Trail Journal Entry 3/25/2012 - near Byrd's Nest

I spent an uneasy night alone in the shelter. I woke often. Finally around 5:30 I woke up for good. I stayed in my bag but turned on the phone and read a book for a while. Around 6:30 it was light(ish) so I retrieved my food bag and ate breakfast. Even with dilly dallying I was packed up and ready to go by 7:30. I slowly walked up to the car and got in. I turned on the car and started the heater to keep warm. I was surprised to see that the outside temperature was 45. It had felt much warmer to me. In fact I had been a little too warm in my sleeping bag. 

Weaver and Sarge were a bit late. They intended to arrive between 8:30 and 9 but with whiteout fog to navigate they arrived at 9:30.   We changed our plan for the day to shorter mileage. Then Weaver's husband helped me shuttle my car a few miles down the trail. My permit now lies about my car location and my campsite. I doubt the rangers will care too much. 

Weaver and Sarge walked a couple of miles while we were moving cars. I walked north to meet them, then we proceeded south. They both have very heavy packs. No services in Shenandoah are open right now so they are carrying a whole lot of food. Unfortunately none of us thought of stashing most of their food in my car. That would have been a good move. Alas. 

The weather was hypothermia weather all day. We didn't stop much, and when we did I added a layer right away. We made out all right, but we were all tired by it. 

We contemplated trying to stay at Elkwallow, but there was no good, legal place to stay, and all the illegal places were too high visibility. Instead we made a hot meal and used the privy, and got water. So much water. We knew we would have to camp dry so we carried a lot of water for the last hours of the day. My shoulders have convinced me to finally get rid of my Gossamer Gear backpack. It just doesn't provide enough support, leaving the weight of my pack to dig into my shoulders and neck. It was bearable for a short trip but I'm done with it. 

Weaver and Sarge found a nice protected spot for their tent. Mine is rather less protected. This will be the first real test of my cuben fiber Hexamid tent. We have plenty of rain and wind. If I'm going to get wet in it, tonight will be the night. I expect I'll be drying the tent out in my bathroom again when I get home. With luck, my seam sealing job was sufficient. And my tent-setting-up skills. 

We had a very nice dinner together. I'm really glad I took the time to come out and hike with them as they restarted their thruhike. And that they wanted me here. They're good people, as JD says. Even when we're tired and sore and cranky, I like their company. And they told me that if my setup fails and my sleeping bag gets soaked, I'm to come to their tent and they'll figure something out to get us all through the night. Now those are good friends. So far so good on the tent though. I think my major concern might be dense fog wetting out my bag. I'm all bundled up and expect to take off a layer or two overnight. I desperately hope it stops raining so I can water a tree without soaking my sleeping clothes. 

In the morning we'll walk down to my car at Panorama, and I'll drive them into Luray for lunch. Then I'll drop them off back in the park and drive home to my real life after a nice little interlude in faux thruhiking. And they'll walk south for several hundred miles. 

I'm not sure where I'm going, but I'm having a good time

I got home last night from a great backpacking trip.  Just Blue Skies and I went on an overnight trip into Hazel Country, a once fairly densely populated portion of what is now Shenandoah National Park.  We spent the night before in Luray so that we could get an early start without having to drive a couple of hours first thing in the morning.

The weather was absolutely perfect.  It was astoundingly warm for March - so much so that JBS and I were both soaked in sweat.  I didn't mind, as I much prefer that to freezing (which is your other option in March.)  We had good views down into the valleys, and the flowers were just starting to bloom.  I enjoyed my conversation with Just Blue Skies, and overall just had a fantastic time.

But.

I did all the planning for the route based on my map.  I didn't have mileages for all the side trails, only for the AT.  So I guesstimated.  And I was WRONG.  For the first day I figured a 7 mile hike, or so.  If we had actually made it that whole distance, we would have actually done 14 miles.  As it was, we stopped far short at 10 miles.  Still, we stopped somewhere pleasant and had a gorgeous night.  The sky was clear (predicted thunderstorms and fog didn't happen) and we got to observe the Venus / Jupiter conjunction that's going on.  I determined that I can see stars, blurrily, right through my cuben fiber tent.  I also determined that a falling stick, if it's sharp enough, will go right through said tent.  It has a piece of Hello Kitty duct tape over the hole right now.

JBS's knees weren't too thrilled with some of the steep descents on day one, so we looked at the map and tried to choose a reasonable route for day two.  My original plans were right out, of course.  We were nowhere near where I had planned to camp, plus we needed to take it as easy as possible on the knees.  The problem was that we still had no way to judge just how long the trails actually were.

We headed out and I got to see some trails that I had never yet walked (Catlett Spur Trail, Nicholson Hollow Trail, Hannah Run Trail) and see tons of old properties.  I love seeing the stone piles in the fields, the old fences, the foundations and chimneys.  Nothing else is left at this point - whatever didn't get destroyed by the CCC has been destroyed by weather.

The next to the last trail of the day was a four mile slog uphill.  By the end, JBS's knees were giving out on her completely.  As soon as we got to the top, I found her a rock to sit on, ditched my pack, and took off for the car.  Mindful of my back, I didn't run.  But I strode with a purpose.  I made the 2+ miles in just about exactly an hour, and drove back quickly to retrieve my friend.  We immediately set out for home, knowing that we would be arriving fairly late.  JBS had to catch a train before 7 AM, and I had to go to work, so we didn't dilly dally.  We did stop in Warrenton, though.  I was dragging and I needed a Coke to keep me alert for the drive home.  With that and a mediocre hamburger, I was good to go.

Once we got home we took showers and did tick checks.  I think the final tally was two on me and four on her.  Today I stopped by the doctor's office to get a prescription for a prophylactic dose of doxycycline.  I don't think I had the ticks on me long enough to catch Lyme again, but I'm not taking a chance.  I asked the doc to write the script for more than one dose, so if it happens again I can take my one dose again without having to see her first.  She agreed, so I'm set.  (All signs are pointing at a big tick year.  Sigh.)

I'm also waiting on my lips to heal.  Just like in February, they got really irritated.  This time it wasn't my bottle, as I didn't take the same bottle.  It seemed to be my spoon, but I'm wondering if  the root cause is my old bite tube.  I think it might have latex in it.  I'm going out again next weekend, so I'll try a different bite tube and see what happens.

Oh, and it turns out that I actually DID have a way to find the lengths of the side trails.  On my shelf, forgotten for a decade, is this book: "Appalachian Trail Guide to Shenandoah National Park With Side Trails", 1999 edition.  I discovered it after googling "Shenandoah side trail mileage".  Oy.  Had I only known.  At least I'm prepared now for next time.

I'm still kind of tired from my weekend so I'm going to bed early.  Before I go, some pictures: