6/7 Mile 848.7 Rock Point Overlook

Rocky forest hiking today. Continued crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway over and over, which provides ample opportunities for views. At one such view in the late afternoon, we encountered Paul, doing some reading in his chair overlooking the mountains. He approached us and asked about our hike, and we proceeded to have a lovely half hour talk about the hike and life in general over a beer each that he kindly shared with us. These human connections are one of the best parts of the trail.

Paul! Pleasure to meet and chat!

We settled down at an overlook with a couple flat spots nearby. Billy Bob joined us, and cowboy camped directly on the overlook itself. We all had dinner in front of a beautiful sunset.

Dinner spot. I don’t do the backpacker meals often, but mountain house Chili Mac is solid
Gwen mid-sentence

6/8 Mile 864.4 – Waynesboro

DOUBLE H CAUGHT UP!!! So good to see Alison and Huckleberry again! After taking several days off to go see family and attend her brother’s graduation, she pulled multiple marathon days (literally) to make up the miles. Gwen started hiking before me this morning, so my lateness out of camp meant that just as I was getting ready to start hiking, Huckleberry trotted up and tackled me, he was so excited to see me. Alison wasn’t far behind. Fantastic to see her again! We hiked together and talked the whole morning, then caught Gwen at the shelter where we were planning to have lunch. It was an amazing reunion, made even better because we knew we were only a few miles away from a fun town day in Waynesboro.

Lovely lunchtime reunion! All three of us back together for the first time since Trail Days!

When we arrived at the trailhead we met a hiker named Slow ‘n Steady who was there to do trail magic. He offered us beers and a ride into town, which we graciously accepted. We had him take us to the YMCA, which offered free camping for hikers in a nearby field, as well as free use of their shower facilities! Never has a gym shower been so appreciated.

Slow ‘n Steady was at the trailhead about to start doing trail magic, so he offered to take us into town first in his amazing camper van that he built out!
Huckleberry and Gwen posing in our YMCA-provided field

After getting clean, we walked to a live music event across town that we had heard about. It was packed! We chilled to listen for a couple songs, then our stomachs got the best of us and we went and got a massive Pizza at Benny’s. Was fantastic, and we knocked out some of the logistics planning for what we came to call Family Week (more on that in the next post). We wanted ice cream, and the recommendation from some locals we chatted with at Benny’s was Kline’s. Boy were they right. Maybe the atmosphere and the moment contributed, but I think it ranks among the best frozen custard I’ve had. We finished the night with a resupply at the odd little groceries-only Wal-Mart, including some luxuries for the morning, then headed back to our free campsite on the edge of town.

That pizza’s bigger than it looks
I have a pretty high bar for frozen custard, and Kline’s was good. Gwen’s not typically a huge ice cream person, but he loved it

6/9 Mile 872 – Calf Mountain Shelter

We had debated whether to zero or not today. I enjoyed the strategy we went with: have a slow morning leaving our edge-of-town campsite, relax in Waynesboro for as long as we felt like, then hit the trail again. It wasn’t a zero, but it was super restful. We chilled and journaled/blogged/hung out at this great coffee shop (The French Press) for hours. Gwen and I both really enjoyed the comics and collectibles shop next door. I even bought a comic to read on trail and change things up a little.

Eventually, we got some food at The River, then hit the trail again. We were officially in Shenandoah National Park! It was a relaxed, happy evening of hiking with the three of us back on trail together.

Much bigger and fresher breakfast than on trail
Walking in Waynesboro
Burgers before we got back on the trail. This place was called The River, it was really good! Spice joined us 🙂
The local District Attorney, David, gave us a ride back to trail
Huckleberry likes car rides
We found an interesting little AT mini-stage in the woods
It was surrounded by these little tractor seats. All three of us had to get up and say/do something
Love the evening light
Someone brought a tiny projector with them on trail! We watched an episode of One Punch Man before bed against the back wall of the shelter! Was kind of surreal, the shelter became a movie theater for half an hour.