A Great Weekend (& Section 4 Complete!)

Beth and I, along with George and Camille, met Ward near Waynesboro, VA on Friday night.  He was at a place called Reeds Gap, where the AT crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway.  His original plan was to stay in a shelter Friday night, then hike to the end of the section near U.S. 64 between Waynesboro and Charlottesville on Saturday morning, but that plan changed due to snow on Thursday night.  Instead, he stayed with us Friday night, then returned to the trail Saturday morning.

We had a great weekend together - the first one as a complete family since Ward departed in February.  We did not book a hotel until Thursday night, as we did not know exact plans.  Flexibility is a necessity!  Because of this there were few places with suites for a family of five.  The hotel we eventually booked advertised accommodations for five.  It turns out they also accommodate . . . pets . . . real, live ones . . of all shapes and sizes.  Interesting, especially since the hotel is part of a national chain.  I must say that the dogs walking up and down the hallways seemed to be well-behaved.  It's probably a good thing we didn't take our Great Dane, Sarge.  He's not always well-behaved, and we certainly didn't have room for him in our cramped room.  Sarge enjoyed his time at home, especially the times when Poppy dropped by for feedings.  Poppy and Sarge see eye-to-eye on most things.

The past few weeks were tough, filled lots of cold, rainy (and a few snowy) days.  In fact, there have been only 11 "good" weather days since Ward and Matt left Springer.  I think both of them are tiring, and in need warm weather and a break consisting of more than a zero here and there.  Smokestack livened things up for them, but he is returning to New Jersey after the end of this section.

Around Reeds Gap Ward came across a trail "official" who told him he was the 3rd remaining thru-hiker for the season.  Who knows if this is correct.  Cold weather and lack of companionship are two pitfalls of leaving early, so it is possible a lot of others have dropped out.  Of course, a benefit of leaving early is less hot weather later on.

Beth, George, Camille, and I hiked toward Ward on Saturday morning and then turned around to complete Section 4 with him.  George is graduating from high school this year, and wanted to take a "gap" year hiking the AT from Katahdin southbound to Springer.  Instead, he is entering a 1-Year National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Sonoran Desert program this coming October before entering college in 2012.  Camille is like her mother and enjoys shopping.

According to Beth, our hike entailed rugged terrain that crossed over a roaring river under the spray of a waterfall, leaps over large boulders, and a horrible hail storm before luckily finding Ward along the trail.  In reality we hiked in moderate terrain, crossed a small stream, kicked a few pebbles down a hill, and walked through one minute of sleet before finding Ward about where we expected.  It was fun being together.  (Actually, Beth did quite well, but we do disagree about what constitutes hail).

We did all the routine re-supplies and bought new shoes for Ward (the second pair lasted almost two sections, but reasonable mileage), then left Ward at the beginning of Section 5 near the Shenandoah National Park.  He previously called Matt to offer a ride re-supply, etc., but Matt had already made arrangements.   Before we left we saw Matt heading out just ahead of Ward.  Funny, we always run into Matt.  I'm glad they are together again - almost as if it's meant to be.

A few stats:

Total Miles Hiked:  854 since Springer Mountain, GA
Days Since Springer:  60 Total minus 8 Zeros = 52 Hiking Days.
Average Daily Miles since Springer: 14.2 Including Zeros, 16.4 Excluding Zeros
Average Daily Miles in Section 4:  17.4 Including Zeros, 18.9 Excluding Zeros

End