Daleville, VA -- Glasgow, VA

Day 52

Mileage 18.5

We start today through an easy section all morning.  It's raining enough to have on rain gear.  There is a pretty sick fog all day too.  Made for some cool non views...

At 12 I get to the first river crossing.  It has been raining for 4 and a half days straight.  I sit on a log and eat lunch while I contemplate taking my shoes of to ford this river.  As I do Glim glom shows up and has the same idea.  Which is basically this river is moving fucking fast let's wait and eat first.

A deer shows up to investigate and gets about 15 feet away before heading off.

We eventually ford the river.  I take my shoes and socks off as do Darwin and Legs.  Glim glom walks straight through. No fucks given.  I should mention he has been wearing chacos and socks the whole trip...

I think we ended up fording about 5 times total.  And the rain let up finally while I lazily hiked the last few miles into our shelter. 

Our crew currently is: Darwin, Legs, Glim glom, Wet wipes, and Oz.  There are others that come and go, but this group is the core.

Day 53

Mileage 20ish

Its not raining! 

I hiked all morning at a good pace and met a bunch of trail maintainers.

I then took a wrong turn and walked for an extra mile or so down a lovely scenic path.

Ate lunch next to a river and took an hour break. 

We made it 3 more miles to a really nice shelter.  Took a 2 hour siesta.

Then commenced the 5 mile climb to the shelter.  Still made it there by 7.

Cowboy camped and had beautiful stars all night!

Day 54

Mileage 19.9

This was the best day ever!  The world came alive!  The flowers all bloomed! 

Woke up and watched the sunrise and got an early start.

Walking through the woods with endless trilliums and orchids was unbelievable.

The only climb of the day was up to an faa tower.  Then got to see the guillotine.

There were a lot of snakes and centipedes and lizards out on the trail today too!

I also finished listening to the sun also rises today!  Such a good book!

Its crazy to think that we are going to be at 800 miles tomorrow and only 4 days away from starting the Shenandoah valley!

--Strider