Rockfish Gap 1330 to Reid’s Gap 1349.1 (19.1 miles, 1349.1 total miles)
Yesterday was a nice, lazy zero. Sharkey and Sweets made us another amazing breakfast of fresh scrambled farm eggs, toast, bacon, and sliced avocado after everyone got to sleep in a while.
After eating and hanging out, Sweets and Iroh headed to the outfitter for noon, as Iroh was going to help out there, which he was very excited for.
I spent time with B2B, playing games and getting to know her better, while Sharkey took a nap. Later on it was my turn to nap after a long, hot shower, and I slept from 3-4:30, still not sure why I was so tired, but happy to have the opportunity to rest.
After Sweets and Iroh returned, Sweets and B2B made possibly the best homemade mac n cheese I’ve had in my life, with tons of veggies and a crispy breadcrumb topping. Sweets and Sharkey then introduced us all to Marcell the Shell, a very cute movie we hadn’t seen before.
The next morning, we had breakfast burritos at 8, and Iroh, B2B, and I were heading out with Sharkey back to trail just after 9AM. Before we left, I gave Sweets a big hug, sad to say goodbye, but so happy we’d gotten to have such a great time together.
Sweets and Sharkey had really spoiled us, but as Sharkey said, they were just passing on what had been done for them many times before on their hikes.
At Rockfish Gap, Iroh and I got out of the car, while Sharkey and B2B headed to town, B2B needing to resupply still. We gave Sharkey hugs goodbye, and thanked him again before he left.
I didn’t feel quite ready to hike just yet, but knew getting moving was the way to get back in the groove of it. We left Rockfish Gap at 9:40, finding where the trail departed from the road and into the woods.
Iroh dropped back, and I hiked on, into a muggy, buggy day, though the sun was shining with blue skies and clouds alternating overhead. It was only in the 70s for temperature, but the humidity had it feeling much warmer.
I was sweating immediately, batting gnats away from my eyes and ears, sunglasses on but neglecting to use earbuds, the buzzing in my ears constant.
Luckily, the terrain was very nice to start the day, with a gentle downhill slope, then an extremely gradual upslope, which is highly unusual for coming out of a gap on trail.
I passed several running water sources, and combined with the wet foliage and damp earth of the trail, could tell it had rained through here within the last day or two.
Before the shelter, there were ruins of an old house foundation and chimney, then a small spur trail marked as the Lowe family graves, neat little pieces of history.
I arrived at the Paul C Wolfe Shelter 4.8 miles into the day at 11:20, and saw a few men sitting at the picnic table eating lunch. They were on day one of a weeklong section hike with their friends, and one immediately started handing me bite sized Crunch bars.
I thanked him, savoring the chocolate, as Iroh walked up and introduced himself to the men. Iroh made tea while we chatted, and after a while the others got ready to hike out, handing us a small bag of Chips Ahoy cookies as well, which was very kind.
As I was getting ready to make my lunch I saw Rude hike up. I knew he was in the area, and talked with him yesterday. I was so very happy to see him, one of my favorite hikers from my NOBO days, and the first person I’d seen on trail from then.
He jokingly called me “Queen of the Zeros”, because I tended to hike bigger days but somehow always ended up taking enough zeros for him to catch up with his more moderate daily pace.
It was true, because somehow things just came up. Such as Sunshine needing to get off trail for a couple days, spending a few days with my best friend Ashley in Rangeley, or taking a two days off because of unsafe weather on Franconia Ridge.
Still, I paid for my zeros by hiking those big days, and it meant I ended up meeting more people as they caught up to me periodically, like Rude. I couldn’t say I had any regrets, and had made peace with the fact that I just had my own hiking style.
Around 12:30, Iroh and I hiked out together, and I slowed my pace just a tiny bit so we could keep each other company as we went. We had a 6.4 mile climb up to Humpback Mountain in two parts, with a flat stretch in between.
I led us a few miles up to a piped spring, where we said hi to the other men’s hiking partners as they passed by. We stopped there for 15 minutes for water and snacks, then I asked Iroh to lead us the rest of the way up the mountain.
I kept an eye on some very ominous looking clouds to the west, knowing there was an 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms in our area for the day. I was hoping I’d get lucky and hike around them again.
Iroh paced us nicely for the rest of the mountain, and I enjoyed not walking into spiderwebs for a few miles, though I jumped ahead after the summit, and resumed cobweb duty.
We had a couple plateaus and descents, before some nice easy hiking on an almost flat five miles before the gap we were stopping at. The only tricky thing was the trail became quite rocky, and most of the rocks were slick from prior rain.
There were a couple beautiful views, where Iroh and I could see storms and rain in the distance, but kept hiking further into sunlight. It had been another lucky day, though the little bugs never quite went away.
Just before 6:30 we arrived at Reid’s Gap and got ready to hitch to Devils Backbone Brewery, a place I’d been to in 2015 and had been excited to visit again since the very beginning of this hike.
Several cars drove by going in the opposite direction, but we got completely lucky again when the first vehicle going in the direction of the brewery pulled over for us.
JJ and Jocelyn were a very nice couple around our age, who’d moved to Virginia from Wyoming a couple years ago. They were so nice to pick us up, and our conversation was quite enjoyable.
When we arrived at the brewery, however, it appeared to be closed. I’d checked earlier, since it happened to be a Monday, but read they were open every day year round.
We found signs saying that everything was closed for two days due to an employee appreciation event they were having. They were closed today and tomorrow, and we were off trail without a ride back.
In the past, I probably would have found this very upsetting and had a hard time dealing with the disappointment. However, the trail had taught me to take things more in stride, and to expect my plans to largely not always work out.
It was 6:45, and we only had another 45 minutes before sunset. Somehow we’d lost another 15 minutes of daylight when I wasn’t looking.
We walked half a mile over to the campground, where there were spots for AT hikers to set up for free. We saw there were some other car campers and an Airstream set up nearby, so figured we would be able to tent as well.
Back to Back arrived when we were making dinner at a picnic table next to where I’d set up my tent, and we hung out while eating dinner, filling each other in on our day.
There were hot showers with no soap, but we supplemented with baby wipes, and even just the hot water was absolutely heavenly. Even though the brewery was closed, we still had a great time.
It began raining around 9:30, and we’d been watching lightning in the distance for an hour before that. It was immensely cozy in my tent, with the rain fly on for a change, as rain pattered overhead.
It had been a good day of hiking, and I felt a lot of my mental and physical energy had definitely come back over the course of the day.
Visiting Sweets and Sharkey had been really good for me, and I was again astounded at how the trail and its people had welcomed me back with open arms. I felt so lucky to be living my dream, even when it was difficult sometimes. That’s what made it so meaningful.