Date: 2007-05-19
From: U.S. 60

To: Fish Hatchery RD
Miles today: 16.3

We went over the 800 mile mark today. It was a great day for hiking and for views. It started out quite cool; in fact, until mid-morning wecould see our breath as we were climbing and we wore our fleece tops all day until around noon.Our biggest climb was first thing this morning (before 7) and for the first 3 miles we climbed 2000 feet. It really was not all that bad since it was the first thing today. Had it been at the end of the day it would have been a different story, I'm sure.   At the top of Bald Knob the view was an almost 360 degree view. It was sunny, breezy, and cool. We ran into some boy scouts out for the weekend just past this area---in fact, there were 2 different groups we ran into. Other day or weekend hikers were out, also. A couple of the scouts that were hiking in the direction we were going were trying to keep ahead of the rest of the group so hiked along with Toto for a while. He really enjoyed talking with them and thought they were great young men. Gator-Gump got here to the Dutch House first of the 4 of us that started out together at U.S. 60. He was meeting his wife and anxious to get here. Toto and I kept leap-frogging with Focus. He'd stop and we'd catch up and vice versa. When we got to Fish Hatchery Road we had to turn and go down this road for 1.5 miles past the fish hatchery. This road drops down 750 feet down to a parking lot and drops even further if hiked all the way down to the road. Fish Hatchery Road is a gated road with no traffic, is steep, and very rocky, and rough. We walked all the way down to the road and hadn't gone far when a truck approaches us and the man driving asks us if we want to walk all the way to town or if we'd like a ride. We didn't hesitate to jump into the back of the truck. It was Earl, owner of the B&B. We told him we thought Focus was not far behind us so he drove all the way up to where the road was gated and where the parking lot is but Focus was no where in sight. Earl said he'd drop us off and go back for Focus. When we got here we met Lois, Earl's wife, and she made us feel very much at home. We took a shower, put our clothes in a laundry basket and took it downstairs where Lois picked it up and put them in the washer. After they were washed she put them in the laundry basket and we hung them up on a line outside since the sun was shining and the wind blowing. We even had robes provided in case we had nothing to wear while our clothes were being washed. And some of the hikers had nothing to wear so the robes came in handy for them. Toto took a picture of Focus outside in his robe when he was taking his dry clothes off the line. I forgot to mention that when Earl picked us up Magellan was in the truck--she had slacked a section north of us and Earl had picked her up. Others that are here tonight are Wily Coyote, Roadrunner, More Sunshine (his real name is Les Storm), Mr. Clean (others are imposters, he says), his wife Pugnose, and Cindy (Gator Gump's wife). It is a good group of people. Lois calls a group like this the OFG (over forties group). The only 2 not over 40 are Roadruner and Wily Coyote. Dinner was great tonight and breakfast will be fantastic from the smells coming from the kitchen. We have decided to stay 2 extra nights and slack-pack 2 more days. It is so nice not having to carry a full pack! We are getting spoiled! And this B&B really has pampered us just in the short time we have been here. The weather is supposed to be getting warmer so that by the time we get to Waynesboro and we start through the Shenendoah National Park we should be having warmer nights. We are very tired and can hardly keep our eyes open. We will be heading to the trail at 8AM but we will be only doing 10 miles. The next day will be 15 or 20 miles. We've taken our ibuprofen for our aching feet and are hoping it kicks in soon.