Date: 2015-07-01
From: US 60

To: Rockfish Gap
Miles today: 55.3

I'm sitting here once again dressed in my hiking clothes and ready to resume my journey after a quadruple zero and two "neros" at home in Harrisonburg, VA. I am fortunate and grateful to have home be here in northwestern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, a wonderfully situated place to take a rest on this long walk and just a 45 minute drive from Rockfish Gap at the Southern entrance to Shenandoah National Park. I've enjoyed some excellent food, visiting with family and my cat Pepper, a comfortable bed, warm showers, my mom's hot tub, wearing my own non-hiking clothes and jewelry, and a deep tissue massage. I've also prepared two re-supply boxes to send to my next two stops because I have found that making grocery lists and looking at the guide for the next section, getting to a store, shopping, and repackaging food takes a lot of time and energy away from town days and doesn't allow much time left for relaxing and doing nothing. Thanks to Mom for everything, Charles for patching some holes in the bottom my tent (the second tent repair so far), Naomi for making a fabulous rhubarb-blueberry creme brulee, Baxter and Mary Beth for a great brunch out, Shawn and Linda for the moral support, Oma at Three Springs Hostel for the amazing hospitality and giving me a Potomac Appalachian Trail Club "SNP Crew" hat, the two gentlemen who brought in trail magic pizza to Maupin Field shelter, Aviator (2013 thru-hiker) for hiking the last 21 miles into Rockfish Gap with me, and current hikers Rooster, Notes, Grip, BC, Secret Squirrel, and Sky for helping me through!      Shenandoah National Park, affectionately know as "The Highway" or "The Boulevard", is a favorite section for many thru-hikers because of its relatively easy trail with no major uphills or downhills and wide availability of trail food and cooked meals at camp stores, waysides, and lodges every 30 miles or so. I too am looking forward to these amenities and have been dreaming of the blackberry milkshakes at the waysides since Hot Springs, NC at about mile 270, but the 45.4 miles of trail in the South District of Shenandoah National Park were my dad was a ranger (see the "about" section of my page) are really the kernel of my soul journey so I won't be speeding through. I'll be spending some extra time at Blackrock, one of his favorite spots, and visiting the Loft Mountain amphitheater where he acted out being a thru-hiker, black bear, and homesteader in his evening programs.   Here's a poem for Shenandoah:"This Choir"-- Rabia (female Sufi saint, c. 717-801), translation by Daniel LadinskySo amazing this choir ofsocks, shoes, shirt, skirt,undergarments,earth, sky, suns, and moons.No wonder I too, now,sing all day. This last about 135 mile section from Daleville, VA to Rockfish Gap was my most difficult yet. Although Virginia has a (false) reputation of being "easy", the trail up until Shenandoah is physically as hard as anything in North Carolina as it makes its way through many steep, long ascents and descents such as crossing the James River before ascending again to Big Rocky Row, plus it had the added challenge of being later on in the trip and the honeymoon phase being way over. Three times during this section I took a several-hour rest in the middle of the day (twice I set up my tent in a shady spot and once rested inside a shelter) because temperatures were reaching 90 even in the mountains not even taking into account the high humidity. While I was at home, it rained a lot and low temperatures in Shenandoah National Park were in the 40's Sunday night. Oof! The weather! Weather for this week looks better through with highs in the mid 70's to low 80's and nightly lows in the low to mid 60's. I am making a few changes at this point. After reading this article: http://www.appalachiantrials.com/4-must-supplements-long-distance-backpacking, I am adding a protein powder and krill oil to my food bag (I was already using probiotics and electrolytes) as well as trying out a multi-vitamin and a turmeric/ginger anti-inflammatory supplement. I am also going to experiment with using my old Gregory Deva 60 pack instead of the Osprey Aura 50 that I bought for The Big Hike. Even though I taped some extra padding to the hip belt of the Osprey pack, it still is uncomfortable (I joked about trail naming myself Bony Hips). I'm hoping the extra 2.5 pounds of weight on the Gregory pack will be worth it for a more comfortable ride. If not, I can easily switch back while I'm still close to home. Hang tight for the next report from the field!