Date: 2013-06-22
From: Budget Inn, Luray, VA, Thorton Gap

To: Stealth camp near North Marshall Mountain
Miles today: 16.8

I was wired last night and found it hard to go to sleep. I don't seem to sleep as well in hotel rooms as I do in my tent. Our alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. Redspecs hit the snooze button on his phone first. Mine went off in 5 minute increments for the next 45 mins, but neither of us were in any rush to get up. Maybe somewhere deep in our subconsciousness we knew what was coming.It was a rough morning. I sat in a swarm of black flies, swatting them off of me and my breakfast. My friend Dianne called, and I went outside to take the call. In doing so, I managed to lock myself out of the motel room, all the while Redspecs was in the shower. So I sat on the concrete outside the door, knocking periodically, hoping he would hear over the sound of the shower. Redspecs had put all of his food in the small fridge in our room, and we discovered that it had frozen everything solid. The apples, bananas and bell-peppers were ruined. The motel managers never showed up to make the "free fresh brewed coffee" that was promised between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. We stood with our faces pressed against the locked glass door of the motel office, peering in, hoping that a miracle would happen. It never did. Patience was running thin. We were both on edge. Fortunately, our ride to take us back up to the trail was on time. Given that he lived in the motel and had the room directly across from ours certainly didn't hurt his punctuality. He was a nice guy, and he dropped us at the road crossing, but he couldn't take us all the way back into the Park because we would have had to pay. Which seemed silly to me since we already had a permit. But he told us that he had dropped hikers in the park the day before and the ranger at the guard shack had charged $8 per head. He seemed like an honest and genuine guy, so we took his advice. So to offer up a trail confession, I must admit that I have skipped a .2 mile section of the AT, a stain on my purist title. I considered hiking up the .2 and back down to the road, but as Redspecs assured me, we have walked miles of extra trail. So I agreed to hike forward.It was a nice morning hike. A bit of a climb to get out of Thorton Gap, but nothing too severe. We passed several day hikers. One warned us that the trail to the wayside was confusing. But his explanation only proved to confuse us more. Redspecs headed off in the wrong direction on a side trail, and I had us back-track to hike through a parking lot which was entirely unnecessary. But the side trip resulted in a TRIPLE BEAR SIGHTING! Woohoo! There was a mama bear leaned up against the base of a tree and two cubs hanging out on tree limbs about 50 & 75 ft above the ground. None of them seemed too concerned by all the tourists gawking at them. We claimed a picnic table at the wayside and went in to order. I got a turkey bacon swiss melt with sweet potato fries and a lemonade. The sandwich was HUGE. Normally, I would have scoffed at the proportion size of sandwich and said that Tom and I could easily split it. But today, I thought, WOW, what a great value! And then I ate the entire thing. After our glutenous lunch, Redspecs took a siesta in a grassy patch under a tree, and chatted with Cat Lady. I noticed a book that she was reading. I had read the same book back in Waynesboro. It was a great book, and I had intended to mail the book home to my sister-in-law, Lynde, but the post office had closed, so I dropped it in the hiker box instead (Sorry, Lynde! I'll send you another one . And now, here it was again, a little more tattered and worn, some notes written in the margins. Cat Lady said she was excited to have found it in the hiker box because it was a title she had been seeking out. Trail magic, she called it. I've read several books since I've been on the trail, some better than others. But I leave them for someone else, and it's always neat to see them pop up again in another hiker's hands. I wondered how far up the trail my books would travel. Ironically, I know some of them are making their way up the trail far faster than I. They are on a journey of their own.At around 2 p.m. we headed out. I bought a sandwich to-go to have for dinner. The hike out of the wayside was a little confusing, and at one point, Redspecs and I found ourselves hiking southbound of the AT. Fortunately, we got ourselves turned back in the right direction soon enough. We stopped at Hogback Overlook for a particularly spectacular view. The trail was slightly above Skyline Road. The sky was a soft blue with puffy clouds lined in hints of grey. The valley below shone in various shades of green as dictated by the farmers that farmed the land. The light was soft and the shadows of the clouds slid across the valley flour. The whole scene was framed by dark trees accented with perfectly shaped leaves. I love it when nature exceeds one's own imagination.We stopped for a Snicker's break (man do I enjoy those bars!) at Gravel Springs and then took another break at South Marshall Mountain. There was a outcrop of sun soaked rocks that offered up a 180 degree panoramic view. There was a place to camp nearby, and had I been on my own I probably would have popped my tent right there. But Redspecs wanted to get in a few more miles. So we would go farther. But first, we dropped the bags, and I stretched out on the rocks. They came up with a sharp edged. I fit one of the edges behind a shoulder blade. The warm rocks worked as a nice massage and muscle relaxer. The tightness just seemed to melt away. I kept trying to drop hints that I really, really wanted to stay, but either they weren't understood or they were ignored. After 20 minutes or so, Redspecs asked if I was ready to go. I guess..... :/I'm not much of a napper in my normal life, and when I do take a snooze, I usually find that I wake up in a head fog. Today was no different. I stumbled and tripped my along the trail. As we started climbing I started feeling really weird. Was it the heat? I got a head-ache, started sweating heavily, nausea set in. I felt light-headed. Norovirus (it seems to be back on the trail), Lyme disease, dehydration, low blood sugar, adverse reaction to the cat nap? The list of possibilities seemed to be endless. Well, shit. I kept my mouth closed for several minutes to see if the feeling would pass. But finally I said that we'd need to stop soon because I wasn't feeling well. Redspecs fessed up that he wasn't feeling well either. The trail kept going up, and it was nothing but rocks. Ugh. Finally, we saw an overlook with a flattened grassy area. Someone had camped there recently, the night before most likely. I suggested that we stop there, and R.S. agreed. I chugged a few cup-fulls of water with electrolyte tablets dissolved in them. R.S. offered up half a banana that he'd picked up at the wayside, and I offered up half of my sandwich to-go. He's so nice and attentive. I was grateful to have him here. We set up our tents and a fog of gnats descended upon us. The vista was gorgeous, but it was impossible to enjoy it with the gnats trying to fly up your nose and biting at every inch of exposed skin. I finally went and zipped myself in my tent. I reemerged at sunset. I called the Bears Den Hostel to reserve us some beds in the upcoming days, and they confirmed that they had my new hiking boots. Something to look forward to!I'd hoped to sleep with only the netting of my tent up, but as soon as the sun went down the clouds socked in and poured over the gap to our right. It looked like we were going to get rain. Redspecs offered to put my rain fly on, but I climbed out, and we double teamed it. I'm tired, and I have a head-ache. Hopefully a good night's sleep with remedy both.