Shenandoah National Park.

June 23,

Start:  854 Waynesboro, Va. 
End:  867 Breezey ridge.
Total:  13 miles.

Today I got the luxury of sleeping in.  Though I was surrounded by a neighborhood my campsite at the YMCA's mosquito pond was very quiet this morning.  Stirring in my tent around nine, I look out to see the two hikers, whom I saw yesterday, heading back to a bench in the woods.  Smoking some of the devil's lettuce. 

I break camp, as rain begins drizzeling down on me.  It soon ends though.  I decide to write a report for school this morning, for a class that I'm taking, at NAU, and break out the smart phone to type it.  I bought Quick Office for my phone which is a numbed down version of MS Office.  It's a cool program, but it's hard to attach a document to an email and for some rwason, it make me hold the phone upright, not sideways.  This way I don't have the luxury of a larger keypad.  I'm writing this post on it.  I think that i'll use this for all future blog posts, so I won't lose them occasionally.

I head over to the large library that is only a block away, and see Jaws who is still waiting on her BF, So Far to show up.  She's planning to spend the day at a multiplex cinema bouncing between all the shows, smart girl.  I stay at the library and finish my report. 

After business is taken care of, I head over to the Ming Garden for round two of super buffet action.  They still have no love for hikers, the hostess seats me in a side room at a long table with another hiker, Whistler.  The people watching would be better in the open restaurant, but at least we have a private banquet room.  The food is once again awesome, today though there are mote beef dishes, the sushi still rocks.  My fortune cookie inspires me to move on, "Idleness is a fool's vacation."

  Passing a Main street block on the way out of town, I decide to check out the flag lined street.  Basic small town Americana, shops, banks, martini lounge.  None for me though, I walk toward the outfitter's to by replacement hiking pole tips and fuel.  The Napa auto parts store I pass on the way is more likely to carry the fuel I need for my homemade stove, so I go there and quickly find the HEET that I'm looking for.  HEET is denatured alcohol that is used as gas line antifreeze.  Sure enough they have it, and I don't believe the outfitter did. 
I bash and bash with a wrench to get my pile points off, they finally fly off, each glued in.  Then I hitch the three miles back to the trail, after only having my thumb out a minute.

After I get back to the trail, I hit a self registration kiosk for Shenandoah National Park, fill a permit out and hustle on.  The trail is cruising terrain, but watertless.  When I do get to a spring, the last for twelve and a half miles, I puzzle the rest of ly water, and plan to drink more after the five minutes that I must wait for my purifier to work.  As I'm drinking a weird noise breaks my attention from the water to a young bear loading in a tree a hundred feet away.  I guzzle a few sips, refill quickly at the spring and  get out of the area.  The bear was high off the ground and relaxing like a cat, all stretched out.

I make it thirteen miles today, to a breezey ridge line.  Rocks limit camp sites, and ants rule up here, but I enjoy the breeze, and it's late.  Daddy long legs are crawling all over my tent in minutes.  I don't know how hikers use traps with nno netting, that would be horrible in the woods, where it's spiders all night.  Goodnight.