June 26, 2016  Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
  Yesterday's event of crossing the Shenandoah River is a big deal for the thru-hiker. We finally are out of Virginia, having traversed 555 miles of trail in one state, a full quarter of the length of the Appalachian Trail. I can finally, after one month, now say that I woke up in a state other than Virginia. Yes Virginia, there really is a northern border, and I just crossed it. Hasta la vista, baby!
  Meghan and I successfully traversed the Shenandoah National Park. I am going to let her blog about this much more eloquently than I. We covered the 110 miles in all in 9 days, averaging 13 miles per day, and one new foot blister per day for Meghan, one very nasty large one under her great toe nail, (where have I seen that before?) She and I had a wonderful time as she tested new limits under less than ideal boot conditions, but we finished a day relier than expected, with the bonus that we are still on speaking terms. It was a very special and wonderful time for me, and I was genuinely impressed with her strength and determination and have no doubt that if one day she too chose to thru-hike, she could accomplish this this without question.

Leaving Shenandoah National Park

  I arranged to have Meghan picked up by a shuttle person in Front Royal. We came into the town the night before and stayed at a wonderful up and coming B+B/hostel, Mountain Home, just steps way from the AT itself. Scott Jenkins and his wife are restoring a beautiful old southern mansion, a previous plantation. At this point, there was only one small cabin that could accommodate 6 hikers for bed, linens, shower and breakfast. They gave us a shuttle to town where we did laundry and went out to a pub for dinner and beer with another thru-hiker, Omh-pie.
  I set out on the trail, determined to cover the 15 miles to Dick's Dome shelter. I know that I now need to step up the mileage a bit as the heat of summer in the south is fast approaching. The day was warm, but not hot, but very humid. The hike up from Manassus Gap proved more difficult than usual as there were many trees down over the trail, likely caught up in an a micro-burst in the violent storms we experienced 2-3 days prior. Trail Crews from the PATC had yet to get out to clear the carnage.

I reached my destination before 4PM. The shelter is dome like but hard to describe. As it turned out, I met a trail crew regional boss from PATC there, 'Sisue', who told me the shelter was slated for demolition as it was too difficult to maintain. Instead he showed me the new post and beam shelter, the shelter at Whiskey Hollow, being built just steps away that will house 12 hikers. Sean and I had spent a miserable night in the dome 9 years ago weathering out another violent thunder storm with 4 other people crammed into the very confined space. I cannot say that I am sorry the shelter is slated to go. I spent a pleasant evening with a grampa and his 12 year old grandson out for a 3-4 day trip to Bear's Den. You mean, Grampas can do that to their grandchildren? Once again that night, 4-5 night hikers arrived at 11:30 PM. This time though, they had the courtesy to set up tents a distance from the shelter and were not that disruptive.
  The next day, I got up at 6, in order to be on the trail early. I knew I had the Virginia Roller-coaster to deal with. In the past, the trail followed 8 miles along a busy road to reach the Bear's Den ATC hostel. When they negotiated with land owners a route in the woods, the only land offered was over the crest and valleys of the adjacent hills. This leads to 9 ups and downs over 9 miles with gains in elevation of up to 600' at a time. It is considered some of the most challenging terrain Virginia has to offer. It continues another 4 miles beyond the hostel as well, before the trail evens out to a much more steady and level ground.

RollerCoaster

  The day brought me through a high meadow that was part of a state park. The view was beautiful. Along the way I encountered trail magic, hosted by a couple who were motorcycle enthusiasts. They had first encountered hikers after setting up their own lunch on the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, and being confused by passing hikers as offering trail magic. I am not sure how they beat off the hungry hikers, without loosing their lunch. At this trail magic, a bear chose to investigate. I got within 50 yards and noted he was probably a yearling and posed no real threat. He was easily scared off. Eat your heart out, Meg.
  Along the way, we passed the 1000 mile marker . This was only the first of our 'emotional' halfway points. Harper's is considered the halfway point as well, but the true halfway point this year is some 70 miles north of the Potomac River and Harpers Ferry, and changes year to year as trail relocations are done. The year of 2007 the trial's official length was 2174,; this year it is 2189!

     By the time I reached Bear's Den Hostel, I was a sweaty mess. Once again the shower was  a lifesaver. The old mansion was built as a summer home and the wife a concert pianist. A special piano room was built where she conducted recitals. The building is beautiful stone with a stone fence all around. The hiker special for $30 includes bed with linens, shower, laundry, a meal of frozen large pizza and a pint of ice cream, as well as a make your own pancake breakfast in the morning. There I once again met Hazelnut, a Maine hiker from Bridgeton, whom I had met weeks ago at Jerry's Cabin in the middle of the North Carolina wilderness.

 Yesterday, we once again stepped it up with a 20 mile hike into Harper's Ferry. Here I have sheltered with a fiend of Kathy's whom she met at Katahdin in a wildlife photography group. Terri now lives in Harper's Ferry area, but grew up in Calais, Maine. She volunteers for the ATC, and has been section hiking the AT with her partner, Marie for years. She occasionally takes in stray dogs, as well as stray hikers like myself. The hike to town was much more reasonable and flat, covering the distance before 3PM. After arriving in town, my first order of business was to replace my hiking shoes. The shoes I bought in Hot Springs owed me nothing and had lasted almost 800 miles. I went to the ATC center and registered, and was photographed there as was the tradition for all thru-hikers. I found the old picture of Sean and myself from 2007, took a photo of that and wasted no time in posting it to Facebook.

  So today, I am taking it easy with a 'zero' down day. This week I plan to step up the mileage even further with the more forgiving less mountainous terrain in Maryland and early Pennsylvania.

June 13, 2016     Waynesboro, Virginia
  A relatively sedate 6 days of hiking has brought me to the gateway of Shenandoah National Park. The hiking scene has been relatively sedate in fact. I wanted to start by giving a tribute to a fellow hiker. Hilda and Bernz were thru-hikers from Germany with whom we overlapped at several shelters, and got to know. Both in their late 60's, were from the middle of Germany " no one has heard of our town". She was remarkable in that she is all of 90 pounds and smokes like a fiend. She does not act like a smoker though, as her pace could put a 20 year old to shame. On a typical 16 mile day, she would arrive in the campsite 90 minutes before I did...and I never stop, just ask my wife. He hiked at a good pace as well but never kept up with her. If she took a break or lunch, she would smoke. I asked her what made her so fast, and she just shrugged.. she did not really have an answer. I was hoping she was a former olympic race-walker, but no such luck. We parted ways at Glasgow as I went to town, and they continued down the trail to go off trail at Buena Vista for resupply and a night in a good bed. I learned yesterday from another thru-hiker that during that night, Bernz died in his sleep. 'Pops', the thru-hiker I met yesterday here, told me he had rented a car to take Hilda to Washington Dulles. It was very sad to hear of his passing as he was a very sweet and lovely gentleman, who loved the outdoors. As trite as it is, he did die doing what he loved the best.
  It was nice to not have any pressure to put in long days and long miles. The plan of days gave me one 18 mile day, and the rest were shorter than that, still giving me almost 3 full days to unwind and relax here in Waynesboro. I am currently at a wonderful B+B, the Tree Street Inn. The home is lovely with a pool, and dates back a hundred years. As it turns out, the hiker rate per night was only $18 more than the Quality Inn, and the breakfasts are so much better. This was truly a no-brainer. Waynesboro is a thriving town with a solid reputation of being hiker friendly. They post a list of 40 or more people and cell numbers for hikers to call who will provide a free ride in from the trail, day or night. They have their own hiker fest celebration this coming weekend.
  Before leaving leaving Glasgow, I could not resist having one more in-town meal at Scotto's Restaurant which had been closed the prior day. A group of us left town: a dad, 'Crunch', who was thru-hiking and his son Matt who had joined him for three weeks. As it turned out, we all had grilled chicken on a salad, and no one had any hamburger or fried items. We also left with 'Ham-Fist', a thru-hiker from Tewksbury, Ma., a 6'4" large and powerful young man. Piney, our shuttle driver, brought us all to trail head and we headed out to a beautiful, low humidity day, for short mileage of only 10 miles to Punchbowl Shelter. I returned to the trail as it coursed along with the Blue Ridge Parkway. The day did include a climb of almost 2000', but it felt very good and was not taxing at all.The ridge we climbed took us over Bluff Mt., and there we found two dead copperhead snakes, that someone had crushed with a rock. It is a very dangerous thing to provoke a snake, unless you successfully kill it. Fall short of that goal, and there might be a problem. In any case, most snakes will not attack unless provoked. Killing the two snakes by a hiker seems senseless and stupid, and reflects some of the hikers out here who do not respect the out doors and are here for the party they are trying to create.
  Punchbowl was a small naturally occurring pond next to the parkway. The setting was perfect and the night quiet. That night a local man hiked into camp, doing a section hike. He had long flowing hair in a Mohawk and carried old-school gear, a rucksack, etc. He made pine needle and beech leaf tea (for the first time) to which he yelled after sipping: 'wow that's good!'. He was gone before first light.
  The following day, I hiked to Cow Camp shelter, or as I refer to it Cow Flop shelter. We got off on the wrong foot initially as I followed Ham-Fist out of camp, and was immediately concerned that we were headed south on the AT. I let it go a while, but within 5", I yelled to Ham my concerns, noting we should cross the parkway road within .5 miles. He wanted me to lead a while which I did for another 5-10", before turning around convinced we had gone the wrong way. None-the-less, he said he wanted to go just a little further to be sure. By the time I returned to the turn-off to the shelter, 30" had elapsed, and I quickly found the right way to the parkway. I can only assume that Ham-Fist has turned around by now, as I have not seen him since.
  This was a 17 mile day to Cow Camp, along the ridge with up and downs, but cool crisp temperatures and a nice breeze feeling almost fall-like. During the hike, I climbed another 2700'. I passed the road US 60, the road to Buena Vista. I recognized the picnic area we used over 22 years ago while on a vacation with our children in the Charlottesville area using a time-share. Here we had met a thru-hiker named David , and offered him lunch. We got to know him, and later picked him up at Katahdin as he finished his hike, housing him for the night in Orono, before his return bus trip home.
  Interestingly, the Cow Camp shelter was .5 miles off the trail. I was the only one in camp that night. No one else came to the shelter or set up a tent there. The grounds were surprisingly clear of litter. The outhouse had no stench, all indicative that the mileage off the trail had discouraged 90% of hikers from coming down to take advantage of the site. There was a wonderful stream in front of the shelter, too cold to immerse oneself, but just right for washing up, and soaking poor tired feet. By contrast though, I could vividly see what a negative impact the Mongol hordes of hikers were having on the more used and accessible shelter sites. That night was very cold, and in my light summer bag, I found myself dawning every warm piece of clothing I still had in my possession.
  By contrast, the following day brought me to the Priest shelter, named after the mountain, not the pastor. The shelter registry was humorous though, as it was labeled 'The Priest confessionals", and some did in vivid detail.The ridge to the Priest included an assent over Cold Mountain, and I wondered if this was the mountain referenced by the novel. The hiking was great over wonderfully graded trails, and the cool temps made it even more perfect. The ridge also took me over Spy Rock, with a commanding view of the valley below. This had in fact had been used as an observation point for troop movements during the Civil War. The Priest shelter filled to capacity by 11 PM with the late arrival of a night hiker. These guys usually don't get started until midday, but still want the big miles and don't really care whose sleep they are disturbing when they arrive in camp. There were also at least 10 other people in tents  that night, telling me that the 'bubble' has not yet completely passed me by. This area was showing signs of use and misuse. The privy was abominal.
  The following days hike to Maupin Field Shelter was perhaps the most strenuous of the week. The first 5 miles saw us drop 3000' in altitude to the Tye River. There, a beautiful pedestrian suspension bridge brought us across the river. We then climbed back the 3000' in altitude to the top of the North Ridge of the Three Ridges. The day was much more humid and warm, making the exercise that much more difficult. The views from the top of the ridge were spectacular though. Maupin was a nice location though, and although there were a lot of tenters, I was the only one to occupy the shelter that night.Once again however, another set of night hikers arrived at 11 PM, but this time set up tents, rather than using the shelter.
  I spent one more night out at the Paul Wolf shelter, just 5 miles short of Rockfish Gap and Waynesboro. There were a few people in camp, and one other section southbounder from Connecticut in the shelter with me. The shelter had a 'double-decker' sleeping area, and a huge decked and covered front deck overlooking the stream. Sensing more biting insects than usual, I chose this time to set up my tent... in the shelter (which worked quite well by the way). Again, there was a wonderful cool stream with pools to just sit in and cool off as reward for staying the night. Most of the younger hikers though pushed through the longer mileage day to get into town.
  The following day was an easy 5 mile hike to the Gap. As I arrived, a trail Angel was dropping two hikers back on the trail. He spotted me, and offered the ride into Waynesboro, 6 miles away. I originally thought with such a short hike on the AT that day, the extra mileage on the road would do me good. However the Angel 'Bill' said he did not want to be alone on the trip back to town so I accepted his offer.
  My daughter arrives in 2 days and we enter Shenandoah Park. After that, I will need to start pushing my mileage northward in order to escape the advancing southern summer and humidity.

June 6, 2016   Glasgow, Virginia
  Another 4 days on the trail has brought me to a resupply point in Glasgow, Va. I hiked in the remaining two miles from Matt's Creek shelter this morning to the town making this a 'Nero' day, that is a day almost all to myself without thought or effort of hiking. Sean and I stayed here 9 years ago in a small no-tell motel, but this has since closed. Several businesses in the downtown  are closed and have been for several years. For hikers however, the town and a boy scout troop, as an eagle project, built a 12 person shelter, complete with a hot water shower and two porta-potties, Nirvana for the average thru-hiker. There's a laundry down the street to complete our experience. While coming here, I crossed the longest pedestrian bridge  on the AT across the James River, built on old abandoned railway pilings. As I reached the opposite shore a shuttle was just delivering two hikers to the trail assuring me of a ride into the town 6 miles away. One of the hikers was 'Fern', a young girl who is from Limerick, Me, and graduated from the University with a degree in kinesiology 3 years ago. It is amazing how many Maine hikers I have met out here so far!

Pedestrian bridge over the James River

  Since leaving Daleville, Virginia has dished out more of the same. The terrain has been difficult, more difficult than I remember, and the weather very humid, which means I am very moist at the end of the day, and in desperate need of a shower by the end of 5 days. Passing by the first shelter out of town, I spoke with a young family on a section hike, with an 11 yo and a 4 yo boy, Josh, who seemed to be a handful! They had found mold in their rented apartment, and were out to clear the air a bit. The youngest had asthma, and since leaving the apartment, while the problem was being fixed, he had required no treatment. Dad was carrying a 4 person Coleman tent, and most of the younger boys possessions by the end of the day. They traveled a little slower, but we did share the same site that first day out.
  At the shelter I once again came across Arkansas Traveler, with whom I had hiked  over three weeks ago. I also hiked several days with 'Popeye', a 66 year old retired vending machine repairman, from Florida, who recently had suffered a stroke, which left him with a facial droop, but  did not prevent him from hitting the trail with the idea of finishing a thru-hike. He carries a Popeye figurene. As I watched him walk, I admired his resilience and courage, as it looked like a struggle for him. Yet even with his mild disability, he was up every day at 6 AM, and put in the same 17-18 mile days I was finishing. He had been off the trail a week due to a deep seated infection in his great toe from an infected blister.
  The second day brought me across the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, the first of many crossings over the next 200 miles, of either the Parkway, and later the Skyline Drive through the Shenandoah National Park. The AT originally followed the same ridge of mountains from North Carolina as the Parkway, but was shifted to the range west in the 1930's and 1940's when the parkway was built. The weather was good and much cooler at the 3500' feet elevation. The humidity created an amazing undercast of clouds down below in the valley. The second day brought us to Jennings Creek, and a private campground. They had a pool and showers (never pass up the opportunity to take a shower!), as well as a concession stand, with great hamburgers and fries, with ice cream for dessert.


   I spent much of the next couple of days hiking with Bob, 'Good Heart', who was doing a section hike to Harpers Ferry. He had recently retired from teaching as a computer instructor, but employs 35 people in an IT firm. His son too was an eagle scout and both he and his son had gone to Philmont, in New Mexico.
  It was at this location  that we learned  the Thunder Hill shelter and all camping for 18 miles was closed due to problem bears... bad Yogi!. This forced us to do a short day of hiking to Cornelius Creek, then a long day of 18 miles to Matt's Creek. Despite the relative assurance of guide books showing not much up and down, the amount of climbing proved difficult and repetitive. Though the temperature was reasonable at about 75', the humidity was excessive, and by the time I reached the shelter, I looked like I had jumped in the lake... which I would have gladly done if one had been nearby. There was a full shelter and many other tenters that night, over 20 in all. All of us were bottle-necked here by the 18 mile closure to camping coming up. That night, there was an amazing light and thunder show. The rain came down in torrents and the sky was literally constantly alight with lightening. Luckily none of the tents washed away and all survived the night. As I was in the shelter that night, I thanked my lucky stars for that good fortune.
  The next day, initially looked threatening, but improved as the day went on and never really rained on us. Again we had several short hard climbs, followed by downclimbs. I climber over Apple Orchard Mountain at 4225, the highest we will get yet again to this level will be Mt. Mooselauki in New Hampshire. This mountain once served as a base for a radar installation during the cold war that monitored air traffic up and down the east cost. It is now a communications station for cell and TV. Arriving at Matt's Shelter, there was a rushing stream with deep enough pools to sit in and wash off, a welcome relief.
  Unfortunately, the only restaurant in town is closed on Mondays, so I plan to hang around tomorrow for a 10:30 brunch, then hit the trail to finish another 10 miles out of the 77 remaining over the next 6 days till I reach Rockfish Gap, and Waynesville. There Meghan plans to join me on the 14th for the next 103 miles. More blog to come at that point!

June 1, 2016.         Daleville ,Virginia
  Well, more of the same has been going on since I resumed the trail 6 days ago in Pearisburg. I took a wonderful week off and returned to Maine for Sean's graduation from UNE COM. It was wonderful to see family and be home again. We also accomplished a few other things as well. I was able to get over to see my mom who was recently discharged from the hospital after another bout with infection. I got out to camp and got the furniture out, the screens up, the water up and running after finding a huge hole in the copper piping where water had pooled and frozen over the winter. I also got the dock in. At home, I got two cords of wood stacked in the woodshed. Despite the pleasure of being home with my wife, each day there was a sense of unease, like I needed to be doing something else..... like hiking.
  Traveling on a plane, I had to be sure may white gas fuel bottle was empty. As it happened, TSA inspected my backpack both coming and going to be sure I was compliant with this. Before going back, I wanted to be sure I could refill the bottle before resuming the trail. I must have called 10 businesses in Pearisburg, even  Walmart, and all were out of white gas and expecting a delivery. When I landed in Roanoake, with a rental car at my disposal, I quickly shopped at nearby malls for food and found a Dick's Sporting Goods. So 700 cc's of fuel cost me around $14, and thus I had to bite the bullet and bought the entire gallon of Coleman fuel, leaving the rest to the hiker box at the B+B I stayed at in Narrows. Now at least one place in the greater Pearisburg region has white gas. I have since found out that I could have used super unleaded gasoline as a substitute, though MSR does not officially condone or approve of the practice. Who knew?
  In Narrows, Va, I stayed at a wonderful B+B, The MacArthur Inn, named in honor of General Douglas MacArthur. This place was beautiful. Built at the turn of the century, it started out as a hotel, but ended up as a nursing home residence. It was condemned as a a structure unsuitable for this purpose in the 1970's, and was slated to be torn down. The proprietor, Alan, bought the place and with tender-loving care has restored the building back to it's original intent as a hotel. Alan was a  crusty southerner, with a handle bar mustache,  a good heart and a love for hikers and the AT. We shared a bond over restoring old structures. The next morning, he made each of us an omelette, one at a time. It was delicious, and because of the slow, individual production of each breakfast plate, this did take time, and lead to a late start.  I was able to return the rental car to the Enterprise in Pearisburg, then get on the trail by 9:30. Interestingly, in addition to not having any availability to rent cars out of the town, there is also apparently no one working there as the employee had not shown up a half hour after opening time. So I left the key on the desk with the rental agreement and bolted. Message to self; never trust Enterprise Pearisburg again!

  The first day out was quite warm and now humid, a dramatic change from a week before. I decided on an ambitious itinerary of hiking 20 miles to Pine Swamp shelter. What I hadn't counted on was  a degree of  interval deconditioning from not hiking in over a week. The hike out of Pearisburg was long and posed a significant gain in altitude. On reaching the ridge, I went through an area that had no green leaves or anything else green for that matter including the forest floor, likely as a result of very hungry gypsy moth catapillars. There was one improvement though: the mud was significantly reduced. It was a long day, and I pulled into the shelter at 6:30. There I met a  family from Georgia; Mom, Dad, about my age , and their three grown children with their significant others. Most occupied the shelter, but there was a spot for me. They were section hiking together to McAfee's Knob. The father did all the planning, and did most of the food planning, dehydrating, and vacuum packaging. The re-hydrating and cooking turned out to be a little variable with regards to it's intended outcome, but they all ate the food none-the-less. They also were hiking with a black lab, who snorted, licked, and made noise all night long, leading to a restful sleep for myself.

  The following day was also challenging with two separate climbs to 4000', each climb over 2000'. The profile made it look like the walk on top of the ridges would be flat and easy. It did not turn out that way as there were rocks, big and small to contend with and challenge my balance. You have to be carefully watching each and every step, playing hop-scotch with the rocks to ensure your footing is firm and you don't twist the wrong way and fall. I missed my footing on one occasion and fell at an innocuous looking spot, bending the tip of my new pole on impact. I was able to restore functionality, and bend the pole back mostly to straight. Once again, the fall looms as the hikers worst nightmare and adversary. The day was also very warm and humid with dew points around 60'. I went through 5-6 liters of water that day. Rule of thumb: keep the pee as pale as possible! The second climb of the day at 3 PM was miserable, hot and slow. This time though, the ridge was very easy terrain, as was the descent to Laurel Creek shelter. At the road crossing prior to this last climb, I found trail magic with fruit, candy and drinks. I stuffed in my pack what I though was a large red and white can of coke, only to find upon arrival at camp, that it was a Bud, with a July 4th holiday label. I would have preferred coke.
  The next day was overcast on awakening, but it stayed dry. Because of the unusual spacing of shelters, I had to do a 22.5 mile day to stay on schedule. Pickle Branch shelter was the only shelter in a 25 mile stretch. The big climb of the day once again was difficult with the muggy conditions. Once on top, the walking was easy. For many miles, I saw areas where stones had been meticulously piled, likely meaning this had once been a field that a farmer had cleared by hand. The farm land had long ago been reclaimed by the forest. We also climbed Bushey Mountain later in the day, and the walk across the top was a fire road, a welcome relief to the feet. Any rain activity seemed light and it confined itself to the night-time hours.

  The next day looked on paper to be easier, and shorter, only 17 miles. However, the first part of the day was a stiff climb to Dragon's Tooth. As I got higher, the sun came out and I noticed undercast clouds, from condensation of muggy air. The walk across the ridge to Dragon's Tooth was very difficult footing and slower than usual. The view there was spectacular however and worth the effort. Many thru-hikers had camped on top and were making a leisurely morning of it. The first mile of descent was also a rock scramble. By 12:30, after 5 hours of hiking, I noticed that I had only gone 5-6 miles, well off my usual 2-2.5 mph pace. The terrain had been surprisingly difficult. The rest of the day brought me to McAfee's Knob. Reaching the gap and parking lot (on Memorial Day), there must have been 200 cars, (and no trail magic). I found myself on a well traveled fire road with all the tourists and could not believe this was the AT. About a half mile further and upon further questioning of a returning day hiker, I found out that I had missed the turn off for the AT which paralleled the fire road to the same destination. So at that point I could have a) retraced my steps and taken the AT; b) bush-wack down a 45' slope and try to find the AT; or c) keep going. Which to do?... c) of course. A little blue blazing never hurt anyone, and after being beaten up by Dragon's Tooth, it was nice to take the 'easy' way. McAfee's Knob was spectacular, despite being overwhelmed by the tourist traffic. I managed to get a few impressive pictures of myself on the knob with Wilson.

  The shelter was less than a mile away north off the mountain. As the shelter beyond  was closed due to a pesky Yogi Bear, this lead to a bottle-neck of a large group of hikers staying the night. I met a girl who was thru-hiking and had been working for the Green Mountain Club. We had a nice chat about the Long Trail, and adventures there with bears last year.  Two hikers were in camp for the night who were somewhat famous in the thru-hiker bubble. One hiker was detained on several occasions by the Hot Springs Police Department, and he claimed abuse of power and authority. The other hiker seemed to have a similar story and actually eventually became friends with the mayor of the town. One of them also seemed to confirm the rumors we had heard that an angry hiker, harassed unnecessarily by police in Hot Springs, had set off the forest fire there.
  The final day of hiking  15 miles into Daleville brought me to Tinker Cliffs early in the morning. Again the view was spectacular. The rest of the day was uneventful, reaching town by 3:30 for a shower, laundry and dinner out. There I once again ran into 007, a Brit hiking sections of the trail, confounded by orthopedic medical issues, and I had seen in several towns along the way, We had shared our first hitch ride into Hiawassee, Ga. two months ago.

  I have now planned out the next 140 miles which will bring me to Rock Fish Gap and Waynesville, Va., the gateway to the Shenandoah Mountains. My adventurous daughter Meghan will join me there on June 14th for the next hundred miles. She will be the last of my children to be tortured by Dad with a long distance hike, but a time which I greatly look forward to.