Date: 2015-06-11
From: PA-16

To: 3 Points
Miles today: 22.5
Weather: few clouds

We had to get a ride back to the trail head in Waynesboro.   Thankfully, Trail Angel Anita wanted to do something for us. She picked us up at 6:30 and drove us 30 minutes to the trail head. It was a nice ride and we had such an enjoyable conversation. We were on the trail by 7:05. It was going to be a hot day as the air was thick and already very warm at 7:05. The trail was nice for 3 miles. There was a gradual climb of 200 feet. The trail was nice with limited rocks. Then, it was a gradual downhill; again limited rocks. We came upon a park. Since the temperature was so warm, we had already drank alot of water. At the park, there was a fresh treated spring. So, we were able to refill our water bottles without having to filter. Oh yeah, we enjoyed the modern conveniences!   We were hiking along and saw Outlier sitting at a shelter. We haven't hiked with her since 9 days ago. We stopped and asked how she was doing. Her foot has been bothering her. Hopefully, her foot with heal shortly. We started hiking again. This time Outlier hiked with us.    The trail lead us up the mountain 900 feet. What a climb! Count had alot of energy and was up the trail in no time. Lavender and Outlier had to run to keep up with him. He had stopped at the top. Huffing and puffing, Lavender and Outlier finally made it to the top. There was a short trail to Chimney Rock. But, we decided to pass on hiking up a trail which was not part of the AT. We did take a break, removing out boots and socks. Then it was hiking time again.   We had some nice trail for a few miles. Then, we had a climb. Believe it or not, we didn't have rocks. Then, there was a descent. We could see rocks to our right, but the trail was not going over them! Amazing!! We saw two people looking for a place to sit on the rocks. Low and behold, it was Trudge and another thru-hiker we hadn't met before, Dusty Pilgrim. They were looking for a place to sit for lunch. We told them 5 miles ahead was a snack bar. They decided to eat there. The gang, Trudge, Outlier and us, was hiking together again. It has been 9 days since we hiked together. We were happy, well for a while we were happy. The trail turned to climb. And, the rocks we saw before - well, we had to clamor over them. Clamor we did. We saw white blazes but we couldn't really see where the trail went. We were having dejuvu from two days ago - well almost as bad but the rocks didn't last as long. Of course we all complained. But, we made it. Then, it was a descent to US 30. We crossed US 30 and started a flat, rockless trail to Caledonia State park. It was only .4 miles to Caledonia but it seemed to take forever. Finally, we saw the snack bar. We dropped our packs and poles with other thru-hiker's packs and went to the snack bar.We had a soda and ice-cream. Yes, we had dessert before lunch. We went back to our picnic table and ate our ice-cream. We were dining with Trudge, Outlier, Lightning, Pork Chop and Rock Boat. We enjoyed our real lunch. Then, we put our feet in a stream and just relaxed for a bit. The water was so cool and refreshing.   We enjoyed ourselves so much. We could have sat there all day. But, the trail was beckoning. Before we left, we used a water fountain to fill our bottles.   Oh yeah, another non water filter time. Life was good.   We left for the trail but first, we used the modern toilet facilities. It doesn't get much better than this. We passed a group of children on an outing. They asked us all sorts of questions about our hike. They were intrigued that we had been hiking for so long and still had months to hike. We climbed out of Caledonia for 900 feet. It was so hot we felt as if we were melting. We were covered in sweat and our clothes soaked completely within 10 minutes of the start of the climb. Where was that cool stream we just soaked our feet in?   There was no breeze, no cool air until we passed by a stream.   When we crossed over the stream we entered into a rhododendron tunnel. It felt as if we entered an air conditioned room. It felt so good. We lingered here a bit by slowing our speed. Soon enough, we were out of the tunnel into the heat again. Now, we were out of the trees into the open sunshine. It was if we were in a hot oven. How hot can a person be before they start to melt? We were trying to see that today.    Not soon enough, we came to our destination for the day. Since we were staying with Lavender's sister this evening, a vehicle was waiting for us. We quickly took off our packs, our boots and our socks, got into the vehicle and turned the nice cold air conditioning on. Oh, the coolness felt so good. We wish we could have had all the thru-hiker's in the vehicle with us.