Date: 2015-05-31
From: Waynesboro 

To: Blackrock hut
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

It is always hard to leave the comfort of a dry comfortable hotel when you are in town and this morning was no different. We woke early because we had arranged to have a trail angel pick us up a 0800. We went down for breakfast at 0700 and ate as much as we could because we knew we would need the calories for today's hike. We each had eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels and yogurt.   We checked out of the hotel and then our trail angel, John, showed up early to take to the trail head. We were ready so we left immediately. John was a super nice guy who is retired and spends a lot of time helping hikers in the area.    We arrived at the trail head around 0805. As we are trying to be purists, we had to hike down to the area we left the trail. As we were walking back, John passed us and asked if we changed our minds and started hiking south. We told him about being purists and he just laughed. As we were just getting ready to turn around and retrace what we just hiked, we saw Trudge getting out of a vehicle so we waited for him and then we all set off together. Guess there was a reason we weren't let out where we left the trail. We only went about a mile when we arrived at the self registration for Shenandoah National Park. We filled out our forms and placed the permit on our backpacks. There is no charge for hiking through the park but the Rangers want to have an idea of how many hikers are in the park. We crossed over the Skyline drive road several times during the morning. At one crossing there was an overlook so we stopped there for our morning break. We heard some thunder and had a bit of rain but nothing too major. We thought we had dodged the rain for the day but we were mistaken. This mornings hike didn't have any major climbs or descents but still the trail always seemed to be going up or down. The ups and downs have just been smaller, 400 to 800 foot climbs. After hiking about 8 miles we stopped at a small spring and filtered water because the next water was 12.5 miles away at the shelter we would be staying for the night.    We then hiked another few miles and stopped again at a viewpoint on the Skyline drive. We had our lunch here and a good rest. There was a truck with a couple eating their lunch at the same viewpoint.   We saw they had at cooler and were drinking cold sodas. We were trying to look pitiful so they might feel sorry for us and offer us one but no such luck; no Yoging for us. While we were eating, Outlier showed up and so did Trudge. We all talked and as we ate our lunch and then it was time to move on.    We saw several bunnies on the trail today. They don't seem at all afraid of us. We can get within a few feet of them before they jump off the trail. The one was just hopping in front of us leading the way on the trail. Silly bunnies. We also passed a bees nest. They were busy as bees, buzzing all around. We didn't waste any time watching them.   We hiked a mile or so and then the heavens opened up and we were right in the middle of a thunderstorm. The flashes of lightning and booms of thunder were just a wee bit to close for comfort. It rained so hard for about an hour that there were streams running down the trail and huge puddles to walk through.   It started to slow down a bit and then it rained hard again for another half an hour. We both had our ponchos on and they seemed to keep our backpacks dry but our boots were soaking wet. We could both feel the water squishing around inside our boots. Not a very nice feeling! Lavender had worn her gaiters but her feet were soaked too. So they obviously didn't work very well. Imagine standing in a shower for an hour, fully dressed with a poncho on. That is what we experienced. Ugh.. We don't like that feeling very much. We hiked another few miles with wet feet. Then we took a break at another crossing of the Skyline drive. We took our boots off and we both wrung out our socks, water just poured out. The Keen waterproof boots are not very waterproof. The sun was out again so we took about a 20 minute break to dry out as much as we could. We put our wet boots and socks back on and started hiking again so we could get to the shelter before the next rain started since we could see dark clouds in the distance.    We only had another 3.6 miles to go and we were hiking fast. It started to rain again about a half mile away from the shelter but it wasn't too bad this time. We soon were at the shelter and under cover. Outlier was already there and had decided to stay in the shelter for the night. We looked around and around and found a nice tent site so we decided to tent for the night. While setting up the tent, Trudge showed up so I guess the 4 of us will be staying the night. We all cooked dinner and had some good conversation during our evening meal. Now it's time to settle down for the night and get some rest. But, the Whippoorwills, not one, but two have started singing. It may be a long night.