Scouts hair poking through his hat
My mom and my dog, Blue, are currently driving out to visit me. Dirty Duck, Sun, Scout, Uncle Puck, and I left our packs at the Brewery to slack pack the 19 miles into Waynesboro. My mom is picking up our packs on the way for us.
It's another rediculously hot day. I'm so glad that we are slackpacking today! It was actually a pretty nice day. Most of the trail was in the shade so the heat wasn't a major problem and the rash on my back wasn't much of a problem. We all hiked as a group for the most part of the day. There were some good views too. Overall the elevation is really nice, nothing too extreme.
We saw a timber rattle snake on the trail.
We got to The Paul C. Wolfe shelter, 5 miles from town. There's a mini waterfall here with some small swim pools of water. We had been pushing hard to get to the shelter because of the frequent thunder as a storm approached. We did make it. It would be great to go lay in the water if it wasn't about to dump water on us. Everyone else left quickly wanting to push on to Waynesboro before the rain possibly. I wasn't ready to leave still needing to filter water and eat. I was ready to go 10 min after they had left and it just started pouring rain. The appeal to leave this shelter is not here. I ended up scratching a bug bite on my toe until I scratched the skin off. It was quite painful, a guy at the shelter gave me a bandaid to put on it before leaving.
I had been hoping that my boyfriend, Ken, would be able to come out to visit me the next couple weeks now that I'm finally the closest on the trail to his base, just a 3 hour drive. I just got word that he has sudden orders to go overseas right away. It really makes me sad.
The rain died down in an hour and I headed off. I forgot my Devils Backbone hat at the shelter and realized it 3 switch backs up the mountain so I turned around to go get it. It didn't rain the rest of the way to Waynesboro. The trail was really nice and I ended up walk jogging the way there. It took me an hour and a half to make the last 5 miles. I think that that's the fastest I've gone out here so far.
I got a last phone call from Ken. I walked while on the phone. I also got a message that my mom got lost while trying to pick up our packs. It took awhile but I was able to get ahold of her. She thought that she was lost but she was actually going the right way. She had asked for directions which were the same as what her gps was telling her.
I made it to the road and there was this lovely sign with a long list of volunteer divers to shuttle hikers to and from town. The road was actually quite confusing here. Weaving around with multiple roads. I asked for directions twice then tried hitch hiking. It was a really fast road and a bad location so I ended up calling 2 numbers and the second guy, Bob, was able to come and pick me up! It took about 10 minutes for him to arrive. I had in drop me off at Mings Garden which is a Chinese buffet that is famous on the trail. I've been hearing rumors about it since back in Franklin! The buffet was great. The place was fancy and overall just really awesome. They had a magnificent koi pond with a bridge that goes over it with so many beautiful fish.
My mom arrived right as I got there. It was amazing to finally see her and my dog again! We stayed 30 min past closing until they kicked us out. I was trying so hard to finish the food on my plates but it was time to go. I ate so much.
Tonight in Waynesboro, VA I'm at mile 861.9 with 1327.9 left to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment