Today was another great day in the Shenandoah. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular. Sarah and I hiked mostly together. We took a break at a pull off for Skyline Drive and saw a bear way in the distance cross the road. However, toward sunset I was listening to music as I hiked and right as a song ended I heard a crack in the brush below me and a fairly large black bear ran right up the trail in front of me. Sarah and I were thrilled to finally see a bear! We'd heard so many stories at this point and assumed we'd never see a bear. Rather than doing what most would do (backing away and continuing hiking) we stayed put and tried to get some photos and videos of it. We later found out that Aidan had seen 9. What a fun experience that was.

Just as the sun was setting Sarah and I came to a massive pile of boulders with a beautiful view. We knew we'd be night hiking tonight so we decided to make dinner right there. We boiled some ramen them scaled the rocks and ate as we watched the sun go down. I'm always so thankful for the beautiful places I get to do the simple things like eating dinner.

We hiked on into the night a couple hours and ended up at a crowded shelter. Today was another great day.

Today we hiked 20 miles which was brutal but felt awesome to complete. I saw two more bears. One ran away from me when I saw it and the other I didn't actually see fully. It ran off and I saw the top of the black fur and heard the large brush breaking. We hiked out the Shenandoah today and to RockFish Gap. There was a laminated sign attached to a telephone pole with a list of trail angels that would offer free rides for hikers into town. We made a phone call and were picked up shortly. Sarah and I found out we could get free showers at the YMCA in town and so we did.

Usually when I call family and friends when I'm in town it feels like a lifetime has happened for me in just a few days time. They mostly tell me things are the same and it sometimes feels awkward and difficult to explain what I'd experienced since we last talked. While I was waiting for Sarah, Cameron (my brother) called me and told me he got a job in DC that he'd been interviewing for. I was so excited for him! It was nice that he had news like this to share with me.

Sarah and I went out to dinner together and found a field we could set up our tents in for the night. It's so grossly hot in my tent tonight.

Well, we planned to leave Waynesboro early today but somehow we got stuck here. We weren't even ready to leave until 4pm. That's when Samwise showed up and we were so crazy excited to see him! We decided to stay with him since it was so late in the day anyway. There was a hiker feed going on at a local church so we went there together. A hiker feed is when a group of people decide to cook large meals to feed hikers. This one was at a local church and it was an all you can eat buffet-style dinner. After dinner we went back to the same field we'd slept in the night before and crashed.

It was so nice seeing Samwise but knowing how far behind him we are is sad. Really sad. I'm going to miss him a lot and I doubt we'll catch him again. I miss all of our group. Sarah and I are pushing really hard to to big days and finish our hike. Sarah and I talked about it and we might move on from Aidan and Ford because they don't like to go the same pace as us and we want to cover more miles than they do. We are falling further behind our group and the slow pace is driving us nuts. Most days we want to keep hiking but they'd rather stop and relax. Don't get me wrong, everyone should HYOH (hike your own hike), so I think I'd like to do that. I love when I complete a huge mile day and feel accomplished. We have plans to do 25 miles tomorrow and I'm praying for good health and the strength to do it. I don't doubt my physical strength but I'm afraid my knees and ankles are going to fall apart after a large day like that.

I still feel like I need alone time too. I think Sarah and I can figure that out in the coming months.