Shenandoah, Day 8

My last night. It's pretty sad. For all the bitching I may have done, I really enjoyed myself. Some of the sights were just amazing, & they were that much better because I hiked to them. I think I learned a lot too--just read day 2 and then 3-8.

I'm at Tom Floyd Wayside tonight. A beautiful hut. What an amazing deck. Once again all to myself. (Apparently there are people who have done the whole trail and never spent a night alone in a shelter. Guess you gotta go during the season.) I'm only about 1 1/2 hours from my car. I had planned on getting up early, having breakfast & heading home, but maybe I'll stick around for a few hours & relax. Guess we'll see tomorrow.

I put in about 17 today after the 19 yesterday. I though the 19 would kill me today, but it actually made today seem a lot easier. Yes, my knees hurt a hell of a lot, and so did the blisters on my feet (btw, one more, on the Achilles tendon of my left leg), but after a few hours, you kind of forget about it.

I met the P.A.T.C. guy from this section--Paul. He was cool. It turns out these guys do this full time. They have about an 80 mile section, go out for 10 ten & then have 4 off. Then they start all over. Seems like a pretty cool job. I wonder how much they make?

Two deer (took a picture of one), some turkey, & two snakes. I don't know what kind, but they were dark greenish with 2 yellow lines running the length of their back. Once again, no bear. The Shenandoah's are supposed to be the most densely bear populated area on the east coast (if not the whole U.S.) & I saw none. Either I'm too loud or they're too quiet.

Hiking tips: Yeah, I'm a boxer man, but it looks like I'll be using some baby powder the next few days too. Less food, more dry socks.

I lost my poncho the other day. Fortunately the weather held out. I may have lost my knife today, but I'll have to check the entire bag tomorrow to be sure. (That would suck, it wasn't cheap)

Besides resting and cleaning my gear tomorrow, I think I'll head down to JP's & have a few beers.

Oh yeah, I managed to make it through last night safely. Cars kept coming by pretty late, but no one stopped to bug me. There were certainly a lot of deadwood falling from the trees. It got so bad about 5 am that it kept me awake for an hour--ducking everytime it sounded like a big one. Besides that, it was pretty rocky & I didn't sleep very well. Lesson learned--sleep in the shelters as much as possible (unless they have toe-biting mice.)