Miles: 958.4 | A slow, intentional day through Shenandoah includes a mama bear and her cubs, cold drinks and chess at the final wayside, trail friendships old and new, and a quiet stealth camp perched on cliffs—ending with sunset views, an oncoming storm, and a rare night of solitude.
We got up around 6am and packed up. Inside the hostel we ate a breakfast of cereal and coffee. I went through my pack before we left and got rid of some stuff. Eventually, everyone was ready and piled into the van to go pack to the trail.
The 30 minute ride was filled with complaints from the other hikers and commiseration from the hostel owner. I’ve really started noticing the negativity of others, how it affects me, and how to avoid it. We tried to stay out of the conversation. Once at the trail head we thanked the hostel owner and went off into the woods. We saw a bear early in the day with a few of her babies! She was further away, this time, and the babies showed us their tree climbing skills.
Around noon we went down to a shelter to get water. Another hiker told us she was going to the next wayside to get some cold drinks. We decided we’d go, too. It was hot and this was the very last wayside. On the way we ran into Mark. He hiked with us to the wayside. Just before the trail to the wayside we found Josh and Murdock hanging out on the side of the trail. Mark came with us to the wayside while Josh waited for Tang, the last of their group, to make sure he didn’t miss the side trail.
At the wayside we set up at a picnic table. Miles got a burger and a drink. I got a beer and a snack. We set up the chess board and played while talking to Mark.
Mark told us that he and Josh and Tang had been eating mostly fresh food for the past couple of weeks (a concept largely unheard of in the thruhiking community).
Most hikers eat ramen, Knorr rice sides, tuna, jerky, and junk food)! He showed us his food bag set up. Two bags: the first with meats in vacuum sealed bags (mostly beef or pork) and the second with some veggies. He told us they’d been carrying some copper/nonstick pans they got at Walmart and each person in the group carries a part of the meal. Josh carries one pan, Tang carries a pan and mostly veggies, Mark carries the meats. It’s heavier, he told us, but worth it for the fresh meal. This got some wheels turning in our heads... more on that later, though!
We hung out at the wayside for most of the afternoon. Josh told us about some cliffs coming up that were supposed to have a great view and a campsite nearby. We’d been following the shelter rule thus far, but if there was a campsite that was already created where we wouldn’t be doing damage, that sounded much more interesting.
They said we could join them if we wanted. So we sat and drank a few more drinks with them at the wayside. While we were there the newly dubbed Cactus Club (Big Bunny, Sherpa, Autumn, and Hannah) showed up! I’d seen on Instagram that they’d gotten some cold cactus shirts for trail days and named their tramily after them.
They told us they were actually behind us in the trail but their parents had come to visit and wanted to drive on Skyline Drive. They decided to drop off a resupply package at this wayside for later so they could carry less food. They’re catching up, though! We bid them adieu and they drove off. After we saw them we headed out.
On the way to the campsite we stopped to get water at another shelter. There, we met Battle Lion again, the girl we’d met at the last water source, and her friend Stellar were there, too. We talked about salt chafe and remedies because Battle Lion just got some for the first time. We headed out of the shelter around 5pm and climbed up the mountain. A view point appeared on the way and we stopped to look.
We saw Rambo there with Tanner and their friend. Rambo told us he had gotten a ride into Luray the day before and got a new food bag and more food to replace his raccoon destroyed one. Tanner noticed that Miles was carrying a chess set on the outside of his pack. He asked if they could play. They played and eventually got to a Bishop-Pawn end game. Miles blundered a move with his king and Tanner pulled off a win after what looked like a draw. It was a close game.
When we arrived to camp, we set up Miles’ tent to share and went out to the cliffs to make dinner and play chess.
Mark arrived around 7:30pm and Josh arrived shortly after. They are both hammock campers and they realized there weren’t any good trees to hang hammocks from. They decided to move on. Tang ended up moving on with them. So we had the whole campsite to ourselves! I set up my tent next to Miles’ and we went back out to the cliffs to watch the sunset and the oncoming storm.
