Date: 2013-05-29
From: Loft Mountain Campground

To: Loft Mountain Campground
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

So nice, and we are so tired, we decided to stay another day. Another zero day!! Haha are we a lazy bunch?! I wanted to play and enjoy this trail as much as we can. It will just not be about the miles for us. Didn't write but that bear CAME BACK!!! It circled our tent for hours. Ruth and Cub just went to sleep. Beast and Whoops! laughed and made fun of me for my book learned bear strategy. I simply asked the bear to go away in a deep, monotoned voice. I asked him to leave us safely alone. Eventually, after exploring every inch of our camping space...outside of the tents that is, he simply left. Whew!Joe Bruce, the park ranger gave our group a personal lecture right at our campsite. An adorable young man, skinny with a huge hat perched on his tall frame. He spent times in the Everglades, regaling the kids with awesome tales of boa constrictors gone mad, panthers, and gators. He patiently answers our bear and tick questions. He scared the guys to pieces telling them one tick can bite you and you can never eat meat again...or any protein. You eventually die from lack of protein. You simply cannot process it anymore. Beast said he'd rather be killed by a bear than be bitten by that tick. The shower felt soooo goooood! I lost all but my original pair of underwear. Ironic since I yelled at all the kids to not forget to pack underwear. Whoops! nearly always forgets it and many family vacations have been spent in search of underwear her size. She has an international collection of panties. These are smelling so bad I can't believe this is me...that I can even generate such a smell. Met a true and authentic trail angel. Her name is "Sweet Tooth". She is slack packing her husband, a dentist, named "Molar Man". She sits in the parking lot in a station wagon filled with tooth rotting goodies!. We feasted on oreos, soda, chips, etc Put a pep in our step. Also got loads of water from Bill Galager. It was cold, iced water on the 13 mile stretch. Also had another two trail angels provide water along the way. I am drinking so much water so this was a huge relief for me. I got a migraine today too. The heat beating down on my head in the open fields is tough on my stupid head. The caffeine in the Coke really helped immensely. My left knee hurts on the side. Whoops! arches are killing her. Ruth has blisters on top of blisters. So does Really! Altogether we decided we are in pretty good shape. This is all expected stuff. Ready to press on. Today we walked 1.8 miles down a hill for a pancake breakfast ($52). We ate eggs, hash browns, hot pretzels and milkshakes and coffee. Yum! Blackberry creations are the specialty of the Shenandoahs. This will surely propel and lure the kids forward. Sadly the 1.8 mile hike straight back up the hill with full bellies was a drag. The showers and camp store are far from our site too. We think we ended up hiking more around the campground than if we just stayed on the trail for the day. Beast called a ride into town but they never showed up. We waited for hours and were worried that the store would close before we could get there. We need a stove because this stupid new stove I bought will not work. Its a group jetboil system and it won't light. It is also heavy. I need underwear and Beast wants to dump some stuff. Finally we found a trail driver named "Lady" who was tired but agreed to help us out. She and Beast had an enlightening conversation so that was nice. The outfitters in Rockfish Gap are the best. They took 9lbs of weight from Beast and mailed it back for free!!! We got two pocket rockets and I paid for and slipped into a new pair of uber comfortable patagonia undies. The kids are calling me "Commando" for daring to go into town in a dress sans underwear. I was desperate. Got more carabiners because you can never have too many of those. Yellow Truck man gave us a ride back to the campground. He is a hilarious guy who has lived in the area most of his life, maybe all of it. He has seen thousands of hikers, or so he claims, and he decreed that we would make it! Hope we see him on the flip. Said he'd never, ever seen a family finish the trail but reckoned we could. I never was a huge one for makeup but I also never went totally blank. It is very weird for me to interact with people with my naked face. I feel like I look like an old Appalachian woman, fading away and colorless. It is liberating to not spend time on painitng my face but it is also just strange. Oddly several people have asked if they are all my kids and have then replied that I don't look old enough. Must be the generous shading of the trees. thank you trees. The girls insisted on a talent show tonight. I am so glad they did. This will truly go down in my collection of memories as one of the very best moments of my life. Simple perfection. We hike down to the open, perched on a ridge above a valley of mountains, amphitheater. Empty of people, bathed in the pinks and golds of the setting sun, we begin our show. Lord of the Flames, Jeremy, is the Master of Ceremonies. It was heartwarming, hysterical fun. Each person offered something of talent that they could do. Cub told a butt story, Ruth and Really! performed a peanut butter jar song tapping they practiced all day, LOTF did an interpretive bear dance based on our bear sighting, I told the story about Ruth's adoption, Beast showed us how to clean a gun and Whoops! taught us Czech words and also a funny camp game. Really! licked her elbow to hearty cheers and then Ruth and Cub sand the Miranda Lambert song I adore for me..."Mama". We ended the show with a rousing rendition of "The Hills are Alive" sung by the entire group. We left and built a fire, cooked smores and sang again. We are on such a happy high. All of us getting along smashingly. I am beyond content and so filled with joy. There can be nothing better.