Date: 2022-09-27
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Blackrock Gap
Miles today: 19.8

We met Grandpa at the camper at 6:00. Coffee was brewing and Grandpa was getting the griddle fired up for breakfast sandwiches. The boys were still asleep and the sun was still an hour from rising.We were at Rockfish Gap by 7:10 with full bellies and empty packs. Our plan was to head Early 6:00 start with breakfast sandwiches. Our plan was to hike northbound back to a Blackrock Gap. It would be nearly 20 miles but we felt up for it. The fall colors have begun to show in the treetops. The Tupelo seem to be the first to change from green, then briefly to yellow, and then to a bright red. These yellows and reds fort the green canopy behind and make the trees easy to spot. Their cousin, the dogwood, does a similar stunt in the Georgia spring, blooming white in a forest that¢s just beginning to push out green leaves. Spring dogwoods and fall tupelos are easy to spot. The weather was beautiful a crisp but not cold, breezy but not windy, sunny but not hot. We stopped for second breakfast about 3.4 miles in at McCormick Gap. Grandie had packed a loaf of blueberry bread that lasted about 3 minutes. We continued up Bears Den Mountain to radio towers and the tractor seats. This is a conspicuous summit and will be fun to look back on in e coming days as we hike south. Our only water for e day was at the 8 mile mark. We filled up at Calf Mountain Shelter for the next 12 miles. Everyone took 2 quarts  Lunch was at Sawmill Overlook. Deli sandwiches with lettuce and tomato were on point. We ate a bag of corn chips along with the sandwiches. We were back to Blackrock Gap about 4:00 and all took yesterday¢s same seats on the concrete parking space bumpers. Grandpa arrived about 4:10 and we repeated the gear-and-body pile in that we did yesterday and headed back to the campground.The Shennies are finished! I can¢t imagine having hit the park at a better time of year. The weather is just beginning to turn cool. There were several cold nights in a row that our gear was just adequate enough for. The trail itself was a joy to walk. The waysides and campgrounds provided enjoyable diversions and destinations. We¢ve heard that the real beauty of Shenandoah is found in the valley, on and near the river. I¢d love to come back sometime and explore that part but for now, Shenandoah National Park gets high praise from us!We arrived back at the campground about 5:00. North Star and I promptly got back into the truck to run 3 errands in Waynesboro. First, we wanted to stop by Rockfish Outfitters and see if they have the fleece jackets the boys will need for the upcoming weeks. The outfitters was unexpectedly closed so we continued in towards Waynesboro. Stop number 2 was Stanimal¢s Hostel. Texas Pete¢s food bag had delaminated weeks earlier. We thew it into the trash in Duncannon after Hilltop Packs agreed to send us a replacement. Stanimal¢s was far enough ahead to be a good candidate for a shipping location. After a hunt around the block twice for the correct address we found the building and I walked in. The package from Hilltop was there and so was a care package from our Classical Conversations homeschool group. The latter was full of candy, coffee, and a large package of Nutter Butters. Stop number 3 was Kroger for some light resupply and campground food. We anticipate that we¢ll do an overnight trip while G & G are here (more on this later) and so we got some breakfast and lunch foods. While we were in Kroger, Podcast texted to see if we could give them a ride into Waynesboro. I had told him and Tang that I could help them out if they needed it. So, despite the late hour (6:15) I agreed to go meet them and bring them back to town. North Star was not as excited to help as I was. It was late, we had hiked 20 miles and she was tired, and worst of all, we hadn¢t eaten dinner before we left the campground.Despite all this, we drove to Rockfish Gap and met Podcast, Tang, and Kung Fu Kitty around 6:45. We delivered them to the YMCA via Cookout and headed back to the campground, finally arriving around 7:30. We are our bacon cheeseburgers fresh off the griddle (that¢s two nights in a row of bacon cheeseburgers), set up a tent next to Ninja Squirrel¢s tarp, and promptly fell asleep. Alarms are set for 7:00 in the morning- we¢re ¢sleeping in¢!