Date: 2016-06-17
From: Stealth Campsite on Humpback Mountain

To: Quality Inn
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up to the sound of rain on the tent. Darn, it wasn't raining earlier when I was up. I thought packing up in the rain is going to be miserable. Oh well. There was a lull in the rain at about 7 and I had already packed up what was on the inside of the tent. I quickly jumped up and packed up the wet tent and the rest of my gear. I got on trail about 7:45 to fog and mist. There was only one more small climb to the true summit and then to smaller climbs down below but the majority of the morning would be downhill. The walking was slippery as it was all we rocks. I came across a section hiker who was going southbound and we talked about how crazy the storm was being near the summit. He had it worse than me as he was a bit higher up on the mountain. I went about three miles and it started to rain, well not it was more like it started to pour. I tried to stay focused on town, Chinese food, a nice bed and a shower. It was pretty unpleasant walking the remaining 9 miles. I had my rain pants and raincoat on but with that much rain and how heavy it was everything slowly became wet. This also included my boots which actually stayed dry until the last few miles. I stopped at the shelter right before town to dry off well to at least get out of the rain. There would be no drying off. I walked the remaining 4 miles and came out of the woods where The Parkway meets Skykine Drive and route 64 is. I crossed the wooden fence on the side of the road and walked toward the visitor center when a guy in a red truck stopped and asked Did you just come out of the woods? Have you called anyone yet? I said yes and no. He told me wait right by that hot dog stand and I will be right back. I walked over to the hot dog stand and bought a soda and the guy in the red truck was back in 5 minutes. His name was John and he is part of a group of trail angels from the Waynesboro area that help give hikers rides into and out of town. He drove me into town and showed me where all the places I may need were. Things like the laundromat, Dollar General, Ming's. John dropped me off at the Quality Inn and I was most appreciative. I sat on a bench in front to come out of my hiker fog as everything happened so quick. I was on the bench for not very long and Otter pulled up. Wow talk about timing. We checked in and I immediately took a shower. We then walked over to Ming's and ate lunch. Talk about a super Chinese buffet. They had 6 tables of food and a whole sushi bar area as well as a hibatchi grill area where a chef would make you stuff. It was rather impressive and only $7.99. Once we finished eating we stopped back at the room and picked up ghost and went to throw my laundry in. While it was washing we stopped into Dollar General and Family Dollar to resupply. I ran over and threw my stuff in the dryer and we then got ice cream while it dried. Once the clothes were dry we walked back to the motel to organize, repack and relax. Soon it was time for more food and we stopped at a pub in town for burgers and beer. Not sure how it happened but it was suddenly 11pm which was so past my bedtime. We walked back to the motel and I passed out rather quickly. I decided that I wanted to pack out the motel bed on the trail because it was so comfy.