Even with the limited sleep, I still woke up at 5:30 and i am packed and out of camp by seven, before most of the scouts are even awake. I wave a hello to Babysteps right before I hoist my backpack onto my back. She is stumbling back from the privy, half awake and yawning, heading back to her tent.
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| Leaving Pinefield Hut |
The weather is going to be bad tonight and I'm in desperate need of a bath and some clean clothes. It's been almost a week since I've had a shower, and I've worn the same clothes every day and every night for the same week. My smell is eye-watering. Fortunately Preacherman Wayne is based out of Swift Run Gap at mile 910, and there is a hostel and hotel in Elkton, only 20 minutes from the trail. I send the hostel and Wayne text messages the second I get a cell phone signal, hoping everything lines up for me to get off the trail.
I vocalized my intention last night to the group of hikers gathered around the table. Non-Stop and Buttercup are also heading into town at Swift Run Gap. They have a shuttle lined up at 1 pm, but I doubt I will be able to keep up to them.
The day starts out with an easy uphill. The trail here is like a meadow with tall grass on either side and lots of briars. A Sobo hiker at the shelter last night said he got at least 5 ticks on him from the grass, so I stick to the middle of the trail here. The temperature Is slightly muggy but not too warm.
The trail traverses three mountains today, with each mountain subsequently increasing in elevation gain, but none more than 1,000 feet at a time. Easy peasy by AT standards. Today is monumental, since I will be hitting the 900 mile mark soon!
I find several Dryads saddle mushrooms, some way past good eating but several that are perfect for picking. Unfortunately I don't have a way to transport the tender fungi that won't smush them up, so I let them be. My mind wanders and I consider how I can best carry things I find on my hike so I can enjoy them at night in camp. Maybe I can clip a mesh bag (like the kind people use to wash delicate items in the laundry) to the top of my pack for foraging during the day.
I hike over Weaver Mountain and look for something marking the 900 mile mark. They can be a little challenging to spot, since I never know what they will be made of, but foragers are good at training our eyes and minds to spy patterns in nature. Anyway, if I can't find the mark, I can make my own. Just when I think I need to gather materials for a sign, I see a small 900 made of rocks on the side of the trail, a larger flat rock the backdrop. There isn't much room on the trail for a full jig, but I throw my arms up and wiggle my body in a celebratory dance.
Shortly after Weaver Mountain I passed a group of gentlemen. One of them stops in chats with me and he says that he left a cooler with trail magic at the next pass. He said that he had fruit, soda, and chocolate milk but Non-Stop and Buttercup obliterated the peaches so there probably aren't any of those left, LOL. I thank him for his kindness and continue on.
I go up and over my second climb of the day, enjoying the view and seeing a couple cars on Skyline Drive far below. I check my messages, and I am pleased to see that my plan for this afternoon is lining up. The hostel has space, and Wayne is going to pick me up and transport me to the hostel.
I get to the parking lot at Smith Roach Gap, and see a cooler with a "Trail Magic" sign taped to the top. I sit on the ground next to the cooler, enjoying a tangerine and a Dr. Pepper when Martian walks up. I tell him I am getting off at Swift Run Gap and he expresses an interests in going to the hostel in order to escape the coming thunderstorm.
We start hiking up Hightop Mountain, and when we get to a spring I check my cell signal. A hiker named Chew Toy arrives at the nice little spring and we talk about the weather coming in. I text the hostel and the shuttle, and they are both good for an extra person so Martian says he will walk with me over Hightop Mountain to Swift Run Gap.
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| A Field of Trilliums |
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| Pretty Pink Trilliums |
Hightop Mountain has a really pretty view from a big rocky lookout at the top of the mountain. A dozen people are already crowded onto the small space, eating snacks and chatting. I snap a quick picture before moving on. Obviously, this trail is super popular and we pass at least 50 people on our descent, several of them families with small children.
We get to Swift Run Gap At 1:30, which is way earlier than I was supposed to meet Wayne. I call him and he said he has a friend that will come and pick us up. I drop my pack and pull out some snacks, but I barely get a few bites when a man pulls up and identifies himself as Wayne's friend.
15 minutes later we are pulling into the farm, which is cute with several outbuildings, two houses, and a big red barn with goats milling about in the fenced area behind and below the barn. I think I was expecting a barndominium setup like at Burke's Garden, but this is nothing like that new barn, which was built to be a living place for people with no animals in sight. Conversely, this is intended to be a living place for animals first, and a shelter for humans second. I love an adventure, and I immediately think today is going to be one!
We unload from the car and I settle up with the driver and survey our lodging for the night. The barn doors are thrown wide open in the front and the back of the barn, which is perched on a hill. The front door is level with the entry, which is actually the top story of the barn. I set my backpack on the floor and check it out.
The barn is very spacious with three large sofas and a chair occupying the center, arranged in a square and covered with matching blue slipcovers. The barn is made of old boards you can see daylight in the spaces between the boards, which is nice because there isn't any wired lighting. The floor is covered with many large rugs, covering most of the boards underfoot.
The back door is opened as wide as the front, and looks down onto a huge fenced paddock which runs from underneath the barn and extends over the overhang of the barn roof. I walk to the back door, where there is no railing, and a number of goats are milling about in the paddock below.
Buttercup and Non-Stop are the only human occupants. They have their sleeping pads and bags set up on the edge of the floor in front of the back door, looking down into the goat pen; the coolest camping spot in the barn. They are freshly showered and Buttercup is wearing the most outrageous loaner clothes of a muumuu and some crocs that are 2 sizes too small. I laugh and tell her I love her outfit. I hope I can find something similar!
A boy of about 10 comes in the barn to show us around and give us house rules, as is the custom for every hostel I have visited on the trail. The boy states he is in charge of the hostel and will help us with anything we need or any questions we may have. He asks if we would like to see the animals, so we go outside and I pet some pigs and Martian feeds a baby sheep. The multiple Great Pyrenees dogs keep jumping, sniffing and drooling all over me so I retreat outside of the fence and return to the barn so I can get cleaned up before anyone else shows up.
There are 2 small private rooms tucked into the corners on the left side of the living area, which were reserved already when I inquired into staying the night. On the right side of the barn in the front is a small sitting area with card and board games. Beside the sitting area is a dining room table and chairs. In the back corner, plywood walls and a curtain create a bathroom.
There is no plumbing in the barn, and I am really impressed by the ingenuity of whomever designed the layout. I love the idea of off-grid living, and this is a prime example: a composting toilet and bucket of sawdust is on the right, a farmhouse sink and countertop is against the back wall, and a urinal stands between them. The sink empties into a 5-gallon bucket, as does the urinal. Two five-gallon glass water containers with spigots are mounted above the sink. A wardrobe is on the left, and contains neatly folded loaner clothes arranged on hangers.
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| The Composting Privy in the Barn |
The boy says we can sleep on the sofas or set up our sleeping pads anywhere we like. He admonishes us to conserve water and please don't throw anything into the toilet. We can take a shower in the main house and place our dirty clothes into one of the mesh laundry bags located in the bottom of the wardrobe. The clean clothes will be returned to us in the morning.
We go to check out the other denizens of the farm. A couple pot-bellied pigs live in a paddock next to the barn, and they love to be petted. I scratch their backs and find their hair hard with quills like a porcupine than a soft fuzzy animal
I grab some really comfy loaner clothes, which I will have on until I get my hiking clothes back in the morning. I head to the main house for a shower in the family bathroom, and afterwards I drop my towel and dirty clothes on the floor as instructed by the boy.
The rain starts as I walk out to the barn after my shower. The four of us are thanking our lucky stars for having a solid roof over our heads and the rain quickly becomes an absolute deluge. The storm is so intense that we can't hear any conversation. The wind starts howling and water starts coming into the barn between the boards. We roll the front door closed, which keeps the sofas and chair from getting wet, but anything outside of the central sofa sitting area is getting soaked. Everyone is scrambling, pulling our packs and bedding inside the boundary of the sofas. I am the only one who hasn't claimed a sleeping area yet, and I realize the driest place in the barn is where I am currently sitting, so I claim a sofa.
During the tempest, Wayne pulls up and four more hikers are discharged from his van. Three men and a woman run into the barn and exclaim that there was hail at the gap, and I am once again giving thanks for having a solid roof over my head. Water is literally pouring off the roof behind us in sheets, and I can't imagine how bad the weather is on the trail right now. Getting off was the best decision ever!
More people keep blowing in and soon there are 13 of us! I'm super glad we arrived early so I could claim a sofa! The new arrivals are all doing section hikes of Shenandoah. Non-Stop, Buttercup, Martian, and myself are the only ones hiking beyond the park boundary. We exchange small talk with the other hikers between gales, when conversation is impossible because of the noise from the storm.
The boy comes in frequently with his sister, and they are so cute and accommodating, acting much older than their ages. They state dinner will be served late, at around 7:20 pm. Non-Stop voices his displeasure with the late dinner hour, as most hikers go to bed around 8pm. I am already hungry so I eat an 800 calorie trail meal as a snack, getting hot water from the coffee pot. I have a little cell service, so I send text messages home to say I am safe from the storm. I do some of my Duolingo course, which I have been neglecting while I am on trail.
Time passes quickly in the busy barn, and around 8 pm, the proprietress and the children bring in dinner, which is looks as amazing as it tastes! Thick juicy Italian sausages served with sautéed yellow peppers and onions, tender new potatoes, and asparagus. All we can eat until it's gone!
Satiated, around 9 pm I get settled on my sofa, snug in my top quilt. The lights are still on but the long distance hikers are dropping like flies. I put in my earplugs and pull my buff down over my eyes. I really hope the other hikers aren't night owls.
Good night!
Today's Stats: 11.4 miles, 2638 feet gain, 2743 feet loss
Trail Stats: 910 miles, 203K feet gain, 205K feet loss
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