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.