22 miles Leaving our campsite was hard. I had one of the best nights sleep I’ve had in a long time surprisingly. I actually feel slightly rested. The best part of the Shenandoahs is that they have these waysides along the road that sell food and beer and whatnot so you don’t have to carry more than a days food. Keeps our packs as low weight as possible. It’s Usually for the tourists but it’ll do for the hikers as well. Today we come across one around early and it was a welcome sight. About 8 of us hikers sat outside eating half frozen half lava hot sandwiches that were defrosted in their only microwave and tons of other snacks. We stayed there for an hour or so just eating as much as possible. Eating as much crap as I did I realized I had eaten about 2000 calories in Hostess Fruit Pies, a half sandwich, and beers. No wonder I was feeling like so much shit after that. I was slightly uncomfortably full and very lethargic. We hiked a couple more miles feeling like this before we actually stop and sat on a rock next to the trailhead and contemplated why the hell are we doing this again. We needed a pick me up and just like that the trail provides. After a brief nap a white car pulls up and offers us sodas, water, and snacks. Just what we needed. A little pick me up. Turns out the two older gentleman that we’ve been leapfrogging the past couple days Gandalf, and Captain BJ are being slackpacked and trail magiced by Captain’s sister. She’s living vicariously through her brother and is helping him out any way she can. Anyways we convinced her to slackpack us the next 5 miles right before camp. Just gotta roll with it sometimes.
20ish miles Got a shuttle out of the hostel back to Rockfish Gap to officially start the Shenandoah Mountains! Is it similar to the Blue Ridge Mountains that we just went through last week in the sense that the trail follows the scenic byway that runs the tops of this mountain range. As we are pulling in I realized I have sat in this exact empty parking lot before. There’s an abandoned building in it that strikes a memory. I took a break in this exact spot and sat on those steps leading up to the building 2 years ago when I was on my cross country bicycle tour. What are the odds. Also sitting in the parking lot are two past hikers. They’ve done the PCT but live on this side of the country so they are doing a bit of trail magic. We’ve just come from town freshly resupplied and full from breakfast so I turn down the snacks but I did pack two of their beers to enjoy with dinner tonight. We chat for a bit about the PCT and go on our way. The day is spent mostly in the green tunnel but with the occasional outlook to catch a glimpse of the surrounding mountains and valleys. We end the day at Blackrock hut shelter where we find what might have been the best campsite we have found yet. Flat as hell, no rocks, huge, next to water, and far from others. Couldn’t have designed a better spot. It’s the little things out here that make all the difference haha.
Zero Day Today is our get shit done day. We have to get a lot of stuff done today we were suppose to and also we have to meet Hairnet and his wife Cairn for lunch. We set off early for the outfitter so Two Tone can pick up new shoes and I need various odds and ends. Next we hitch over to Walmart so I can grab a new shirt as I wore a hole through my current one. Hairnet and his wife pick us up from there around noon and we set off to the Stable Craft Brewery outside of town. This is the first time I’ve felt like a normal person in a while. The four of us having lunch together and sharing a couple of beers and playing a little bit of cornhole. Idk why I felt like I was in the real world again. Maybe it was because of company, maybe because it was filled with no hikers, or I’m not sure but I sure did enjoy it. After about three hours they drove us back to town and dropped us off at the Kroger so that we could resupply. We get back to the hostel shortly after where we just relax for the next couple hours before we get hungry again. We then hitched to Mings Chinese Buffett for dinner where we ate loads of mediocre food and walked back. By this time we are exhausted. There’s never much Down time on zero days for some reason.
Zero Day After spending the morning packing up and hanging out a bit more with Melanie and her family this morning they drive us to Waynesboro and drops us off at the local greasy spoon called “Weasee’s”. It was exactly what we needed. The portions were great, the coffee hot and strong, and food was tasty. Afterwards we waddled down the street and walked into the local florist to have flowers sent to the church the next day for Melanie’s daughter’s wedding. We get to Stanimals where we start our chores, shower, laundry. Tonight is a guy named Calico’s birthday so we take him out to the local brewery where there is live music and tequila shots. Life is good in the hiker world again.
15 miles Today is going to be a great day. There is a brewery just a short hitch off trail and we aim to be there by lunch time so we can wait out the afternoon storm that’s suppose to come through. We set off as soon as we can and kind of hike in a line all morning. We have Two Tone and I, Hairnet, and Crazy Eyes all walking together and it was a great time. It didn’t take us long to get a hitch into the brewery. Only about 3 minutes on the corner and an older couple that lived nearby scooped us up and dropped us off promptly at the front door of The Devil’s Backbone Brewery. We sat down for lunch and got to work quickly on some beers and food. Afterwords as we are all sitting around chatting and drinking Crazy Eyes excuses himself out as he’s tired and doesn’t feel well. We continue on doing our thing u til it’s time to go and meet him outside. Crazy Eyes and two other hikers are outside the front of this brewery just absolutely tacking their brains out. Literally on all fours just tossing cookies. We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t food poisoning because one guy didn’t even eat and the other two didn’t have the same thing. What they do all have in common is that they have all been frequenting the shelters and that’s where you get norovirus. Crazy Eyes is basically helpless at this point so Two Tone and I arrange a hotel room for him in the nearby city of Waynesboro that we are set to arrive in tomorrow. I order him a Lyft and get some plastic bags for him to throw up in on the way and set him off. The other two guys are staying at the nearby camp spot which seems irresponsible but whatever. I’m definitely not staying there and catching that stuff. Two Tone and I hitch back to the gap to resume our day on the trail. As we arrive their is a van sitting there and we joke about hitching into town as well because of how tough the last few days have been so I jokingly stick my thumb out as these people and they rolled down their window. “Where ya headed?” Before you know it we are in the back of this van with this lady named Melanie and her daughter Allison. They’ve agreed to take us to Waynesboro just for the hell of it. On our way we begin to talk. Turns out Allison is set to be married in two days so the family is hanging out at the nearby lake enjoying each other’s company before the big day. They invite us back to their campground instead and of course we say yes. We hang out with them exchanging stories until close to real midnight as they cook s’mores and fruit pies over the fire.
20ish miles Woke up early about 5:15ish so that we could pack our things and be ready for the sunrise at 5:55 am. Usually I’m against setting alarms on trail and getting up early in general but man was it worth it. We had a spectacular view of the sunrise with awesome coloring and a smoky haze layered over the mountain ridges in the distance. The day continues with long continuous climbs up and down. We are going over what’s called The Three Ridges today. It’s exactly what it sound like. We go up and over three ridges back to back. I did encounter my first rattlesnake today near the top of one of the ridges. I came about 3 feet from stepping on this huge timber rattlesnake. He didn’t even rattle and would absolutely not get out of my way. I stepped back, threw rocks and sticks at him and he just wouldn’t budge. Finally Crazy Eyes came up and extended his trekking pole to the farthest that it would reach and physically pushed him off trail. Only then did it rattle at us. It had to be almost 3 feet long and about as think as a baseball bat. He had 12 notches on his rattle too. Anyways the day dragged on and on going up and down these climbs. It felt like hours each way. Today was one of those days where the trail was kind of disheartening. I really didn’t feel like hiking and at one point just sat on a log before the final climb of the day. Luckily Two Tone came by and forced me up and going otherwise I may have just made camp right there.
23 miles Didn’t sleep the best last night. I figured the sound of the river would be perfect white noise to drown out the rubbery noises of thermarests being tossed and turned on and the snoring that oh so often accompanies our camp spots but it didn’t help at all. The humidity makes everything sticky. Nothing dries out overnight and it’s so hot that I can’t literally sleep with anything less on. It may sound like I’m bitching but a bad or uncomfortable day out here still beats any day at work. We set off around 7 with 23 miles in our sites for the day. Crazy Eyes has already hiked out by the time we even woke up. The heat was really getting to him yesterday so I assume he set out early to beat the heat. The day kind of goes in this pattern. A 3-5 mile climb with 2-3k elevation gain, then a ridge king walk for a bit and then a 2-3k back down and rinse and repeat. It’s the most elevation we’ve done in a while so I was really dragging towards the end of the day. Oddly enough we didn’t see any hikers all day until around 3 o’clock which is weird because usually there’s people in and around everywhere on this trail. Was kind of nice at the same time though as it felt like I was finally on my own. Tonight we are camping just below the top of Priest Mountain. There is a shelter nearby and you are meant to go to the logbook and confess your sins and “lighten your load” before the final push to the summit.
20 miles Overnight the clouds set really low and fog rolled into the valley that we are sleeping in. Everything is damp and everything we’ve washed is nowhere near dry. We intended on getting up early so that we could beat the other 30 hikers in town to the trailhead and not have to fight for hitches there. We were packed up and on the street corner by 7:15 am. It took us longer than usual. About 20 minutes before a gentleman towing a trailer let us hop in the bed of his truck. I don’t think it’s technically legal to do this in this state but I also don’t think anybody cares. Which I’m grateful for. As we ascend out of the valley we go above the clouds and the sun is shining so bright on us already. It’s 72 degrees at 8 am. Today is going to be a scorcher and indeed it was. The high today is 91 degrees with 60% humidity. The mikes aren’t coming quickly today. We have to stop every 3-5 miles to take breaks and to get more water. I am completely soaked from head to toe in sweat like I just jumped in a pool. Their is a swimming hole about 1 mile before where we were suppose to camp tonight so the plan was to stop there for a quick dip to cool off before we make camp for the night. Fortunately/unfortunately at around 4 pm about an hour before we reach the swimming hole a random stop rolls in and just starts dumping rain out of nowhere. It’s nice because it was hit and we needed to cool down but it wasn’t nice because now all our clothes are soaked and they aren’t going to dry out. I don’t bother putting on my rain jacket because my shirt was already drenched in sweat so might as well let the rain wash me. Anyways we get to the shelter and it’s packed. We have to backtrack a little down the trail to get to a camp spot we saw in the way in. It’s right next to a river. I typically try to avoid camping in spots like this because of the condensation, the noise, and the possibility of snakes. We hit all three. I saw two snakes on the walk there, a garter snake, and another one that I’m not sure what it is. Some kind of water snake or maybe a water moccasin? The river is rushing and dirty from the sudden downpour of rain so it’s very loud, and the condensation is just everywhere.
20 miles Not much to say about today. Sadness is kind of hanging over us today after yesterdays news. After checking the official AT Facebook group we found a post from his trail family. Turns out he was sitting at the end of the knob and just slumped over and fell off while eating his breakfast. Nobody knows why. I’m sure it’ll come out in the next coming weeks. Vertigo maybe? No matter what, it’s a tragedy. We put our miles and hitched into Glasgow so we can resupply to get to Waynesboro in 3.5 days time. There’s a shelter in town where we pitch our tents. They have an outdoor shower so I shower and do laundry in there simultaneously. A lady from the apartments next door offers us the leftovers from their Memorial Day cookout which was great. Burgers, beans, mac and cheese. That’s all we need.
22 Miles Today started off so lovely. We opted to walk the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of the AT for a few miles because they are adjacent but you get spectacular views if you take the road so we did. Coming up to one of the gaps, we run into a man that goes by the name of Kamper, who did the AT in 2020, doing trail magic. He’s got a coffee pot set up in the back of his truck with donuts, bananas, baileys, and chocolate milk. He’s such a cool guy. We sit and enjoy our breakfast for a bit and as we are leaving he says, “I’ll be at Jennings Creek later today with dogs and beer if you guys want more trail magic!” Of course we do. It also just so happens to be where we planned to stop for lunch. I asked Kamper since he was going there already if he didn’t mind taking out packs with him so we didn’t have to carry them the next 8 miles. He was more than happy to help us and we were more than happy to not have that extra 15-20 pounds on our back for the walk. What will take us 2.5 hours to hike, will be a 15 minute drive for him. We cruised through the forest light on our feet and in great moods. Might have been the Baileys I put in my coffee but it doesn’t matter. Every day is a great day when you’re on trail. After a swim and As we are sitting enjoy our hotdogs and beer, an older woman thruhiker, starts to tell us someone fell 40 feet off McAfee knob this morning into the rocks below. If you recall McAfee knob was one of the most photographed stops on the AT that we passed just days earlier in the fog and got no view. Obviously this is a horrific incident but as far as she knows the hiker is in still alive with just some internal bleeding. She mentions his name finally. “Grandmaster” she says. Holy shit this is that Dutch kid that we met just 2 days prior. We are all a little rattled but at least he’s okay right? We finish our lunch and head off once again. About half an hour into our walk we come across the same older lady. She takes one look at us and begins to cry. “He died” she says. Grandmaster succumbed to his injuries. This kid was so full of life when we met him. Sad about his grandfather passing but excited to see his family. He’d just done 700 miles on the AT in a foreign country and was one day away from seeing his family. Apparently, he was going to go up to McAfee knob today since the weather was better and you’d actually get a view. One last hike before he caught a plane home the next day to see his family. I don’t know the details of how or why he ended up over the edge of that cliff. All I know it wasn’t intentional and the world is a little less brighter without him in it. It was hard to keep hiking after receiving this news. I’m not sure why it’s effecting me this much. I’d only spoken to him for just a bit but we weren’t close by any means. Idk. Still processing the whole thing. Life is too short and shit can happen good or bad at anytime is all I know right now. Tell your friends and family you love them today.
15ish miles The plan today is to get up and eat breakfast and packed and hitching by 9:30. Rarely does anything go to plan so it’s closer to ten by the time we make it out to the road with a handmade sign of cardboard and sharpie saying Clean Hikers to Dalesville. Thing weren’t looking so good at the spot we were hitching from. It was kind of an awkward spot and no one was stopping. I decide to walk down the road to see if there’s a better spot. As soon as I get down there I turn around and I see a cop car stopped in front of Two Tone. I’m not aware of the hitch hiking laws here so at first I’m a little worried. But after a few more seconds I’m being waved over so jog over. Two stone is sitting in the front seat while I’m sitting in the back where the criminals would go. No complaints here though. This is the second time a cop had given us a hitch and we’ve never turned one down yet! He drives us all the way to the Walmart across town where he says we’ll be able to resupply and be in a better, closer position to hitch from. While inside of Walmart I’m in the multivitamin aisle looking for some fiber supplements. The trail diet is not too kind to our bodies. Anyways, there’s an older lady in the aisle as well so I just asked her if she knew of anything off the top of her head that would help me. She helped me pick one out and we chatted for a second and I was off. After repacking everything outside of Walmart we start walking down to the street corner with our sign in hand to get a hitch. Out of nowhere the lady from the aisle pulled up next to us with her husband and two dogs and offered to take us directly to the trail! It pays to be nice to others and the people of Virginia are just so kind. We piled in the back of the car and we were off. They drop us off right on the trailhead where we meet up again with Pocket Aces and Crazy Eyes. We do about 15ish miles today. Pocket Aces dropped off halfway through the day and headed back. After an hour or so of not seeing him at king we get a text that says he’s not been feeling so good and decided to head back to town. We think it’s norovirus as that’s been going around rampantly since trail days. We get to Harvey Knob outlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway where a man has set up his camera to catch the sunset. The views are stunning and he’s cooking already. We chat him up and he offers us sodas and grilled zucchini and chicken. It was just a small amount but we are grateful and still hungry. In the comments on Guthooks there’s a person that says he’s ordered pizza to here from a town about 13 miles away so we ring them up and low and behold, they do. We ring them at about 7 o’clock, put our order in and start patiently waiting as to not touch our food bags so we don’t spoil our dinner. After 2.5 hours and a few phone calls our pizzas finally showed up. It’s 9:30 at this point and usually we are already in bed and have been asleep for half an hour. It’s hard to be mad at stuff like this because like how spoiled are we? We are hiking and just got a pizza delivered to us and not only did they bring us pizza but he also stopped at the store and picked us up a 6 pack to enjoy the pizza with. Although dinner was late and people were hangry, all is good in the hiker world. We stash the leftover pizza in a tree to be saved for breakfast in the morning
Zero Really wanted to explore Roanoke today as it’s been in my list to check out since it’s a larger city, roughly 100k people and it’s a pretty large outdoor hub for people. After powering through the continental breakfast at the hotel we walked about a mile to get to downtown Roanoke. The sun was out and it was a gorgeous day. The first we’ve had in a while. Today is Saturday so the town is lively with everyone out and about perusing shop, the farmers market, and eating out. There’s also a “festival in the park” going on today. We take care of the essentials first. We visit the outfitters first and foremost to pick up some new shoes and other odds and end. Next is lunch. We visit a Japanese place for some sushi. We are trying to make the most of Roanoke culinary wise because it’s the biggest town closest to the trail for a very long time. Food was great and the beer even better. We wonder over to the park afterwards to check out what’s going on. We’ve gotten there too early and the whole thing doesn’t kick off for a few more hours. We hit up a coffee shop, two tone goes to get a massage, and I head to a cool burger/bar joint called Jacks, for another beer or two. Leaving Jack’s we run into two people we’d met only once a few days prior at the Four Pines Hostel. Stryder and Grandmaster. Stryder is an older British gentleman and is ending his hike here in Roanoke for visa reasons. Grandmaster is a 24 year old good looking, Dutch guy. His grandfather has passed away just a few days earlier, and his girlfriend is pressuring him to come home so the combination of the two he’s getting off trail as well. We chat for a bit, decide to meet up later once the festival starts and we go in our way to meet up with a few other hikers for dinner and beers. Afterwards we rented Lime Scooters to get across town to meet up with Pocket Aces and Crazy Eyes at a bar they were at with Ace’s parents. He had just finished a five day stretch with his dad. We close down the brewery and scoot back across town to our hotel and call it a night.
26 miles We have just had the worst luck when it comes to weather and views. Clingman’s Dome we couldn’t see a damn thing and now the weather is just as bad this morning as we are about to go over McAfee Knob which is one of the most popular views along the trail. When we reached the top we found solice in that we had enough cell phone service to google what we were suppose to be seeing. Another notable disappointment will be also missing the views at Tinker Cliffs because of the weather. Oh well. Such is life. There will be plenty more views to come. I’m not sure why but I only drank one liter of water today. Maybe it was because the thought of getting in to town tonight looms over me in this bad weather or I’m getting worse at this Thru hiking thing. Either way I was dragging pretty hard the last couple miles into Dalesville. We had a shuttle into Roanoke, VA which is a cool town and kind of reminds me of Kansas City. We went out for dinner at a nice Indian place. Ate our weight in garlic naan and curry and promptly went to bed by 9 pm. Hiker midnight is 8:30 btw so 9 is late for us
24 miles Putting on wet socks and a wet shirt for the third day in a row is really taking a psychological toll on me. It’s hard to start the day in a good mood like that. Despite this we take off yet again onto the wet trail. Especially early in the mornings, every time you brush against a bush or the wind blows slightly, the trees holding last nights rain come falling down. The trail is still wet like walking in a stream but this is part of Thru hiking. You have to take the food with the bad. And it’s really never that bad. Beats clocking into a 9-5 that’s for sure. Because if the low hanging clouds we didn’t get to see much on the first half of the day. After lunch things started to clear up a bit when we hit Dragons Tooth. Stayed there for about 15 minutes and enjoyed the view. The climb down was a little treacherous with lots of scrambling and steep descent. The wet rock doesn’t help either. We end the day at the four pines hostel where I slept in a broken down pontoon boat in a barn because the bunkhouse was full and all the couches were taken.
22 miles It continuously poured all night. Every time I woke up to roll over you could here it coming down harder and harder. By the time we woke up though the rain had stopped. We were quick to pack up and get out because 1, it was cold, and 2, we wanted to get to the next shelter earlier enough in case it started pouring again to grab a spot inside the shelter. The trail leaving the shelter and most of today is entirely a stream. Water is flooding the trail in spots and everything is wet. The only bright sides were that the elevation was relatively easy today and the rain didn’t start back up today. We walked in cool overcast weather all day. Nothing too exciting or extravagant happened today. Just lots of hiking. We did indeed make it earlier enough to the shelter to nab a spot.
24 miles Feeling all the margaritas and wine in my head this morning. It’s raining already and there’s no signs of it letting up. We meet up with Day Owl’s friends John and Sharon for breakfast. They are the coolest older couple. Been married for 30+ years. Met in the jungle while in the peace corp. Recently retired, they are road tripping America in their Toyota Tacoma. We all become fast friends and now they are cooking us breakfast before they give us a ride to the trailhead. Today is, I want to say miserable, but not really. It did rain nonstop on us all day. It’s cloudy and grey no views. We are soaked to the bone but arrive at the shelter around 5 to claim the last two spots
9 miles The plan for today is to do 9 miles in, have lunch, resupply, and come back out and do another 11 miles. The morning walk is rather nice. It was in the 70’s even that early in the morning. No rain at all and it was mostly downhill. We get down to the road crossing around 11 am or so and it takes almost 10 minutes to get a hitch. The longest we’ve had to wait the entire trail so far. A shirtless gentleman with a heavy southern accent, a toothy grin and an overgrown Mohawk picks us up in his beat down Toyota pickup. He’s actually a very nice guy and gives us a lift right to the front door of the supermarket so we can resupply. We have been running into a woman by the name of Day Owl over the past few days and have become friends. She is 41 but looks young 30’s. She’s hiked the PCT before where she met her current boyfriend and she’s a mountaineer. Such a cool person. The plan is to meet her at a Mexican restaurant across the street after our resupply on the way out. She’s having some friends from back home meet her at the restaurant as well so we all have lunch together. The only thing we didn’t take into account was that they had a $5 mega margarita special. The first one goes down too easy because we are hungry and dehydrated so we keep them coming. Before you know it we are calling the hostel nearby to see if there’s any room for us to stay. You gotta be adaptable on the trail and sometimes you just go where the day takes you. We go back to the hostel and play cards, chat, eat more, and relax on our unplanned nero day off.
18 miles We set off late from the hostel as per usual for us. We had a huge breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Today was been an exceptional day all around. The terrain was the flattest it has been this entire hike. When I say flat it was about 2000 ft of elevation gain over 18 miles which isn’t that bad at all. Comparatively. Regardless I still pour sweat with all the humidity. Around 11 o’clock we arrived at Dismal Falls which was anything but dismal. It was a short climb down to where the bottom of the falls were with a nice swimming whole right under the falls. We threw our clothes to the side and went for a swim. After a short bit in the cool water more and more people start to show up so we call it. As I’m putting my clothes back on Two Tone points out a snake right under where my shirt is hanging. I hadn’t noticed it before so I’m not sure if it was there the whole time. Come to find out later, it was a water moccasin. I absolutely hate snakes if I haven’t told you before, especially poisonous ones. The sun went way after our lunch break and we had some slight rain. We cruised at over 3 mph and finished by 5:30. Today was a great day.
7 miles It rained a little last night with a bit of thunder. Made me think of the huge thunder and lightning storms we use to have in Missouri growing up. This was not nearly as intense but brought back fond memories. Today is what we call the “perfect nero”. 7 miles into town is what we’ve decided is the perfect amount of miles to do going into a nero day off. It’s long enough that it doesn’t feel like you’ve done nothing but short enough that you can still have the whole day off practically. Anyways we did the 7 miles into Bland, VA. Which was aptly named as all that was there was “Trent’s Grocery” and the Weary Feet Hostel which we are planning on staying at tonight. We first walk the half mile the opposite way of the hostel to get to the “grocery” store. I put that in quotes because it is indeed a gas station that has about one aisle of food, one aisle of camping gear/tobacco, a whole wall of guns for sale, and lastly a food counter that serves some sketchy items and would more than likely not pass a health inspection. Back at the hostel we do the normal routine, shower, laundry, eat, beers. We did swim in the river as it was 90 degrees today and felt like 100% humidity. This hostel is a converted home that was built in 1907. The wall sockets are in the floor, everything creaks, and the owners are southern as they come. Lovely people. We had a couple plates of spaghetti for dinner with as much homemade cake as you could eat.
23 miles Slept like shit last night. Pitched the tent on a hill on accident and I rolled so far I knocked a trekking pole out that was keeping my tent up while it was raining. Didn’t get much sleep at all and the some I did get was not great so we are setting off this morning not no enthused. The morning drags on for the first hour or two until we get into a bridge with a small river running underneath that had some small pools of water that seemed like a perfect place to take a dip. The problem is, is that usually when we run into places like this the weather is really bad or it’s a weird time of day for a swim. We decided today at 9:30 am was not a weird time to swim so we stripped to our skivys and jumped in. The water was freezing so we didn’t stay long but it was just what we needed to wake up a bit. About twelve miles into our day there was a random store/restaurant called Bushy Mountain Outpost. It’s a small convenience store that carries a small hiker resupply and makes some damn good burgers and milkshakes. I ordered the griddle burger which was essentially a grilled cheese with a patty, lettuce, tomato, and onion. With Cajun fries. Really hit the spot but my hiker hunger is kicking in. I went back for a lemonade, chocolate milk, and a banana pudding milkshake. Life is good. The rest of the day was gentle ups and downs. Virginia has been really nice for hiking. The mountain laurels are blooming along with the azaleas and the rhododendrons. I got to call mom and on the final hour of the hike. They are driving down to Southern California today to see my two brothers so I caught both of them together in the car. Had a great chat and the last 4 miles flew by. Very good chance of rain tonight
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