Date: 2016-06-06
From: Tumbling Run Shelters

To: Trail of Hope Hostel - Fayetteville PA
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: broken clouds

I left the shelter at about 830 this morning. Ed and Lyle took a blue blaze trail for an easier route to Chimney Rock while I started my day with a 900 ft climb. That little stretch was gorgeous! It was steep, but not too rocky. It was cool with a nice breeze and there was mountain laurel everywhere! It was one of those times when I take a deep breath and say to myself, "yes! This is why I am out here!" The guys were on the trail side taking a break when I finished the climb. Ed had said there wasn't much to see without a bunch of rock climbing, but I learned my lesson when I bypassed Waverly Cliffs on day one and missed an awesome view of the Patomic. I left my pack and took the blue blaze trail up to Chimney Rock. The rock climbing wasn't all that treacherous, and the view was amazing! It was a great opportunity to FaceTime my brother David to rub it in a little. ;-) I also FaceTimed my granny to see how she was recovering from her first chemo treatment last week. She was all smiles!Continuing on the trail got rockier. Man, that is hard in the feet! But the blisters and missing toenail have all resolved themselves so I'm very grateful for that! We had some pretty good rock scrambles today. The kind where you're not quite sure where the trail is so you just climb to the top of the rock pile and search for a white blaze. We played leap frog throughout the day with a young man called Kritter who stayed at Tumbling Run with us last night. Sounds like when this guy isn't hiking he is hoping freight trains from one place to the next. He is walking up to Vermont for a Rainbow Gathering. When we made it to Route 30 we called the hostel and they sent a driver to come pick us up. The hostel is only about .8 miles from the trail, but those miles don't count and road walking can be a crummy business. The shuttle kept us from having to hitch. When we got to the hostel they showed us around, then we got showers and I went to the community center next door to see if I could help with dinner. Queen Diva and Sherlock were preparing our meal and they put me to work, but I didn't really do much. It was just the two of them and the three of us. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, apple sauce, watermelon, and a brownie/frosting/chocolate ice cream Mississippi mud dessert. Halfway through dinner a thru hike, Jesse, showed up. He grabbed a plate and tucked in. He starts at springer on April 10, so he's making pretty good time. After dinner, Queen Diva took us to Dollar General and Walmart to resupply. We had stocked up for about five days while in Waynesboro, so we really didn't need much. I picked up some pop tarts to sublime the my breakfasts (apparently dollar general boxes only have three packs in them). We were also told that there were loads of eggs that we were welcome to, so we picked up some bread and bacon for breakfast tomorrow. We are all settled in for the night. We have beds to throw our sleeping bags on and pillows. We are clean, well fed (and we didn't even have to clean out any pots after dinner) and generally feeling pretty good. Today wasn't bad, and a top mileage day so far. We have a 10 mile hike planned for tomorrow. Queen Diva will take us back to the trail at 8am. I forget what the hike tomorrow looks like. I think there are a couple of climbs and maybe a section or two that looks like they could hold some rock scrambles. The elevation profile gives you a good idea of how strenuous a day it will be, but I wish they had some kind of ranking for how rocky it will be. Or how muddy, or whatever else might slow you down and/or exhaust you early. I was definitely ready to be finished with the hike today!I had originally thought that I would skip the hostel and go on the the next shelter, 2.4 miles up I think. But I wanted to get my phone and external charger juiced up. The phone got a lot of use lounging around the shelter yesterday. So I thought maybe I would just camp outside the hostel for $12. But then a bed was only $10 more and I decided that would be worth not having to set up and break down camp. I'm glad I went with the bed. Being in a dorm can make a hostel lose its value sometimes, but I am in a room with two single beds, and I'm the only one in here. Ed and Lyle are in another two person room, and Jesse is sleeping along in a room with two sets of bunk beds. A good nights sleep will serve me well. The highway is buzzing by, a few feet from the building, but I think I'll be able to sleep through it pretty well.'I discovered today that I can live stream through Facebook. I did a couple of test streams, then after dinner and errands I set up another stream. I had 20 people login throughout. It was pretty darn cool to interact with everyone that way. I will continue rondo these live streams. I will try to plan better so I can actually schedule them and let everyone on Facebook know, though apparently you get a push notification when I start one. So if you are interested in seeing these live streams, make sure we are Facebook friends. Let me know who you are and why you are friend requesting me because if I don't know you I will not accept your friend invite.I continue to be astounded my how many people are reading this journal. I hope it is conveying the experience at least a little bit.Okay. Exhausted. Hiker midnight hit an hour and a half ago and it's past time for me to go to bed.Nowhere to be and all day to get there.