Waynesboro, VA

Greetings Sports Fans! From Waynesboro, VA. Mile: 848.1.

The weather is warming. The humidity has at times been stiffling. The color green can be seen forever and always now. It is that time of year and we have seen some awesome thunderstorms. And yes, we have received some much needed rain in the past week.

Since Damascus, Spring really came out in full. Every day has brought new bird calls and sightings, more wildlife sightings and more experiences.

I arrived here in Waynesboro, VA Saturday evening. From Rockfish Gap (see map on right), we found a ride into town and began a break at the Quality Inn hotel. The town has a number of great resteraunts and for our first feast we hit the chinese buffet. Very good. Steak last night and some Hardees burgers in between. Town stops on the AT are great for getting the variety, the calories and nutrition I can not get from Little Debbies, Liptons noodles, granola bars, etc. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Little Debbies.

Many hikers are here resting. Hungus, Earthquake and I are heading into the Shenandoah National Park with Mala. He is going to slackpack and run some madness and mayhem. We expect White Crow and Couch to be right behind. It was good meeting Travelling Teacher, aka Star, who came up from Florida to hike the Sheny's. Nice seeing Dogs Life and everyone else.

While hiking in to Waynesboro I started the day off by hearing the rattle of a timber rattler from about 50 feet down the trail. Once we approached the sound we noticed a snake coiled, but docile. And the rattle was rattling non stop at a speed that would need to be clocked to determined. We got some great pictures and then left him. Later that morning I watched the longest black/rat snake I have seen cross the trail. He or she, was longer than I was tall. My guess is that the snake was 6.5 feet in length.

Later that day as I hiked North, I came upon a black bear who also happened to be hiking North. I'm sure if he could type he'd thank the trail maintenance clubs for building him highways. The bear heard me, turned perpendicular from the trail and headed off. I was able to get a little closer before the bear heard me and exited stage left. The bear ran faster than I could imagine, scary fast.

Lots of squirells, chipmunks, birds, snakes, bugs, flies, mice, deer....

I am not sure if I had mentioned but at Trail Days I finally caught up with White Crow. White Crow and I met in Duncannon 2005 and spent the next couple months hiking together. We hiked out of Trail Days together with Hungus, Earthquake. We had a great hike on a beautiful section. My favorite stretch in Virginia.

Lunch at Audie Murphy Memorial, overnight at Dragons Tooth (3020'). Dragons Tooth is a thrust of rock that from away appears to be a sharp tooth of perhaps a Dragon. We ran into Scarecrow there who thru-hiked in 2005. From Dragons Tooth we hiked past Johns Spring Shelter to McAfee Knob (3250') where, yes, I stopped to take in the wonderful view and a picture. The day ended at Tinker Cliffs. This is my favorite place on the trail in Virginia. The trail follows the cliffs and you hike in and around the mountain laurel. You have spectacular views of McAffees Knob from the cliffs. We cowboyed on the rocks, ate dinner and slept well. Coffee and oatmeal for breakfast with our sites on Daleville, VA.

The Blueridge Parkway awaited me and I was obliged to hike along this parkway. The trail parallels the roadway at times and often times we even cross the road. Sometimes the pullouts from the parkway have trashcans. And these are great because it helps lighten our loads.
Down to Jennings Creek (950') and then a climb up Apple Orchard Mountain(4225')left me breathless and completely soaked with sweat. But a good sweat means you are working, right? On top of Apple Orchard Mountain sits an FAA radar dome. It looks like a big soccer ball. It was nice to catch the breeze from up there.

From US60, (2065'), I had a big climb up to Bald Knob (4059') and camped several miles shy of Cold Mountain (4022'). I was then about a half day behind Earthquake, Hungus, Rio and Hemlock. So I pushed to the Priest Shelter the next day. With about 5 miles left I ran into Hungus and we went the rest of the way together. 2 miles left to the shelter (and we were planning on staying on top of the Priest) the skies opened and the rain came down hard and plentiful. Within minutes we were soaked to the bone. It felt good to be cool instead of hot. Within the hour the trail became a flowing waterway but the thunderclaps and lightning kept us moving North very quickly. At times the thunderclaps were so close I felt like I should be able to actually see it. Then the lightning came and the electricity could be felt. Hair standing on end I slopped through the trail singing Metallica's Ride The Lightning. This was as intense of a storm I have ever been apart of. We probably should have holed up somewhere off the trail on top of a thermarest...but.

The Priest Shelter (3840'), The Priest (4063') then Tye River (997') back up the Three Ridges (3970'). It was a climb all day getting up the Three Ridges but at the Tye River Rio's family left some sausauge egg cheese buiscuits and we enjoyed them with a Coke. It all helped!!!
Into Waynesboro, VA. Looking forward to the Shenys, Bears Den Hostel (Queen Diva) Harpers Ferry, WV, etc....

Thanks LEKI, OR Products, GRANITE GEAR, MARMOT. I am not issuing a buy recommendation on Montrails Hard Rocks trail runner shoes.

Thanks Rob, Ricky and everyone else who is making this a better trip.

It was great seeing everyone back at traildays! Teflon, Domino, Redneck Rye, Crash Test Dummy, Luna, Bama, Seeker, The Honeymooners, Hobo Jo and TBC, Chef Paul, Billville, Uncle Silly, THE SPOONMAN, BLUE, DIRTY EARNY, BLUE SKYS, PATCH, CLEARWATER, Lion Kingetc.

P.S. If you have not seen Lions King PCT dvd, you should. You should buy a copy or two as well. You will love it! If you are reading, send me a link to your retailers and I will post to my blog.

Happy Trails and more later!
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