Date: 2004-04-02
From: Rockfish Gap (Tree Streets Inn)

To: Blackrock Hut
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light intensity drizzle

Log entry: 621. Start time: 11002. End time: 17303. Weather:         b. morning: rain rain go away, windy and cold, about 38 degrees        c. afternoon: cool and windy, rain spat a little        d: evening: cold and off and on rain4. Food        Breakfast- eggs, toast, grits, bacon, granola, fruit, apple juice. Wonderful.        Lunch- oats and honey bars, snickers cookie bars        Dinner- mashed potatoes and chicken gravy5. Trail description: Today was the day I fell in love with the Shenandoah¢s. The walking was easy, even though it was cold, windy, foggy, and rainy the walking was manageable through the snow. I got a little lost up on Bear Den Mountain, by the radio towers. The fog was so thick and the blazes were mostly on the ground, which was partly covered with snow and ice. It got a little tense, but I prayed hard and started down the service road which looked like the only logical direction for the path to take. A couple hundred yards down the road there was some above ground blazes and the trail ducked back into the woods. Thanks Lord.   6. People: The folks at Blackrock hut- Wingerz, The Silent Nomad, a couple French dudes, SOBO flip-floppers: Pi and Preacher, and Seeker.7. Animals: Deer, lots of deer8. Money: $60 something at the Tree Streets Inn9. Biggest complaint: weather was cold and nasty but that was trumped by the good company and a warm fire.10: Thoughts: A wonderful breakfast at the Inn and I enjoyed the company of the other guests including a friendly family from Alaska. But I had miles to burn so Bill dropped me off at the Post Office and then at the Rockfish Gap visitors center. The rain was falling heavy and I had some phone calls to make so I didn¢t much care. After a long, good, interview with Shaundra Martinez from the Grand Rapids Press I continued chatting with the volunteer that was working the desk at the visitors center. By 1100 the rain had let up a little and I decided that I had better make a break for it.About as soon as I shucked my pack on the heavens opened again. Oh well, you can¢t get to Maine without getting wet and you certainly can¢t get there from the Rockfish Gap visitors center, at least not today.The first few hours of my day were cold and wet. Snow had fallen overnight and still clung to most everything above 2500 feet. But once I officially entered the park about 6 miles later the rain let up and the snow was hit and miss. The first thing I noticed about Shenandoah National Park (SNP) was that it crosses Skyline drive a lot. It actually never gets too far away. Not that it bothered me, just something that stuck. A nice thing about SNP is that there are concrete mile markers which label trails and road crossings. This makes it easy to judge time, rate, and distance. Something I like to know, but I am an anal retentive dork monger.People. There are people everywhere. It was not even a nice day and there were people on the trail. It was nice to have company and see smiling windburn faces.The next thing which stuck out was the waterbars. Waterbars are usually rocks or logs dug into the trail to divert water and impede erosion. I am not sure if the waterbars here were still under construction or not but they were dug into the gravel soil. When I was dug, they were dug. I mean some of them should have shown up on the profile maps. I think they would more appropriately be called ¢foxholes¢. They would have given adequate protection for a suppressive field of fire. Several made me want to throw a grenade or a flash-bang in ¢just to make sure¢. The next and last notation for today was the deer. I noticed a set of tracks in the mud of the trail and bent over like a Scotland yard detective, all I needed was a giant magnifying glass and a trench coat, tracking the beasts. I figured I was close when I heard a snort off to my left. There was a doe, about 10 feet off the trail, looking at me. Wow, I thought, this is amazing, and to think my camera is in my pack. Another snort from up the hill a ways drew my attention to three more. It is a common belief that when a deer snorts, they are actually ¢blowing their nose¢, clearing it of scent and then with their next breath they sniff for what has spooked them and try to determine if they should flee. I have seen deer close up before and plenty of whitetails back home in Michigan. Michigan, at last count was second in total whitetail population by just a few hundred thousand to the state of Texas. But Michigan is obviously much smaller than Texas therefore more densely populated. Thank you Marty Stouffer. Anyways I thought it was just splendid to see deer so close up and have them not run. I was careful to make no sudden movements to spook them. And they didn¢t run!, I thought. I slowly moved on and stumbled into a waterbar. Oops. Come to find out that over the next 4 miles into the shelter I would see another dozen deer, some even much closer than the first group. My first encounter with the deer was nothing out of the ordinary. I didn¢t have to be quiet or still, I would even talk to them. Usually asking if they knew of any bears that were awake in the area. Hey, it doesn¢t hurt to ask.