Project Eveningland

4/13/2023 Thursday

One last breakfast at the Quarter Way Inn! Fried eggs with “everything bagel” seasoning. Amazing sausage (patties this time), pancakes, yogurt with homemade granola, cornbread, and fruit salad. We headed back up to VA-623 in Tina’s SUV with Hazelnut riding along. We resumed heading north.

I started in minimal layers. We finished that rocky ridge (Garden Mountain I think?) and landed at Jenkins Shelter for lunch where we were joined by an exhausted, thirsty Zandry, who’d made an error—the kind that can happen to any hiker—and had to hike six miles on a difficult ridge with no water. That’s a rough way to start the day.

We hydrated aggressively. Wedge said he felt wonderful today. I remain, as ever, deeply thrilled for him. We reached a large creek with a bridge and lots of flat rock to sit on. We filtered water because it was an eight mile dry stretch and a hot, sunny day with no foliage yet. I wanted to stay by the creek for an hour and soak my feet, but we have a bit of a deadline—a shuttle booked for “around six-ish.”

We will run out of hostels soon—they are really only common in the south. Wedge thinks we should make the most of them while we’re here, because there’re big gaps coming up, and I suppose that’s persuasive enough. The transportation-related deadlines and rapid-fire town in-and-outs are hard on me, but I do agree.

We hiked 16 miles today, then caught a shuttle to the Big Walker Motel (with a detour for a meal at a diner).

We created an itinerary for tomorrow that gives us maximum flexibility on a rainy day. We can go 10, 13, or 18 and all three paths end at the same hostel (18 would have us walking directly to the hostel; the other two distances would require getting picked up).

I’m looking forward to some quieter days in the forest. Probably soon.

Later this month Ben will visit with Zoey in tow. Ben and I have decided to make this trip “sheepdog summer camp” for our gal pal Zoey. We are gonna take her hiking and she’s gonna have the time of her life with her favorite people. Just two gays, doting on an old English sheepdog. What could be more American than that? Rural Virginia is gonna love us!