Hiked 21.5 miles, tenting at Hightop Hut shelter.
For once I was the first one out of camp this morning. It was only a half mile to the top of Blackrock Mountain. The trail skirts around the summit but there is a great view if you pick your way through the rock jumble to the top. I sat up there and relaxed while eating my breakfast for about 20 minutes. Eventually Why Not and Dip'n'sip showed up and I motivated myself to break away from the great view and keep going. We did have over twenty miles to do today after all.
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| On the top of Blackrock Mountain |
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| Looking left from the above photo |
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| Looking left from the above photo |
The terrain in the morning was relatively easy but the rockiness of the last few days has definitely taken it's toll on my feet. They haven't been this sore since the beginning of the trip. It could also be my shoes which are on their last miles. Everyone else has been feeling it too. Lady is having enough trouble that she is taking a few days off with Homebrew to rest. To some degree everyone is feeling the almost 900 miles that we have all hiked so far.
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| Looking back up the trail, definitely more rocky today |
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| View at Browns Gap |
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| View from Doyles River Overlook |
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| 9 AM photo |
The trail made a u shape around the Loft Mountain Campground about six miles into our day. Conveniently for us it passes within only 70 yards of the camp store. It was too convenient not to visit so I poked my head in. If I had known the selection available I would have carried less and resupplied there. Instead I just bought a bunch of snack food which I promptly ate on the spot. I also dumped my trash and used a toilet with running water. As I sat eating Why Not and Dip'n'sip rolled up with the same intentions. They also informed me I just barely missed some trail magic this morning...twice...by about 5 minutes each time...and proceeded to tell me about all the great food they had. Womp, womp.
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| This knockoff of Dr. Pepper sounds like a solid punch in the face |
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| View from Loft Mountain |
Two miles after the camp store is a half mile service road that intersects with the AT and will take you to a Wayside. There are a number of waysides in the park, all off of Skyline Drive. They are basically rest areas for people driving through the park. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and a lot of AT hikers use them for meals so they don't have to carry as much. We met up with Srocket just after the camp store and all four of us decided to head to the wayside for lunch.
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| Loft Mountain Wayside |
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| View between Loft Mountain Wayside and Ivy Creek Overlook |
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| View between Loft Mountain Wayside and Ivy Creek Overlook |
When we got there the cook informed us that they were out of hamburger buns and would it be okay if he put the burgers that Dip'n'sip and I ordered onto croissants. I think all burgers should be served that way from now on, it was so delicious. The waysides in Shenandoah are supposedly famous for their Blackberry milkshakes (for you New England weirdos, a milkshake everywhere else in the country is what you call a frappe). I didn't order one, but when I went back inside to throw out my trash, the girl behind the register offered me a half shake for free. Apparently she made the last one too big and had leftovers. It was quite good, yay trail magic! When I went back inside a few minutes later she offered me another one! I was tempted to camp out there and see how long she would keep this up.
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| Ivy Creek Overlook |
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| These markers indicate mileage through the park |
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| The metal bands on the markers are a pain in the butt to read |
After lunch we got back on the trail with twelve miles still to go. From this point on we had successively taller and taller mountains to hike over. We got a couple good views of the valley but a lot of the time we were in the green tunnel. Late in the day I was walking along and saw a deer on the trail. As I slowly approached it spooked and ran down the trail about 50 feet. As I continued walking slowly towards it the deer ran another 50 feet down the trail. This game of follow the leader continued for about a quarter to half mile before the deer finally got off the trail and watched me pass by from ten feet off the trail.
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| Why Not and I stopped to look down at Powell Gap Hollow and rest for a few minutes |
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| Deer on the side of the trail |
Overall the weather has been great during the last few days. It has cooled back off into the 70s and the humidity has dropped a bunch. No matter what the terrain throws at us it is hard to complain with the temperatures more reasonable. There are a bunch of people at the shelter tonight but most are tenting because of the bugs. Just like last night there are very limited spots though so I was lucky to find a flatish area to tent. Staying here tonight are Roadrunner (he didn't quite make the 30 miles he had planned :-P), Oatmeal, Thunderfoot, Not Worthy and a few section hikers.
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