Zero

I take a zero day. Pretty stupid I'm not hot on zero days. I'd much rather slack pack a few miles. I think because the Shenandoah park is weighing on everything. Heavy humid air. Thunder showers every day and frankly it's a boring trail. Well groomed almost manicured. Built for speed and long mile days. Everything is soaked with sweat and never dries out. I must really smell bad.
Rockfish gap with Swim. We are all headed down to the popcorn hamburger truck before we head into Waynesboro.
75° Clear
Appalachian Trl, Afton, VA, United States

Fathergoose. No beard.

Today I hike into Waynesboro to pick up a resupply box. The first thing I do is hit the local baRber shop and lay out $3 to have my beard shaved off. It feels good. Gad I have big ears. But it feels good. The local Lutheran churches hikers tent in their yard and put on a feed on Thursday night for anyone with a donation. Slip is there-- so is Smoke. They try really hard to get us to go upstairs for vespers. They didn't get any takers. I did donate $5 as it was a good spread. Crunchy vegetables! Earlier in the day I had gone to Mings Asian buffet for lunch. I wrote postcards and stuffed myself for over an hour. When I was coming in, Waldo was coming out. I yelled at him across the parking lot. He didn't recognize me at all until I said Fathergoose. No beard.
Below is Aqua Fresh and Keychain Fosty

84° Clear
Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Troutville, VA, United States

A personal high

Slip and I put the peddle down. 12 miles up is where there's 10 miles of closed to camping because of bear threats. So we can either do a baby day of 12 or dig down and do a 22. We opt for the 22 mile day. Usually when I do a long day like this it isn't planned but the trail and your energy turn it into long mile day. But today is planned and I woke up wondering if I could pull it off. We ate and and ate our way through. Stopped for two long take your shoes off breaks and planned on it staying light in too nine. We passed Little Bear and Atlas slack packing SOBO. Water has been short and they told which springs were flowing and which one weren't. We passed dripping rock the point of no return before lunch and waded into bear country. At one point there was a kid in his hammock up in a tree. A perfect bear tree. I don't know but I think he thought he was sAfe up there. He was t really. And pointed down the trail with a shandy finger and said there was a bear down there foraging around where he thought someone had taken a dump. Uh huh. Really? We saw no bear. Slip and I did 22 mile, a personal high. And found and found Smoke, Splash, Ghost hiker, and Casper already there.
78° Clear
Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Afton, VA, United States

Yogi-ing

Back on the trail I'm headed for harpers creek shelter. About 12 miles. I seem to have hooked up with Slip. He is a district conservationist from the DC area. We chat and I reminisce about u days as a supervisor at KCSWCD. I catch up to and pass Chipmonk. He's bound and determined to get to Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts near where he lives. His wife is turning up the heat and wants him home. Slip also is anxious as his wife wants him home too. He's really torn.
Below is Ghost Hiker. A cop from Houston. She's a Ghost because she likes to stealth camp. She has just Yogi'd a tortilla and PB&J for lunch. Yogi'ing is when you run out of food and your buddies chip in for your meal ticket.
77° Partly Cloudy
Appalachian National Scenic Trl, Afton, VA, United States

Where's Waldo?

I'm heading out to Buena Vista today to get a resupply box at the post office. I had tried not to sent these boxes to post offices because if I came through row on a Saturday or Sunday the chances were good that the place would be closed. That's what happened here. So I hike rift on by Saturday and Sunday and now , Monday I will back track with a ride for trail angel Gary Serra, Lawman. Low profile and low and slow will push on. I spend the night in another cheap moldy crappy hotel and eat bad Mexican food. There a health food store next door and I run into a couple ridge runners. People paid to hike all day and keep the other hikers out of trouble. They try to explain that there's been some bear trouble and part of the trail has been closed to camping. I don't know where I going well enlighten to decide if that affects me or not. There's a new kind of instant coffee in the store. A little cube. I decide to get a couple and see if it works or not. I also got a tiny bag of creol seasoning.
This fellow is Waldo. We keep crossing paths. He's carrying a plastic slide trombone with him and he wants to go to barber school after the trail. The two women he's been hiking with have gone off to Aqua blaze the Shenandoah s. They hook back up again in Harpers Ferry. 

81° Drizzle
5500 Mountain Pass Rd, Troutville, VA, United States

Scuzzy wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

Low profile and I meet up with Low andSlow on top of bluff mountain. He's spread out drying out and Sunning himself. He's a pilot. He suggests a weather app. Called Storm by wonder or weather underground. Uses NOAA data and presents it pretty well. I have t tried it yet. Low Profile uses a weather App that gives the weather at each leanto. On theAT. Weather on the ATi think its called. That night we set up camp and Goats Beard is there at the same camp by the river. I have to call a shuttle to go into a jean Vista. Gary is the man. A retire police officer who does shuttles two months of the year. Strictly cash. After much discussion Low Profile decides he does not need to keep me company just to go in to the post office. I have sent a box of resupply to this post office. You are not supposed to send resupply to a post office because it is closed on Sunday and usually most of Saturday. Then you have to wait until Monday. I missed the first road crossing opportunity to get in to Buena vista Saturday afternoon. Rather than sit and wait I hiked on and now the shuttle will cost a little more to take me backwards but so what. I get into Buena Vista ( pronounced with a long “u”) get my packages and because it's so hot and muggy decide to stay in another scuzzy hotel. Low Profile and Low and slow will hike on. It's not always hard to hike with someone but it becomes a different hike. Everything becomes a community decision. When and where to stop. How often to stop. How long to stop where to eat lunch and on and on. It can be done. And there are some good things about hiking with some one. You can tell stories or just listen to stories. You usually keep a quicker pace just to keep up with each other and if you stealth camp there's company in case you get the heebee jeebees. Low Profile is a Toyota parts manager. 

73° Clear

NOTE FROM DEVOTED WIFE:  Got news for him (when he ever checks a text message,) that his Buena Vista resupply box showed up here 5 days ago, returned from the Post Office, unopened. Hope he gets to shop for food at one of those scuzzy hotel towns.

Judd's June 14 - "Giardia wouldn't kill you, diarrhea would"

Woke up this morning to discover that Finn was camped beside me. I got in late last night sat for a few minutes at the shelter with about a dozen mostly kids. I asked where the water was and one young fellow pointed down the hill to what he described was the best spring he had ever seen. It looked so clean I fact he was drinking it untreated. The conversation digressed touched on giardia and other maladies. I finally suggested to the road that giardia wouldn't kill you. Diarrhea would. A hush fell and immediately the lines were drawn. The real hikers knew what I was saying and immediately it became clear who the hanger one here for the party were. Back to Finn. Yes he's from Finland. The last time I saw him he had replaced his rotting off his feet shoes with some new sandals. He had even learned that socks improved his wear. I told him that every time I stub my toe I think about him. He says he bought them a size larger than he wears just so he would have that added protection sticking out in front of his toes. I had caught up to him because he had taken three zeros in Waynesboro because he was sick. My goal today is to have lunch at Loft Mountain Wayside. The best part of the ham edged was the lettuce tomatoes onion. The cold Gatorade was good. And the blackberry milk shake was fair. As I was leaving Smoke showed up. His mom, Swim, is slack packing the shenendoas with her new husband so Smoke is on his own for a bit. I think virginia is wearing on everyone. Not least of which is the humidity and afternoon thunder showers. I'm dripping sweat all day and wearing it all night. Just wet and clammy. Not cold. So there's really no threat to life just wicked stanky. 

38.3051° N, 78.6125° W