Miles: 863 | A quick morning at Devil’s Backbone sets the tone for a fast, humid push into Waynesboro. With salt chafe screaming and showers calling, the miles fly by—strong pacing, rolling terrain, snakes on trail (the non-rattly kind), and a smooth descent to Rockfish Gap. Trail angels deliver us to the Grace Lutheran Church hostel on its reopening day, where an unbelievably good shower, real food, and a surprise chess board turn exhaustion into pure relief. A true reset day—clean, fed, and grounded again.
We woke up early for a $5 breakfast and coffee at the brewery. After breakfast I aired out my wet tent in the sun and charged my phone. We waited for the free shuttle back to the trail. The breakfast was great. After breakfast we got back on the trail. This was the day people who attended Trail Days would return to the trail so we were excited to see who would be around now! But we would miss having the trail and all the shelters mostly to ourselves.
2 big black snakes crossed our path. Thankfully, they were the nice kind of snakes. We arrived to town around 4pm. We saw Moondrop and Bluegrass one last time. We also saw Biscuits (of the Woo Crew). There was a list of trail angels that would give you a ride into town from Rockfish Gap if you ask at the Popcorn stand they told us.
Up at the popcorn stand we called a few numbers. The 6th had time to come get us. I got a popcorn and Gatorade while we waited. It was really satisfying. We got picked up soon after and by 5 we were in town. The trail angel took us to a donation based church hostel that had just reopened for the season that day. We were the first ones in the log book! They checked us in and we met Jill, a volunteer. She took our pictures for their log book.
We moved quickly to get to Waynesboro. Our salt chafe was BAD and stingy and we needed showers desperately. The humid heat only made it worse. I walked at about a 3-4mph pace the whole day. It, honestly, felt pretty good to move so fast. The terrain wasn’t too hard. Some great views, too. We crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway again.
Once we were checked in she showed us where to shower. That was THE BEST SHOWER OF MY LIFE. The salt chafe was soothed by the cool water of the shower. I washed my hair for the first time since Craig and Tania’s House. I pulled out clumps and clumps of hair that would normally have been combed out daily. I had to wash it twice to get it manageable. I considered cutting it all off but then decided that might be a brash decision...
Vermont and Odd Job arrived shortly after us. We headed out with Odd Job and got Chinese food at a nearby buffet. When we came back to the hostel we were talking about how fun playing chess at the brewery was. Vermont told us he played chess, too. Jill told us that she had just put a chess board in a pile for a yard sale the day before! She told us she could bring it over for us if we wanted. She brought it back and we played a few rounds! We set up our cots in a large, auditorium type hall.
We went to bed late after playing lots of chess. I beat Miles for the first time since he taught me how to play.