Date: 2003-07-21
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Spring at 854.6
Miles today: 8.2

Today, we are officially, finally in the Shenandoah National Park! AND...I reached the 400 mile mark in my hike! Whoo-hoo! :) Actually, I am proud of the 400, but I am chomping at the bit to hit 500! I should hit it within 7-8 days and we are going to do something special to celebrate.   The aqua-blaze canoe trip is over for the season, unless you can get to the river runners headquarters. They are near my 500 mile mark, so we may still get to canoe. Or...we may visit the Luray Caverns, which are also near it. In any case, I am going to celebrate!!    The Shenandoahs are a really big deal for the thru hiker. Supposedly, while you are in the park, the trail is much easier, making for higher milege days. It is a place for many thru hikers to hit that elusive '20 mile day'! Also, supposedly, there are quite a few waysides and snack bars, so we don't need to carry much food, thus lowering our pack weight significantly!   Well, I will tell you that so far, the park looks exactly like the rest of Virginia! Lots of rocks, and lots of elevation change! However, I am withholding judgement until I have been here a few days! We did encounter some magic and some wonderful people today. The hike dawned hot and muggy. We immeditely began climbing up and down over the rocky trail. It was a long, tiring morning and we were happy to finally take a break.   When we sat down to lunch, we were back in the shade on a grassy shoulder of the Skyline Drive. We were tossing around the idea of getting a ride up to a snack bar for a drink. We were so hot!! As we sat there dreaming about an ice-cold Coca-Cola, we knew that we wern't going to actually take the time to go get one.   We didn't even know where one was!!! So, instead, we started dreaming that one of the cars full of tourists that were wisking by would see us, be moved by the fact that we were hiking in this heat, pull up and offer us an ice chest full of ice cold coke! Of course, there was no auto pull-off where we were, and the traffic could not even see us, but we did not let those facts get in the way of our dreaming!   As we were getting ready! to leave, a road crew pulled up near us to lock up the tractor for the night. When the park ranger got out, I asked him on a whim, how far it was to the nearest cold drink. He said that it was 25 miles, but that he had ice water that we could have.   Oh myyyy.....I wish you could know how amazing that ice water was! I was so grateful! We were standing by his truck enjoying this cool, unexpected treat when, without a word, he opened an ice chest and handed us one shining... dripping... glorious... ice-cold Coca-Cola.Who says that there is no such thing as magic?! He left us there on the side of Skyline Drive with our mouths hanging open and gratitude pouring off of us. It was the best Coke I ever had. :) While the magic was...well, magical, the hike itself today was strange and disjointed. You would get good and used to the rocks, and then all of the sudden you would be walking through stunted pine trees that covered the trail with needles. No sooner would you get used to that than you would find yourself in a big meadow with waist-high undergrowth threatening to grab you and hold on.However, even when the trail is unpredictble, I find that I am learning and growing every day. At one point, I was hiking along going uphill (ugh!), sweating profusely (yuck!), brushing up against stinging nettle (ouch!), and periodically stopping to pick the ticks off of my legs (ick!!!!).   It did not occur to me until several hours later that all of that had become commonplace. You would think that the above scenario would be miserable, but it is just part of daily life on the trail. It made me feel good to know that I could keep on hiking with a good attitude dispite all of the seemingly negative things, and that I could keep from letting the little things get me down. Late in the afternoon, I came down into a gap, and found Bumpkin waiting for me. As we sat there, a truck drove by. I playfully said, "Don't just drive by!! Stop and give us something to drink!". Would you believe that the truck immediately pulled in, a woman rolled down the window and said, "How are you guys fixed for water?"?!?. I immediately burst out laughing!   You have to understand, many of the hikers out here feel like they are entitled to special treatment. They expect magic, and are disapointed when they don't get it! Bumpkin and I are not like that! We know that we are out here of our own choosing. If we suffer, that is our own fault.   When something magical and wonderful like this happens, we are so amazed! And so grateful! In any case, this is how we met Buzz and Chris, two day hikers that have dreams of doing the trail one day. We stood and talked about hiking and the AT for a long time. They were just as nice as they coud be, and they look like they have exactly what it takes to do a thru hike.   After feeding us both two bottles of water, they drove off to the sound of our 'thank you's!!! I would not be a bit surprised to see them on Springer Mountain next March.    As we hiked we kept an eye out for my friends Anthony and AnnCarol. They were up here, and had plans to try and find us in the park. We never did find them, but I was so touched that they would even make the effort! Finding a thru hiker on the AT is not the easiest thing in the world, and I really appreciated that they made the effort! The sun was setting when we finally found a small campsite. We were both tired from our day, but felt good to be back in our tents. There is no place like home, and for now, the tent is home. Tomorrow, maybe we will get to see what all of the fuss is about when it comes to the Shenandoahs! :)