Date: 2009-05-28
From: Paul C. Wolfe Shelter, VA 

To: Calf Mtn Shelter, VA
Miles today: 12.0

Cell good if you walk up the hill away from the shelterOG notesWhen I awoke at 6 am I heard rain hitting the shelter roof. The first thing that came to my mind was, "I don't want to hike in the rain today." As we packed up the rain had stopped and it was okay to hike. The first 5 miles went very well, we completed this section in 2 hours. We hiked 2 1/2 mph which is really great speed for us. The terrain was very favorable for us to make that speed. There were hills but they were gradual enough and didn't slow us down.When we arrived at the road we were greeted by Red Leg and a trail angel Bill. Bill gives hikers rides into town and helps them out. I see C6 wrote about our trip to town so I won't repeat it.We got a ride back to the trail and started into The Shenandoah National Park. We will be walking next to Skyline Drive, the road that goes through the park. We'll cross this road many times during our visit here. We'll see more of the park than most of the people who come here. Some of the best views are from the mountain tops above the road.We hiked 7 miles into what we thought was the park. We discovered that we don't actually reach the southern boundry of the park until tomorrow. The Shenandoah Park is our last major feature in Virginia. Once we reach the northern boundry we'll have only 4 more days until we reach Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. That's another day's story, I'll tell you about it then. C6 notesWe've had a couple interesting encounters over these past two days. Yesterday a couple who sent us notes in our Trail Journal visitor messages (Vicky and Jim Edmonds) stopped briefly at the shelter where we stayed. (They were going to Waynesboro.) They started hiking on May 15, and our taking the weekend off let them catch up to us. It was nice to meet them.At the shelter where we're staying tonight is the father of a girl who met OG on Mt. Katahdin as he was finishing his 2006 thru-hike. After talking with OG for a while, she decided to hike the AT. (She had been thinking of hiking it, but talking with OG in 2006 was the deciding factor.) She, her boyfriend, her father, a friend of her father started hiking together. She and her boyfriend are now ahead of us by 2-3 days and her father and his friend are at the shelter here tonight. How cool that OG influenced her decision.It's fun to run into people like this. When folks learn OG thru-hiked in 2006 they often ask for his advice and/or his recollection of sections of the trail. We both love when folks do that.Some people we hadn't met before are at the shelter tonight. We think there is a large group coming here, also, but there is only one sleeping space left now. The maintainers made some very nice tent spots, so latecomers will be okay. The tent spots are leveled and outlined with trees. OG said the level tent spots weren't here in 2006. I've only seen that one other time...but it was a very welcome time! That was the night we woke up to 9" of snow in early April. We were happy to see the nice level tent area that night! I'm sure there have been others, but I haven't seen them.We stopped in Waynesboro today because Red Leg needed a little more food for the next few days. What a fabulous stop! A "Trail Angel" (a person who does nice things for hikers) gave us a ride into Waynesboro, stopped at the grocery store and waited for Red Leg to pick up something there, and then he took us to a restaurant. Weasie's Kitchen is fabulous!! We had a huge (and delicious!!) breakfast. Bill (the trail angel) told us to call him when we were finished eating. He came and took us to the Oufitter, waited for us to get what we needed there, and then brought us back to the trail. Wow! What a nice guy!We were so surprised to see Zoltan today. We were on the same pace for 2 or 3 shelters before the Smokies, but then he sped ahead, so we didn't think we'd see him again. Turns out he took 16 days off to do some sightseeing (Washington, DC) and spend time with friends. He just got back on today. He was getting out of the car when were putting our backpacks in Bill's car to go into Waynesboro. (By the way, "Zoltan" is his real name.)It poured a couple times this afternoon. Being able to throw our ponchos on quickly was very useful. We heard thunder a little while ago, and now the sun is out. It's supposed to be a nice weekend; that would be nice. Our weather statistics now stand as 42 bad weather days and 36 sunny days. I'd love to report a shift in the ratio some day!Old Goat & Check Six