Date: 2006-04-25
From: Bearface Mountain Hut

To: Big Meadows
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Things fell together pretty well today. I knew if I got an early start I would get to Big Meadows in plenty of time for a nice breakfast. I was up around five thirty¢¦walking by six thirty and at Big Meadows before ten. The walk was easy with a long gradual climb up to the park resort.If you¢ll allow me to engage in a little ¢Trail talk¢ and for a minute. This morning was filled with ¢snot rockets.¢ On cool mornings like today, I have a real ¢runny nose.¢ ¢Snot Rockets¢ are the discharge when you close one nostril by pressing it closed with your finger and ¢firing¢ the ¢ammunition¢ out the other nostril. If you don¢t do this, your handkerchief soon becomes soaked and useless or it runs down your face and drips off your chin. Today I think I fired a record number of snot rockets¢¦and I¢m getting real good at it. I¢m wondering if this wouldn¢t be a great contest for Trail Days¢¦seeing who can fire one the farthest or hit a designated target. What do you think?The lodge restaurant didn¢t seem all that busy as the dining room tables were mostly empty. All the window tables were taken except the last one on the very end next to a couple of very senior, senior citizens. I don¢t think I smelled too bad today as no one was staring at me for more than five minutes at a time.I had ¢The Shenandoah¢ breakfast (two eggs, bacon, biscuit and gravy) with a short stack of pancakes on the side. The syrup was the best I¢ve ever had in a restaurant¢¦blueberry and it wasn¢t thin and watery¢¦nice and thick and lots of flavor.I had a smart waiter¢¦which I haven¢t seen in awhile. He went out of his way to be friendly. He started by telling me it was his day off, and his roommate didn¢t feel like coming in so he was taking his place. Of course, he noticed I was a hiker and he talked about some of the trails he had hiked. You just don¢t see that many happy people like this guy any more¢¦the last one was the waitress in the town in Arkansas near the chicken processing plant.After breakfast I walked out to the parkway and headed south (I got it right.) I figured it was no big deal. If I didn¢t get a ride it would only take me a couple of days to hike back out and I could just head into the woods and tent overnight if I had to. Traffic was very light¢¦only a dozen or so cars in the first hour. I used the kerchief ¢Hiker to Town¢ at first. Then I got to thinking that wasn¢t such a great idea along the parkway. Drivers would not pick me up because they ¢weren¢t going to town¢¢¦so I put it away and just thumbed.It worked¢¦as it wasn¢t long before a couple of really nice (looking too) young ladies, out for a day hike, picked me up and took me ten miles or so down the road. I got to chat for a few minutes with ¢Dragon¢s Daughter¢ and Heather (the driver). I¢ve said it many times before, ¢You meet the nicest people out here on and OFF the Trail.¢My next ride was no exception. Just a few minutes after being dropped off, along came Tom. He was taking a ¢leisurely¢ drive back home to Florida after going up North to take care of some family business. Another real ¢class act¢ who didn¢t mind conversing with me for an hour or so until he dropped me off ¢¦right in front of the lot where my SUV was parked.If you¢ve read any of my other journals, you know I seem to have great luck hitching rides¢¦for the most part¢¦whether I¢m hitching in the right or wrong direction.Thanks to Tom and the young ladies this worked out great. I was home by nine getting kissed by the dog and licked all over the face by Julia.