Getting to waynesboro, mile 857 and day 63

Getting to Waynesboro, VA, by April 23 has been a goal of ours all month. I really wanted to aquablaze and got Jesse on board somewhere around mile 300. Aquablazing is canoeing the Shenandoah River that parallels the ridgeline the Appalachian Trail follows. We had to get to waynesboro, the town in which you start, by April 23 in order to have enough time to complete the aquablaze before Jesse's parents came out to visit us.

Believe it or not, pushing yourself to get to a place by a certain deadline on the AT is really difficult. It requires you to make a certain number of miles each day, but with the added pressure of knowing that each mile you don't make must be completed the following day or you don't get where you're going, regardless of the weather or if you tweaked your ankle or if you've got a headache, makes it very stressful.But we did it!

Day 57, Apr 16- 28.2 miles, mile 752.2
We slack packed today from Troutville to the Middle creek campground. I can't say enough kind things about the campground, even if it was an extra 1.3 miles after our 28 mile day. The people were very kind, gave us a ride back to the trailhead, and even met us with a lost package a few days later. It was a really long day, our first and hopefully only marathon, but we survived. And at the end, we ran into our slack packing friends NASCAR and Bullwinkle, who had a couple of cold bud lights for us.

Day 58, Apr 17- 15.4, 767.6
NASCAR and Bullwinkle gave us some slack magic and drove our packs ten miles down trail. We picked them up and hiked further north, where we ran into them again. They told us they were camping by the Blue Ridge Parkway about a mile north of where we met them, so we decided we would have a shorter day and hang out with them for the evening. They regaled us with some tales of their past hiking and what we might expect further north on the trail. NASCAR gave us some sound advice about the windows in the Doyle hotel, and Bullwinkle shared a story about boy scouts hiking a particularly rough patch of trail in Maine, and we didn't stop laughing all night.

Day 59, April 18, 14.9, 782.5
We received another slack magic adventure from NASCAR and Bullwinkle today to the James river near Glasgow,VA. The hike was almost entirely downhill, a big down, which does a number on knees and ankles. It was a great reprieve. I spent a lot of time observing the wildflowers that have finally started to emerge. I saw pink ladyslippers, a wild iris, a bunch of flowers whose names I don't know but whose appearance on the trail I've become so thankful for, and even a few trillium! Once we picked up our packs, we had every intention of hiking another 6-8 miles to get to an 18-20 mile day finishing on another ridgeline on the other side of the river. Let me just say, every thru hiker looks forward to VA because were told it's supposed to be flat. That statement is a bold faced lie. We went thru a 3-4 day stretch where we traversed perpendicular across the ridgelines and have done nothing but 2000 foot climbs and descents. Yuck. Anyway, we wanted to get back up on the ridgeline today so we didn't have 2 2000 foot climbs tomorrow. But when we showed up at the shelter for a privy stop and to get water, we couldn't leave. There was a pile of firewood, a creek running just left of the shelter, beautiful flowers. We made camp. What can I say, the flesh was willing but the mind was weak. I picked wild scallions and fiddleheads to add to our dinner and we sat in the shelter and read.

Day 60, Apr 19, 20.1 miles, 802.6
During our hike today we learned that Buena Vista, a town about 20 miles away from where we started today, had a catholic church, so we pushed all day so I could hit up Easter mass the following morning. The last 7 miles leading into town were my absolute favorite on the trail so far. We ran into Bullwinkle and NASCAR at a suspension bridge and chatted for a few minutes. We found out they'd be parked at the gap where we stopped, so we had another bud light to look forward to before went into town.  We got to the gap at around 7 and chatted for a bit as we tried to get whole of the hostel owner in Buena vista. Having no luck, we left a message saying our friends were there and we'd probably just stay and try to settle up with the hostel, the bluedogart cafe, in the a.m. We showed up at the hostel to find Chovinard, his cousin, and Uffda hanging out and drinking beer. Chovinard kindly shared his case of yuengling since he nearest place to get beer was a few miles away. We hit up an Italian place around the corner and finally heard back from the hostel owner around 10:30. She was at Easter vigil mass, so understood my plight and said she would do what she could to get me the additional 9 miles to the church, although she was going to be gone and how this would be arranged was entirely unclear. The hostel was, by far, the shittiest place I have ever stayed at, but the people were kind, so it was an okay experience.

Day61, Easter Sunday-  12.1, 814.7
I tried to get to the 8am mass so we could get back on trail at a reasonable time, but had no luck hitch-hiking to the church. The hostel owners husband randomly showed up at 10, though, and said I'm here to take someone to church, so I got to the 10:30 mass. He also drove me back after, and we chatted about hunting in Michigan and in the hills of VA. We got back on trail around 2 pm and still managed 12 miles. Perhaps we were aided by Easter candy from our slack magicians. I kept wondering where Chovinards cousin was, as he was supposed to hike in a few miles and then hike back out to get back to base after his visit. He was really into the trail when we were all talking the night before, and excited to experience it. When we got to a nice camping spot around 8 and found chovinard there, we learned that his cousin had turned around after a mile. Remember the giant climbs I mentioned above? Well, hiking today started with one of those. And military man went from mocking our hiking poles to wishing for them. I felt pretty bad ass. We camped with farmer and chovinard and told them about our aquablaze plans.

Day 62, Apr 21, 19.4, 836
Spent the day flip flopping with chovinard and farmer, they'd get ahead and then enjoy a vista, and we'd get ahead. Then farmer and chovinard started asking us about the details of canoeing...were getting them excited about it. Maybe they will come with us. Then we took a break to soak our feet before the next up, and they jumped in the water. We also got our last slack magic from Bullwinkle, grape fantas.  So. Cold. We got to just a mile or so away from the shelter and pitched camp by a pretty creek.

Day 63, Apr 22,
Pushed hard to make it into the outfitter before day close, since we knew we would need a full day to prep for aquablazing. Meant a bit of walking on the blue ridge parkway, but we made it to the outfitters with 25 minutes to spare. Got to the YMCA to take a free shower. They provided towels, shampoo, and soap. I felt like a queen! And we stayed in the town pavilion, also free. Waynesboro is a very hiker friendly place.

We took a zero here to prep for the journey, and were delighted to learn that we'd have company on the river!