June 6-7 in the Shenandoahs

June 6, 2005 | Day 71 | Miles: 20 | Total Miles: 868.2
End: Blackrock Hut, Shenandoah National Park
Danielle:
Hot, humid and partly cloudy
Ugh. Hot and humid and lots of miles to go after starting at 9:50am. Ugh. Plus the trail was not very interesting which made it more difficult. We have heard mixed reviews of the Shenandoahs from it being super easy to it being kind of ugly and not all that great. So far we are not overly impressed, but it was a rough day so hopefully things will get better over the next few days. Saw two deer, a small 8-inch black with yellow neck ring ringed snake, and a toad, plus some nice pink mountain laurel, but that was about it. Not much else to report.

Ryan:
hazy, hot & humid, ugh
there are few words i can use today that are fit for publication, so today will be brief. i hate summer. i hate it. why are we doing this? really, we couldn't figure it out today. what are we doing out here? the next two months ought to be interesting. so, we're in the shenandoahs...where everything is flat, there are escalators, gum drop trees and scantily clad women with beer. needless to say, i'm still waiting. plus, we hiked 19.2 miles today, and we were feeling half dead. then we come to a sign that basically tells us that the spring at the shelter may be dry. so, we go down this dirt road, as the sign suggests, and i mean down, to get water to carry up to the shelter. so, that's an extra 8 pounds on my back, which again is already overloaded with food from our resupply. by the way, we decided to not carry much food in the park because you can stop along the way at campgrounds, etc...so, why does the food bag weigh 50 pounds!!! so, .8 to go to the shelter, it's hot, looks like a thunderstorm is going to absolutely bring it at any second, the pack is full of lead, and then it happens. the largest fly in the world decides to play tag with my head. buzz...buzz...buzz. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... needless to say, i was throwing my poles. "land where i can see you, you cowardly bastard!" ahhhhhhhhhh.... oh yeah, it's supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. grumble grumble
today's song - imperial march from star wars

June 7, 2005 | Day 72 | Miles: 21.4 | Total Miles: 889.6
End: Hightop Hut
Danielle:
Hazy, hot and humid
7:00am and Ryan had to wake me up. Guess I was tired! We got out at 8:30am and were soaked in sweat within minutes. Oh well. Another long and hot day. But we did have a nice stop 7.5m in at Loft Mtn. Wayside where we all sat outside the store and made multiple trips in for Gatorade, chips and ice cream. Yum! And while we were sitting there gorging ourselves, guess who walked up the steps but Bootleg! Wow. We haven't seen him since we booked into Neels Gap on day 3 of the trip in the pouring rain and he waited it out and passed us by. That was the last we have seen of him until today. He was off the trail for 4 days visiting friends, which is the only reason we were able to catch him. Lots of fun to see him again.
Other than that, the great excitement of the day was that we saw a rattlesnake. I was hiking along and heard a rattle, looked down, saw the big snake, screamed and then turned right around and ran in the other direction. Yikes. He finally slithered a bit further off the trail and we were able to sneak by.
Thought of the day: I think Jewelweed is my new favorite plant. The rhododendron and mountain laurel are pretty, but not nearly as useful as the Jewelweed. Jewelweed grows in mostly wet places and has four soft opposing leaves with a milky stem. You can open up the stem and spread that part along any body part that has come in contact with poison ivy and it neutralizes the oil. Our friend Free Radical told us about it back at Watauga Lake and we've been using it ever since. If we see some along the way, we'll pick it for later use and Ryan will attach it to the back of my pack. A bit silly, I know, but everyone who knows me understands :-) I might look a bit odd spreading a plant on my legs but if it keeps me from getting poison ivy, so be it! I'd rather be that rather than crazy itchy! :-)

Ryan:
three h's
here's an idea: let's do our longest day of the trip on the hottest day of the trip. basically, we're stupid. it was really hot today. too tired to write. good night.