June 8-9 in the Shenandoahs

June 8, 2005 | Day 73 | Miles: 20.4 | Total Miles: 910
End: Big Meadows Campground, Tent
Danielle:
Not quite as hot but still warm, humid, sunny and a bit of a breeze
Three 20-mile days in a row... Not recommended for Team Snowplug. We were both hurting today, especially in the last few miles. We made a stop at 11.7m at one of the campstores for lunch and a few snacks for the next few days, but still the last 8.7m were tough! But we did have our first bear sighting--a momma bear and 2 cubs. They were running off through the woods when we saw them, so that was a good thing. Also saw many deer.
We're currently camped at Big Meadow Campground. Lots of "normal" folks around... We asked for the closest site to the laundry/showers, probably not what most people would ask for, and managed to get set up, both take showers and get our laundry done before heading over to the lodge for a drink and dinner. Ahhh. I'm currently writing this from the Taproom. :-)
We don't have a 20-miler planned tomorrow which is nice--just 18.8m :-) I am not sure how that will go but at least we have 2 13-milers planned after that. Sometimes all this hiking stuff is tough... :-)

Ryan:
sunny, hot
three hot days, more than 60 miles...yup, we're tired. two important things from yesterday that i was too tired/lazy to write: 1. we saw a rattlesnake...that gets the adrenaline going and 2. it took us 845 miles, but we finally caught up with bootleg. ok, he took 4 days off, but we still technically caught him. we've been chasing him since way back at neels gap...great to finally catch and catch up with him. ok, back to today. um...tired, sore, grumpy, pain, suffering...yeah, that pretty much sums it up. we also crossed 900 miles today. yawn.
today's song - kiss on my list, hall & oates (oh yeah.)

June 9, 2005 | Day 74 | Miles: 18.8 | Total Miles: 928.8
End: Pass Mountain Hut, Tent
Danielle:
Warm, humid again and sunny, with afternoon rain and thunder showers
Staying at Big Meadows worked as great, as we had a nice breakfast there before we took off this morning. Then 8m to Skyland at a good clip, arriving shortly after lunch started. Perfect! A sandwich followed by a HUGE slice of blackberry ice cream pie. The top layer was a large one made of meringue which made it look even bigger. Yum!
Things took a bit of a dive after lunch. We were both pretty tired from all the walking we've been doing the past few days and Ryan's feet were killing him. We weren't exactly hiking quickly. Oh well. There were some nice vistas though, although very hazed over. We managed to get here by 7:15pm. The caretaker was here and he had brought up baggies of fruit. Yum! He section hiked the trail, finishing up in 2003, so knows that fresh foods are always welcome. Thanks Skyline! We are currently lounging in the tent, as the bugs are out in force. Happy to be doing a short day tomorrow. The heat and multiple 20-mile days have worn us out a bit, but not to worry, we're still hanging in there :-)

Ryan:
three h's, pm thunderstorm
so, in 4 days we've done 80 miles. very tired. the heat does not help. plus, you get into camp late, so there's time to set up, eat, get water, and go to bed so you can do it all over again. no time to relax and unwind, which is mentally tiring. my feet have really been hurting the last couple days, too, which is miserable. i've killed my latest pair of shoes already, so i'll have to find an alternative...175 miles for a pair of shoes is really weak. perhaps we'll hike past a money tree. plus, we're hip deep in the mental part of the game. we've been at this for about 10 weeks, and it's getting hard to keep pushing everyday. you know the scene at the end of braveheart in which william wallace/mel gibson is being tortured? the executioner says to him if he swears allegiance to the king..."this will all be over." the end of every day is just like that. all we have to do is walk off the trail and it "will all be over." no more pain, no more hunger, no more smell. but somehow, like good ole mel, we don't give in...with our last breath we yell "KATAHDIN!" there are two main differences, though: 1. no one gets their head chopped off, and 2. we get to do it all over again tomorrow.