light rain

This morning, we woke and walked over to the main house in time for 2nd breakfast, which consisted of eggs, sausage, french toast, and peaches. We ate with Teach and Eagle Eye. Among everyone else that slept there last night was Snowbunny and Hairball.Bug and I were able to laze around more than usual this morning because in all the excitement last night our laundry had not been done. Truth be told, I didn't mind too terribly because I was getting pretty fond of that bathrobe. Lois was kind enough to let Bug use the phone, and he called our doctor for advice. We found a tick on me a couple of days ago, and the bite looks somewhat suspicious. After checking email, getting our fresh laundry, and eating another yummy lunch (this time chili in a bread bowl with chocolate cake for dessert), Earl shuttled us back to the trailhead at Tye River.The trail was a muddy mess, but at least the rain had cooled things down a bit. We soon crossed paths with Thunder who was slacking southbound and headed back to the B&B tonight. Shortly after he passed by, Bug felt nature calling so he headed off into the woods. He wasn't sure where we had packed the TP, and I was frantically searching our packs. He called out to me and said he thought he knew where it was....some 20+ miles back at Hog Camp Gap. As true campers do, we made do with non-poisonous leaves. At the first shelter we stopped as usual to fill up on water and check the shelter register. We saw Red Wing and Hopeful again, and continued on our way. We toyed with the idea of pulling a 30 mile day into Waynesboro, but laughed about it more than anything else. Bug and I climbed up to a rock that I'm sure was a beautiful overlook, we only saw fog. We sat and ate snacks to get our energy up before having to climb, when Teach walked up and joined us for a bit.After a while, we got up and headed on further, before long Patch, Raj, and LB had caught up. They had seen where we had jokingly written in the register about hiking the 30 miles into Waynesboro and were trying to convince us to do it as they were planning to do 40. We told them we would think on it.Further up the way, we were hiking along and had just topped Bee mountain when I made the mistake of stepping on a slick rock or log, not sure which. It was one of those things that happens very fast but in slow motion. My feet slipped out from underneath me and when I tried to brace on my trekking poles they collapsed. Tumbling down I went, but fortunately wasn't hurt other than my pride. My poles have collapsed before, but I have never fallen. They are Wal-mart specials and Bug informed me that we would be getting me new poles and ones that had a reputation for being quality.We made it to the shelter where everyone was sitting around cooking dinner. They asked if we had made a decision about hiking into Waynesboro that night. Red Wing and Hopeful were going to hike 2 1/2 miles out to Rusty's Hardtime Hollow. That just didn't sound appealing as we would have to hike 2 1/2 miles back in the next day. I took a look around the shelter and a sniff, and that didn't sound like a pleasant option either. Bug and I decided we would try for the 30 miles and if we found we couldn't do it, we would stop and make camp. If we didn't make it, we would be that much closer to our destination.Once we had all rested up for about 2 hours, we packed up and headed out as a group into the night. At 9:30 in the evening, 7 headlamps went bobbing into the night. The guys placed me in the lead, since I am the slowest. We hiked and talked of many things to pass the time. Somewhere around midnight we stopped at Cedar Cliffs for a break and found that we had been keeping a pace of about 3 miles per hour. We all sat taking in the town lights below and the stars above, while snacking on candy bars to keep up our energy. Forty-five minutes later it was back to hiking. Throughout the night we walked, taking only a couple more breaks. At one point we really questioned our decision, because we had walked up on a rock face which we would have to scramble in the dark of night. I guess it was a good thing that there were 7 of us.5:15 am arrived and we had all made it to the Paul Wolfe shelter, just 5 miles from Waynesboro. It was here that we caught back up to Mr. Clean Jr. who had slept at the shelter. He thought we were nuts, and we probably are. Our crew had gotten a bit ahead of us, so we told Mr. Clean we would see him in town and were on our way. The last 5 miles were probably the toughest because we had now been up nearly 24 hours and it was daylight. We kept going though, with the knowledge that we were so incredibly close to reaching our goal. The only real eventful thing to happen in that 5 mile stretch was that we saw a teeny-tiny orange salamander on the side of the trail. We tried to snap a picture but he got away.Finally! We reached the road! The end of our 30 mile trek. A nice trail angel gave us a ride to the hotel, and we ended up being on the opposite end of town from everything we needed access to, but we didn't really care. All that mattered was sleep.We have checked into our room and showered, and now sleep is calling me. I barely know what is consciousness and what is not at this point.