It was a rough night, but thankfully, not due to bears. It’s been too many hot, humid days without a shower, leaving us with a layer of stickiness all over our bodies. Additionally, our sleeping pads keep losing air. Warthog usually has to blow them up once more during the night. His sleeping pad, however, is far worse than mine. He often wakes up fully on the ground. It’s been that bad for the last week or so. At 2a, he woke up miserable, so I offered to switch pads with him. He really needed to get some solid sleep. It worked.
Other than a small amount of rain, it was a quiet night. No bears came around. At least, not that I heard. After having so many late nights, we accidentally slept in this morning. It was 7:20a when we got up. Our goal was to be out of camp by 8a. We left thirty minutes late.
The privy (outhouse) at the shelter was unbearable. It was in my top three least favorite privies. Mostly because the ammonia smell coming out of it was incredibly strong. It’s a mouldering privy, which has been the majority of privies we’ve seen so far. Some methods of decomposition requires a “solids only” privy, meaning no urinating. Basically those methods are not realistic. The mouldering method allows for liquid and solid waste… much more convenient. After you are finished, you are instructed to throw a handful of material on top of your remnants. Sometimes this material is lime, cedar chips, or loose leaves. On occasion the local trail maintenance club will provide the material. If not, and you are using fallen leaves, you are supposed to gather material from just below the top layer – the part that has already started to break down. This mouldering method allows for invertebrates and microorganisms to proliferate. The organisms help decompose the waste we leave as long as it is well balanced. Too much urine throws off this delicate balance, plus it makes the entire privy disgusting. Like the one this morning was. We tend to blame this unbalance on weekend and day hikers who aren’t as comfortable urinating in the woods. To be honest I don’t blame them, it can be a difficult thing to get used to.
At 8:30a we were off! We started with a climb of 1,200 feet of elevation gain. It was our biggest climb for the day. The rest of our hiking was fairly easy. Our bodies are tired and in some pain, so even the easy hiking can feel challenging. Still, the break day was appreciated. Even better, we had clear blue skies!
We ate lunch in a parking lot, sitting on a curb. There was a big bus in the lot. A group kids were coming off of the trail and boarding it. After a minute, four girls came over and asked if we were hikers. We said we were and told them we were backpacking the Appalachian Trail and that we were about 960 miles in. When they found out we started in Georgia, one of the girls jaws dropped. Partway through the conversation another said, “I’m not trying to be rude or anything… but how do you shower?” I laughed, and answered, “We don’t. We shower maybe once a week when we are in town. It’s kind of gross.” The teacher with them thankfully said, “Well, we can’t smell you from here!” They were from New Jersey and we told them we are heading that way soon.
After they left we packed up lunch and started back towards the trail. Then a family stopped to ask us for directions. Then they started asking about what we were doing. They were from China, the mother really didn’t speak english, so the adult daughter translated for them. She asked for a photo with us. We obviously agreed. Side note: I’m really interested in how many random photo albums we are in now. It has to be at least ten. After the photo, the mother said to us that she “admires our spirit and to keep on going.” They sent us off with cheers. It was a fantastic and uplifting way to end our lunch break. I tell you what… if you want to feel like a rockstar, be a thru-hiker in a national park.
At mile nine or so we hit the edge of Shenandoah National Park. I am sad to leave this place. Even though we’ve had so much rain, the park has been one of my favorite section of trail yet. We’ve had all kinds of animal encounters, breathtaking woods, and easier trails. But all of those reasons aside, I’m mostly sad because this was the place that our AT adventure started for us. It was during our 2015 backpacking trip here that we resolved to hike the trail. Revisiting locations in the park that were a crucial part of our story… our memories… has been special. So when I saw the sign declaring we’ve reached the boundary, my heart saddened a bit.
After we left, we had about three miles until we hit the road crossing where we could hitch hike into a city called Front Royal. Our plan was to do a minimal resupply (which still ended up costing us $60-) and get back to the trail to push another 3.7 or so miles to a campsite.
Our hitch out of town was thanks to a woman whose daughter hiked the AT in 2015. It’s so cool how big this community really is. I’ve learned that the AT community isn’t just made up of hikers, but it also includes their friends and family as well – regardless of it they’ve hiked a day in their life or not. They just remember how much their loved one appreciated hitches, food, and other types of trail magic. It’s so comforting to know that our hike is supported by not only the people at home who love us, but by the people who have ever loved an AT thru-hiker.
It was 7p when we got to the campsite, putting us at about 16.5 miles for the day. It was early enough that we could’ve kept going another 1.5 miles to the shelter, but Kirby was already established there and it was a great site. Even more, we were excited to be at camp early so we can actually rest a bit. Lately, we’ve been getting in so late that it’s been a rushed evening. Tonight was slow and relaxed. Perfect.
We ate sandwiches we packed out from the store, had a fire, and even got the luxury of real benches at the site. Warthog found extra holes in his sleeping pad and patched them. Fingers crossed he will have a full night of sleep.
Wonder Woman and Snow Monkey ended up arriving late. They had been about five miles behind us for the last day and a half. They pulled a twenty one mile day to catch up. They arrived exhausted and tired. I don’t have anything to complain about with my 16.5 mile day.
We only have a few more days before we get a zero. I can’t wait! Now to go test Warthog’s patch job on the sleeping pads! Here’s hoping!
-ansel