Day 69 Byrds Nest #3 Hut to Thornton Gap, Luray

Today's miles 3.2.  AT miles 937.9

We had a big change of plan today thanks to the awful weather.  When we woke up this morning everything was damp from the rain and mist, strong winds had blow the wet mist and rain spray into the shelter.  No one in the shelter was in a hurry to get up, it was 8am before anyone stirred, very late for hikers, everyone was just keeping warm in their sleeping bags, It was like winter again.  There was no way we fancied carrying on hiking to get to Front Royal in the cold rain as planned.  After heavy rain all last night and more rain and thunderstorms forecast for the next two days we decided it was sensible to take an unplanned nero and zero day.  It would also mean a chance for our blisters to heal at least slightly.

We got wrapped up for the cold wet weather, full waterproofs, jacket, trousers, gaiters and waterproof gloves, it was too windy for my umbrella.  We've been spoilt weatherwise so far we're not used to this, we've been so lucky up to now.  At least we had all the appropriate weather gear with us still. All the April shower's have come together in the last three days of the month! 

We had just a 3.2 mile hike to the next road junction where we hitched a ride into Luray town.  We used our 'Hiker to Town' sign that Fresh Ground kindly gave us when he prepared trail magic.  We only had to wait in the rain and mist on the roadside for about 10 minutes until a lovely lady on the way to the vets with her dog picked us up.  She dropped us off right outside the Best Western in town where we checked in for two nights.

After showering and some blister treatment we wrapped up again and had a walk into the town for a late lunch.  We went to Gathering Grounds Cafe and Patisserie and had tasty turkey club sandwich each followed by a huge chocolate brownie (Nigel) and a chocolate chess pie (me) both delicious, very rich and chocolatey, that kept us going, we only needed a small snack in the evening for rest of the day. We got our laundry and trail food shop done and also got a few bits from the outfitters we needed.  They also helped us arrange a shuttle to Front Royal for the following day.  We have bounce boxes waiting for us at Front Royal Post Office. We decided, to save having to take more time out off the trail again in a few days time when we walk past Front Royal, its easier to get a shuttle now to pick them up while the weathers bad.  We can post them on again from Luray Post Office whilst we're here, then bypass Front Royal altogether. 

We had a visitor in the evening, Iron Man turned up, it was good to see him.  He'd also gotten off the trail because of the weather, he was so cold and wet he couldn't feel his hands any more or hold a cup of coffee.  A couple at Big Meadows Wayside, where he came off the trail, rescued him and kindly drove him to Luray.  We, nor Iron Man, have heard from our German friends so we hope they're OK and have got off the trail too somewhere. The weather is nasty, it would be very easy to get hypothermia out there in this persistent cold wet weather if not careful.

Day 68 Big Meadows Campground to Byrds Nest #3 Hut

Today's miles 14.  AT miles 93joy

Today was our least favourite day on the trail so far.  It was cooler and cloudy when we woke up this morning, it was quite cold during the night too, colder than it has been in a while.  We left the campsite at 9:00, the trail was right next to where we camped. We got a good 3mph pace going this morning again.  The paths were a little rockier today in places, for a while the trail was a nice ledge cut out from the rocky terrain which contoured around the mountains. We passed Stony Man Mountain, the highest point on the AT in Shenandoah National Park. It was a 0.2 mile detour to get to the summit which we didn't bother to take.

After a couple of hours walking though the blisters on my heels worsened and started hurting, causing me to slow down.  I was compensating by walking on the balls of my feet instead.  We stopped for a rest and snack break by some rocks on the descent from Stony Man mountain. Not long after we got walking again it started raining, very light to start but soon the heavens opened.  We had intended on walking 18.4 miles today but because my feet were sore and it was raining heavy we stopped at an earlier hut, Byrd's Nest #3 Hut at 3pm.  We were the only ones there initially but then it soon filled, up as shelters do, when it rains.  We decided to sleep in the shelter rather than our tent because the forecast was for rain all night and the next two days too. Oh joy.

The rain did ease slightly in the evening but it remained cold and very misty.  Very wet mist which just gets everything damp, we could see the mist blowing around inside the shelter. The rain returned though and it continued raining heavily all night long.

Day 67 Hightop Hut to Big Meadows Campground

Today's miles 20.8.  AT miles 920.7

We were last to arrive at the hut last night and the last to leave today around 9am.  It was a gorgeous warm sunny day again.   Very early on the trail we passed the 900 mile mark which someone had spelt out in stones.   There were a few longer ups and downs today, especially in the morning but still on good paths with easy gradients, we made good time though still walking 10 miles in three and a half hours.  We stopped at Pocosin Cabin spring for a quick break at 12:30 and to refill our water supplies. Our average pace has increased to just under three miles an hour on these good paths in the national park.

I managed to get a photo of a Eastern Towhee today, these birds are always scurrying around in the leaf litter and fallen trees.  Still no bear sightings.  You can see through the forest quite a way in the distance, I kept looking often but never saw any bears, most of the time though our heads are down concentrating on the trail.  I think it'll be down to luck, being in the right place at the right time when we spot one.  This afternoon the trail got slightly less hilly with a fair few levelish sections.  There were a few weekend hikers out but not as many as we would have expected on a sunny Sunday. 

We made another detour today to Big Meadows Wayside, another 0.8 extra to walk but this time we had planned to as this Wayside had a camp shop for food resupply.  A much nicer Wayside than yesterday, we bought the food we required for the next two days on the trail and then bought something to eat there, saved having to cook at camp later.  Lots of other hikers were there also, lil Beast and her crew, plus Ravencloud and Frog Monkey who we'd not seen for a while. This is where all the weekend tourists hang out too, loads of cars and people who'd come out for a country drive and eat at the restaurant.  We had a message from our German friends and Ironman, they're a couple of days behind us, they'll catch us up I'm sure.

From the Wayside it was a mile and a half to walk to Big Meadows Campground, a large official campsite for a change with space for huge RV's, family camping or walk in camping.  They had bear lock ups for food, toilet blocks and showers!  We're camped next to Ravencloud and Frog monkey.

It happened, my worst fear about changing boots - blisters!  Our no blisters so far on the trail status has ended.  We've both have got small blisters on our heels from our new boots.  Walking 20 miles a day for the last three days in new boots probably hasn't helped.  Hopefully they'll heal quickly.

Day 66 Blackrock Hut to Hightop Hut

Today's miles 21.4.  AT miles 899.9

We are just 0.1 miles off 900 miles! It was back to warm sunny spells again today after yesterday's rain thankfully.  We left camp at 8:50 and headed up to Blackrock summit which was a large rocky boulder field.  We had our wet socks and clothes from yesterday attached to the outside of our packs, they dried nicely in the sun as we walked. After the rocky summit the trail returned to nice easy going paths again. 

After nine miles we took a side trail, a waste of time, money and energy detour, to Loft Mountain Wayside.  Instead of burger/ice cream vans in car parks there are 'Waysides', restaurants/gift shops off the Skyline drive. We walked an extra 0.5 miles downhill then 0.5 back up again, so we actually walked 22.4 miles today.  We only wanted an ice cream and a coke but ended up buying overpriced hotdog, sweet potato fries and coke to make our trip more worthwhile.  We won't make that mistake again.

The trail remained good for the rest of the day but there were a few more ascents and descents thrown in. We crossed the Skyline Drive quite a few times again today too and we stopped to get more water from a steam by Pinefield Hut.    There were a few more weekend hikers around with today being Saturday and Hightop Hut where we're camping tonight is very busy.  The shelter was full and quite a few tents where already pitched by the time we arrived at 6:30pm.  The hut is at quite a high elevation, 3200ft, and its a windy evening, hopefully it won't be too cold during the night.  I think freezing level is currently way higher, about 8000ft though so we should be fine.

We've still not seen a bear yet, some other hikers saw one though so maybe tomorrow we may be lucky and see one, as long as it's not too close!

Day 65 Rockfish Gap to Blackrock Hut

Today's miles 20.6.  AT miles 878.5

Today was our wettest day on the trail so far!   Cindy kindly drove us back to Rockfish Gap to rejoin the trail. We thanked her for all her help and hospitality and got a lovely photo of me and her. What a great lady.  It was about 9.30 when we hit the trail entering Shenandoah National Park.  We first had to obtain a Backcountry Permit to be able to overnight hike in the park.  The permits are free but compulsory, if we didn't get one there would be a fine. 

The morning started off nice with sunny spells. It all changed just before noon, we had on and off rain showers followed by heavy rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. We walked in the rain for about four hours.  Too warm really for waterproofs. Nigel has his waterproof jacket on but was still soaked, I was soaked on my bottom half, my trusty umbrella kept the top half of me dry.  Luckily the rain stopped just after 4pm and the sun came out to dry us off.

The first part of the trail in the park was a bit unattractive, we passed an array of communication towers and then some power lines. The trail then turned nice and the paths all good going.   The Blue Ridge Parkway has now turned into the Skyline Drive which we crossed numerous times today and follow for the next hundred miles through the Shenandoah National Park (SNP).  SNP has a few differences to the rest of the AT.  Gone are the nice wooden signposts detailing directions and mileage at intersections, in SNP these are 4"x4" concrete posts which have all the information stamped into aluminium bands around the top of the posts, not so attractive and harder to read.  Also 'shelters' are now called 'huts'.  SNP is the place to see bears apparently, we didn't see any today, if they had any sense they be sheltering from the rain!   Nigel did see a really large wild turkey though.  The AT regularly crosses the Skyline Drive throughout the park.   We are optimistically hoping with the weather forecast for a sunny weekend we may pass some burger or ice cream vans in the car parks. 

We arrived at our camp spot for the night, Blackrock Hut at 5:30.  There were three guys at the hut already then a few more hikers turned up later, lil Beast and her bubble of friends.  Our German friends didn't arrive at the hut so we're not sure if they set out hiking or took another rest day in Waynesboro. They were hoping to be back on the trail today but Pillow had been feeling unwell the last couple of days. We miss our friends on the trail, especially in the evenings at the shelters.

Our new boots got a thorough testing today, 20 miles in the rain, we both had wet feet but that's all.  No problems with them so far, we hope it stays that way.

Day 64 Zero Day No 6, Waynesboro

Today's miles 0.  AT miles 857.9

We had a lovely day off today.  We phoned the first person on the free hiker shuttle list, 'Miss Lady'/Cindy, a lovely lady who turned up within ten minutes to collect us from the motel and shuttle us to the outfitters shop about a mile outside of Waynesboro.  She was very helpful, gave us a town map and explained where everything was in town.  We arranged with her to collect us in the morning again from the Quality Inn to shuttle us back to the trail.

About ten minutes later in the outfitters, Cindy returned and offered us a place to stay at her house instead of the Quality Inn which we kindly accepted and we arranged to meet her at 2pm at the library, what amazing trail magic.  From the outfitters we purchased a new Sawyer squeeze water filter and Nigel also got some new boots too, Merrell lightweight trail shoes.  Nigel wore his new boots straight away, his old boots got thrown away/left at the shop so I couldn't take an old vs new boot photo.  We walked into Waynesboro from the outfitters, a good opportunity for both of us to test our new boots for comfort and break them in slightly.

We stopped at the Heritage on Main, a pub restaurant, for an early lunch.  The food was lovely. They had a good choice on the menu, I had crispy potato skins and salad and Nigel a panini and salad. We had a wonder around Waynesboro town, it's the nicest town we've been to so far on the trail, all the shops and restaurants etc all together in a town centre and not spaced out along a long road.   We then wondered towards the library to meet Cindy.  We arrived early and it was a warm sunny day again so we nipped to a gas station around the corner from the library for an ice cream while we waited. 

Cindy picked us up and took us to her house which was only two or three blocks  away from the library.  We settled in, we had a nice twin bedroom to stay in and private bathroom.  We feel very honoured to be asked to stay, from a guest book in the room it appears she only occasionally has guests. We sorted more unneeded items to post/bounce up the trail.  Nigel convinced me to bounce my old boots on rather than carrying them for a few days 'just in case', plus we had a couple more clothes items each that we no longer need for a while now its warmer.  Cindy then kindly drove us back into town again to the post office, giving us a fantastic driving tour of the town in the process. There were some beautiful old houses, the residential areas were just as we envisaged American houses to be.  Out of town there was also a large retail park area, created initially with the opening of a large Walmart store which then grew with more and more shops and hotel accommodation being built. Waynesboro appears quite a wealthy town compared to some we've visited but is apparently struggling like any other town due to the closure of some large factories.  It is a very hiker friendly town and they are trying to promote more tourism in the town.

After posting our parcel we did our regular food resupply shop.  We're getting much quicker at food shopping now we're more familiar with the products available.  It was then food time again - time to eat, so we went to Jakes bar and grill for one of their burgers, very nice food again.  We then walked back to Cindy's house.  We did a fair bit of walking today around town in our new boots, both pairs seem comfortable so far, we'll find out tomorrow for sure on the trail.  We spent a lovely evening chatting with Cindy and her partner Jim who called by to meet us.  He also shuttles hikers around.  They are both lovely people and amazing trail angels. Thank you so much Cindy for your kindness and hospitality, we loved staying with you.

We received some more sad news today from Iron Man.  Our hiker friend Extra Mile is off the trail.  He has a bad infection in his foot and leg from a blister so will get a lift back home with Dena, Iron Mans wife.  We don't know if he's planning on returning to the trail once recovered. We won't know the full story until we see Iron Man again, he's a day or two behind us now but we're sure he'll catch us up.  We'll miss Extra Mile, he's a great guy.

Day 63 Maupin Field Shelter to Rockfish Gap

Today's miles 20.9.  AT miles 857.9

It was a lovely sunny day again today but much cooler and windy.  We had another big day today so were away from camp at 8am again, we were still the last to leave, everybody else where real early birds.  The trail was very rocky for the first ten miles until Humpback Mountain, there were a few changes in elevation but we remained between 2500ft and 3500ft on the rocky mountain tops.  There were some good view points from rock overlooks, one view was of what looked like a small ski resort.  We had a bit of a cliff walk and we crossed over the Blue Ridge Parkway a couple of times and managed to unload our rubbish in a trash can.

After Humpback Mountain we descended about 1300ft, the trail paths finally became more hiker friendly and the rocks disappeared.  We stopped at Paul C Wolfe shelter for a quick break sitting on a lovely stone commemorative bench in front of the stream. We'd made good time and miles and only had another five miles to go from the shelter to get to Rockfish Gap.  Some days the time and miles just seem to fly by, other days they seem to take forever.  We passed a small cemetery and a chimney that remained amongst some cabin ruins. We arrived at Rockfish Gap at 4:30pm. 

We needed to get to Colony House Motel about half a mile away from the gap as we had a couple of parcels waiting for us there - my new boots and Nigel's maps.  We were about to start walking when the mother of 'Lil Beast', a young thru hiker we'd met a few times, walked over to us.  She was waiting for her husband and son to finish their day hike. They were about 20-30 minutes behind us, so she kindly gave us a lift to the motel while she was waiting.

The motel is in the middle of nowhere, about 3 miles outside of Waynesboro, but it's a pretty decent motel so we checked in for the night as they had held our parcels for us.  We got our laundry done and got pizza/lasagna delivered. We'll get a shuttle into town, Waynesboro, tomorrow.  On a fence post at Rockfish Gap there was a laminated sheet with the names and telephone numbers of lots of people who will kindly shuttle hikers between Rockfish Gap and Waynesboro for free.

I got my new boots.  I'm a little wary about changing boots as my old pair are so comfortable, they're like slippers, I've not had one blister or any foot problems.  I'm a big Zamberlan boot fan and have been wearing their specific women's fit boots for hiking for the last fifteen years.  My current boots are the forth pair of the same style boots, Zamberlan 996 Vioz GTX, I love them. There's nothing wrong with the pair I've been wearing on the trail, apart from a few scuff marks, they would probably last the whole of the trail but being leather they are heavy and hot in the warmer weather.  Great for day hikes or shorter durations. The new boots are Zamberlan SH (Speed Hiker) Crosser Plus GTX boots and much lighter, made of canvas so half the weight.  I'm just hoping they live up to my Zamberlan expectations and comfort and they hopefully will be better for my knees too being lighter.  I'll be carrying my old boots still for a few days just in case, then bounce them on.

We heard some very sad news today via a Facebook feed/news article.  A 59 year old hiker was found dead/unresponsive in Matts Creek shelter on Monday morning.  We met this hiker briefly on Saturday at Matt's Creek shelter, he said he was just feeling a bit under the weather.  He and his brother had been hiking the trail southbound, Maine to Georgia.  He had been feeling unwell and passed out on the trail, so stayed at the shelter to recover.  His brother stayed with him a couple of days at the shelter but then they decided there was no point both of them staying so his brother continued hiking and they arranged to meet up again in the next town in a few days time.  We met and had a good chat with his brother on the trail the afternoon before, on the Friday.  So so sad.  We can't even imagine how the surviving brother must feel.  Our thoughts are with the brother and his family.

Day 62 Porters Field to Maupin Field Shelter

Today's miles 19.3.  AT miles 837.

It was a tough hiking day today. We were on the road at 8am today, early for us but we knew we had a big day ahead. People kept telling us the hiking gets easier in Virginia, they were lying.  The first few miles were OK a few smallish up and downs, past Spy Rock, a rock outcrop requiring a bit of a scramble to get to the top.  Nigel went up initially thinking it was part of the AT, we took a wrong turn, but then carried on regardless anyway.  I didn't, I wanted to reserve my energy.   Uff-da caught up with us here and we walked with him for the rest of the morning.  We eventually climbed up to The Priest (4063ft) and then the fun began. 

We had a 4.3 mile, 3000ft descent to Tye River which started off slow as it was steepish and quite rocky for the first 1000ft but then the paths became easier with a gentler gradient and switchbacks where we could actually pick up some speed on.  As soon as we got to the river at the bottom and crossed over the suspension bridge we were back into uphill - 3000ft straight back up again to Three Ridges Mountain.  The uphill section did give our legs a little bit of a reprieve, 1000ft, one and a half mile up then a short downhill for half a mile then started back up again. Just as we started ascending again we reached Harpers Creek shelter where we stopped for a break and get more water.  It was thirsty work today, I drank three litres of water.   It was a cloudy but warm humid day, very warm walking uphill so we both changed into our new shorts.  The first time we've worn shorts on the trail.  Our legs are lily white compared to our suntanned arms.  We'll have some strange tan lines by the time we've finished.

From the shelter it was a further 2000ft, three miles to climb.   Initially the path wasn't too bad, a fairly easy gradient and lots of switchbacks but it eventually hit rocks again and became more challenging.  At one point there was a steep climb, almost a scramble, over a rocky outcrop. The uphill continued, there were a few false summits.  We made it to the top for 4pm, our legs were quite tired, the most tired they've felt so far on the trail we think.  We had another three miles to go to get to our camp spot for the night, Maupin Field Shelter.  To get there was another 1200ft descent over more rocky paths. We took it steady going down the final descent and arrived at the shelter about 5:15pm. Thankfully there are not any more really long ascents/descents on the trail for a while, things get easier from now on they say!? We'll wait and see?

The shelter was full, we were going to camp anyway, there were some nice camp spaces around the shelter area.  There was also a 'bear pole'.  A different version of the bear cables, the first time we've seen one of these. Uff-da arrived a short while after us.  Pa Burt was also at camp, a retied guy we met a few days ago at Thunder Hill Shelter, he's hiking the AT for the third time. He said the trail gets a bit easier now too.  The first third and the last third of the trail are the harder sections and the middle third easier.  We'll look forward to this middle section.

We ticked off a few more flowers in our wild flower leaflet today too, Large-flowered Trillium, Fire Pink, Diapensia we think, plus one little white flower we couldn't identify, it's not listed in our guide.