Nan's 2014 Appalachian Trail Journal

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July 1, 2014

By Drag’n Fly aka Nan

6/16 Day 79-Camping at Wildcat Ridge, mile mark 872.5 along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. After breakfast at the Quality Inn, Rich drove us to Rockfish Gap and we were on the trail by 8:00. The AT follows the Skyline Dr. for over 100 miles crossing and then crossing back 32 times. The terrain is rolling with no major summits. We have pretty much come out of the monster mountains and now will have many smaller climbs. The AT stays on the ridge line. Since there are several places along the Skyline Drive to buy food, both prepared and camper/hiker resupply, we set off from Waynesboro with just four days of food for what will take us seven days. Front Royal is where we get our next resupply boxes. The weather was sunny and hot, not as humid as it had been but pretty hot. A section hiker that we met said that it was 90^(0) in the valley!

6/17 Day 80, mile 888.6. Hiked 16.1 miles today. Last night after we got into our tents there was the sound of heavy footsteps. I thought that maybe Freckles was out of her tent walking around--she thought it was me--anyway, after making a lot of noise, the critter was still there. We peeked out of our tents and saw a deer. It was a doe and she just continued browsing around the tents and ignored us. There are definitely bear here in the NP. Saw scat on the trail that was very fresh and about ½ mile later we saw the bear. We stopped at the camp store at Loft Mtn. for cold drinks and had planned to stop at Loft Mtn. Wayside for dinner but when we got to the turn off we decided against walking the 0.6 mile down and then 0.6 mile back to the trail. We just continued north until we found a nice campsite and made dinner from what we had in our food bags. AB and Fuji just came into share the site. It is very small so the tents are close. Hope that we don’t have any snoring!

6/18 Day 81, 905.5 miles. We passed the 900 mile mark today with a 16.9 mile day. We could not find any camp sites so we had to look for a level spot and clear an area for our tents. Today was another hot day in the 90’s but not too humid. We had lots of ups and downs today crossing Skyline Drive several times. Great views from the high points. Tomorrow we should make it into Big Meadows camp area where there will be showers and laundry facilities. After three hot days of hiking the showers will really be welcome. Passed a pretty good sized black snake on the trail. It left the trail and climbed a small tree. It was pretty interesting watching how far it could extend its body with no support. We have been seeing Daddy Long Legs and Baby Steps signed in at the shelter logs for weeks but always two days ahead of us. Well, yesterday we finally caught up with them. We had not seen them since North Carolina.

6/19 Day 82, mile 920.3. Hiked 15.2 miles today. Hiked into Lewis Mtn. Campground to see what they had at the camp store. Freckles and I each got a cold drink and sandwich. It was hot again today and we had a really bad thunder storm and hard rain with 1/4 inch size hail. We could not find any shelter so we just had to trudge on. Boy did the hail hurt when it hit bare arms and legs. We arrived at Big Meadows really soaked and pretty pitiful. We decided to get a room at the lodge so we could get dried out. We were so drippy the desk clerk gave us towels while we were checking in. It was pretty embarrassing how much water ran off us and was puddled in the lodge lobby. After we got showered and put clean dry clothes on, we met Daddy Long Legs and Baby Steps for dinner. We all had great meals and shared a bottle of wine to help Freckles celebrate her 43rd wedding anniversary. It was a shame Rich was not there also.

6/20 Day 83, mile 934.7. 14.4 miles to Byrds Nest #3 Hut in the Shenandoah NP. They are huts, not shelters, but they are the same three sided structures with either one platform or a platform and a loft. This is the first hut we have stayed at but there is a 90% chance of rain tonight and we did not want to get wet again. Today was a nice hiking day. The storm last night cooled it off so it was just in the 70’s all day. We saw many deer and here they are very tame. You practically have to walk into them to get them to move off of the trail. We also saw a very small bear walking along the trail. He was not very concerned about us. We did not see his mommy but I am sure she was close by because he was very young. This morning we had fresh fruit, pancakes, and eggs. Freckles had eggs, sausage, home fries, and toast. Daddy Long Legs and Baby Steps joined us. After the great breakfast, we did our laundry then set off to hike eight mils to Skyland Resort and Restaurant for lunch. That is one of the nice things about hiking along the Skyline Drive. You can hike from food source to food source. All the hikers love it! For lunch I had quesadilla with steak (had enough left over for my dinner) and the Shenandoah signature Black Raspberry cobbler with black raspberry ice cream. Yum!

6/21 Day 83, mile 952.2. Hiked 17.5 miles today. First day of summer. Rainy and misty all day. The sun only peeked thru the clouds for several minutes. Rained last night so we were glad to be in the shelter. Today we finally lucked out and hit the big trail magic where they were cooking burgers, dogs, etc. It was being put on by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. That is the club that maintains the trail from Rockfish Gap (the beginning of the Shenandoah NP) to Pine Grove Furnace State Park in PA. We are staying at Gravel Springs Hut which is very full. I don’t know where all these people come from—there are several people that we know but lots that we have never seen before.

6/22 Day 84, mile 961.8. This hike is 9.6 miles into Compton Gap and Front Royal Hostel for a shower, laundry, and resupply boxes that Rich had dropped off. It rained again last night and off and on all morning while were were hiking. The sun finally came out about 3:00 so we quickly got our shoes and back packs out to a sunny spot to dry. After three days of rain, mist, and fog it was good to see the sun. We got a ride into Front Royal for dinner. We walked several blocks in town on a street that had a lot of well-kept Victorian houses with nice flower beds. This was the first time either Freckles or I had walked around town and we enjoyed looking at the houses and gardens. Makes me wonder what my yard and garden are looking like. Well, anyway, today we walked out of Shenandoah NP which is a very nice part of the trail--lots of wild life, great views, and good food but also, for us, lots of rain.

Later
Drag’n Fly is on the trail until next time.

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