Date: 2003-06-21
From: Hog Wallow Gap -Gooney Greek 

To: Compton Peak
Miles today: 4.0

"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only essential facts of life and see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not when I come to die - discover that I had not lived."                     Henry David Thoreau All in all, an awesome day! Woke at 8. Cousins Susan & Keith and I lingered around the campsite and leisurely ate breakfast of muffins kiwis and killer coffee. Before we left we stopped in the camp store and noticed a picture of Bill Clinton, Gooney Gloria from Gooney Creek and the Dali Lama. The vision of the picture disturbed me all day. Quite the odd woman is Gooney Gloria. We drove up to the park and entered heavy fog and rain. Hiked from Hog Wallow Gap to Compton Gap - a short 3.8 but good hike over Compton Peak. The weather cleared as we descended. We considered hiking more but decided to "burgundy blaze" instead. What is burgundy blazing you ask? We hit 2 local wineries and taste tested 12 different wines! yes 12, excellent fun! and we got a little buzz too! Went back to Gooney Creek and decided to check out how high the water was on the south fork of the Shenandoah as it was only a quarter mile away. We walked along the Gooney and had to cross a small waterfall. I didn't think I could make it acros the 3 feet or so but Keith held out his hand, I leapt and mid way realized Chloe was on the other hand, so I went kersplash, in I went - shin deep! It was my baptism in Gooney Creek. The best part,my feet didn't get wet! Excellent boots, and rain pants! We headed a little futher til the road ended at the water and the river was high - very high! We settled near the bottom of the train trestle and enjoyed beers, chips and dip. The dip is key! I must remember to get some. Some locals showed up to go fishing and encouraged us to climb up to the train tracks and cross over. Well worth it! Chloe almost fell through but she made it fine. Wish I had the camera! Watched the guys fish from this filthy little beach like area where we found a dog skull, hundreds of empty beer cans, a variety of other junk and old bait tubs. Chloe discovered an old latex glove and nearly devoured it. I was expecting a few used syringes. Yuck. One guy insisted he would catch a 15 - 20 lb catfish - he caught a 15 ouncer while we were there. Impressive thunder started to rumble and we had had enough fish tales so we headed back to Gooney Creek and cooked dinner! Exceptional chicken on the fire, zucchini and sugar snap peas. I contributed some hiker rice and desert. Dinner was a raging success despite the rain. Keiths' tarp was a savior. It rained off and on through dinner and it is now pouring. So now we are sitting under the tarp in a downpour, determined to burn every last bit of the $5.00 firewood. So far, so good - its a disco inferno. ....Update...update... Catfish Eddie showed up at 11:00 pm with three enormous catfish hitched to the back of his Geo Tracker. 3 monster fish! (1) was 18 pounds! the other (2) were smaller but still huge! They were pretty gross looking. Not such a fish tale after all! Note to self...do not swim in the Shenandoah, especially when there are fish the size of your leg swimming with you!Peace,Molasses