Blackrock Gap Trailhead 1310 to Rockfish Gap 1330 (20 miles, 1330 total miles)
After a night of cuddling with Maybe, who is Sweets and Sharkey’s affection cat, I reluctantly got myself up just before 8AM, when Iroh and I heard the sounds of breakfast being made in the kitchen downstairs.
As I was coming down the stairs to get our laundry, Sweets was on her way to bring it to us. They had washed and dried everything during the evening, which was such a treat. My socks had reached new levels of disgusting recently.
Sharkey had made “hiker portion” breakfasts for us of scrambled eggs from their chicken farm with onions and fondue cheese, sausages and tater tots. We wolfed everything down while Sweets ate with us and finished getting ready for work.
Sweets works at the outfitter in town, and had offered to take my trekking poles to work with her to see if she could fix the fact that they were too caked with dirt to screw in the replacement tips I’d bought.
She let me use her poles instead for the day, and headed out with Belle in tow a little before we headed out with Sharkey. We were slackpacking for the day since we were coming back to the house later, so it made no sense to carry all our stuff.
Sharkey kindly drove us the half hour back to the trail where we’d left off at Blackrock Gap Trailhead. He told us all about the businesses that he runs, and it was evident he has a mind for enterprise.
Iroh had decided he wanted to run the 20 miles today after we discussed trail running over dinner last night. I thought that sounded like a great idea for him, but knew I’d be hiking for the day.
I was feeling rather low energy to start the day, even though I’d slept 8 hours a night for the last couple days, and had coffee with breakfast.
It was a perfect day for hiking, finally sunny with no chance of rain for the first time in what felt like quite a while, and temperatures in the 70s.
Iroh ran off down the trail and, after getting some music going with my new earbuds, I followed behind him. I looked up after a bit, and was surprised to see him running back up the trail toward me.
He said he’d realized we were off trail, so I turned around as well and ascended back to the road, which Sharkey had already departed from. We looked around for a minute, before locating the right trail on the other side of the road.
It was 10:30 by then, as Iroh ran off again with a hurried goodbye, and I began climbing the AT up the first few hills of the day before Calvary Rocks. I listened to some music I’d downloaded the night before, which included a punk playlist and a Weird Al album.
I had reached a point in my hike where I’d download just about any music I could remember or felt like listening to even a little, needing the variety more than anything.
A couple miles past a trail junction leading to Calvary Rocks, I stopped on the ridge full of little ups and downs at a flat spot. I needed to dig a hole, and since it was 11:45, I figured I might as well eat lunch.
I was 4.5 miles into the day, and felt like I was just dragging, however when I checked my pace I’d been going 3 mph. My guess was the day would take me eight hours. Seven to hike and an hour of breaks sounded about right.
I spent half an hour there, and ate a PB&J bagel for lunch. I had one packet of caffeine in my fanny pack I wanted to save for later in the day, so settled for a bottle of Body Armor I’d brought instead.
Not long after I hiked out, continuing the easy ups and downs of the ridge, I saw a woman on the side of the trail bent down, picking invasive plants out of the ground.
She was a section hiker, and wanted to chat for a bit. I didn’t really feel like I had time or was in the mood, but humored her for a bit, and it was nice to have a little social interaction.
At the end of our talk, I asked her if she’d seen my friend run by ahead. She answered that he’d run by around an hour and a half ago, and had said her hair was beautiful on the way by. I thought it was sweet that he’d told her that, as it clearly meant something to her.
I had a few miles of easy downhill, and passed a couple different gaps. I was still feeling like I had no energy for some reason, and pushed myself to just keep going. I listened to a couple podcasts till I got to Bucks Elbow Road.
It was just after 2:30, and I was 11 miles into the day. I had a bit of a climb ahead, and on the way up would be passing Calf Mountain Shelter, where I could get water, though I had to pass a yellow jacket ground nest on the way there.
It was time to do a little self care. I hadn’t taken a break since my short lunch stop, and sat down on the side of the narrow, overgrown gravel road.
I mixed up propel and caffeine with my last third of a liter of water, and ate a smashed up zebra cake, Arizona fruit snacks, and Belvita breakfast biscuits with peanut butter.
I was up and hiking again around 3, finally energized by caffeine, sugar, and knowing I only had 9 miles left of my day.
I turned a corner then, put on one of my favorite playlists I hadn’t heard in a while, and started zooming up and up the incline.
I passed the ground nest on my left at a switchback, and didn’t see any movement or bees. I had spent days with anxiety over the ground nest, and ended up walking right by it with no problem.
After collecting water from a pipe .2 down the trail to the shelter, I continued on making my way up Calf Mountain, which went quickly. I was suddenly feeling fantastic, hiking through some of my favorite hours on trail, from 3-6PM.
I descended to Little Calf Mountain, with a nice meadow on top. A further descent brought me to Beagle Gap, which I remembered driving by a few times on my way to and from Waynesboro.
I climbed up to Bear Den Mountain, loving the sun and Toy Story sky around me. There were communications towers on top of the mountain that we’d seen from the road, and I found the tractor seats planted into the earth Sharkey had told us about on our drive to the trail today.
I sat on a tractor seat for just a moment, then continued to McCormick Gap, jamming out to my music. I went over a stile, and climbed a deceptively steep half mile to a plateau.
The trail had become more overgrown the further south I hiked through Shenandoah, and it twisted snake like around enormous boulders, narrow and hidden in the foliage.
Cobwebs were cropping back up as I went, and I lifted a pole to brush a web out of my way ahead. Unfortunately as I did so, I forgot to look where I was stepping, and twisted my left ankle, falling on my right knee.
My ankle was fine, but my knee hurt so bad that I cried for a second as I stood back up. My knees were so sensitive from all the miles that even barely tapping them by accident with a trekking pole as I hiked was enough to make me cringe in pain.
Four more miles of moderate descent brought me to the southern terminus of Shenandoah National Park. I was happy the park was behind me.
It had been fun, but I thought hiking northbound was the way to go. The park seemed to be nicer up north, with better manicured trail, more restaurants, and waysides.
Last time, we had definitely hiked a lot of the park on Skyline Drive, and I noticed this time that the trail skirted around a lot of the views. I’d also missed the majority of the ones on trail due to rain or fog.
I accidentally took a blue blazed trail .1 down to the road, before realizing my error. I hiked back up, rounding out the total incorrect mileage of the day to over a mile.
Down at Rockfish Gap finally at 6PM, I sat and waited for Sweets in a shady spot next to a couple signs about the park. It’s always a great feeling when a 20 mile day is behind me, and I relished the knowing I was going back to a home with a bed and a shower for the night.
Sweets and Belle picked me, and Sweets had grabbed a Gatorade and chips for me at the gas station on her way. I savored the salt & vinegar chips and Gatorade, having only drank half a liter of water in the last 9 miles.
At the house, we all went out to the large chicken coop, where I got to collect a basket of eggs and see the chickens. I love birds, so it was quite a fun experience for me. Iroh also had a great time chasing the chickens back into the large enclosure when I was done.
I talked to Malia on the phone for a few minutes, before eating a delicious stir fry of all sorts of vegetables and chicken that Sharkey had made.
Iroh and I watched Hot Rod with Sweets and Sharkey, all of us cracking up at the cult classic. Comedy movies are one of my favorite forms of entertainment, cathartic and meaningful at the same time.
We all went to bed a little earlier, and I was much too tired to even repack my bag properly. I was feeling a little anxious for some reason, and a bit overwhelmed. I went to sleep hoping I’d feel better in the morning.