On the trail again

**AJ and I are blogging at the same time, so please forgive any overlap**
We have survived day 1, and the outlook for day 2 is looking good.

We started about 20 miles south of where planned to begin, which turned out to make a very long first day's walk for us--over 14 miles, or as long as anything we'd ever done before, and with full packs. Thanks to Linda and Lincoln, who kindly drove an hour each way to pick us up at the bus stop in Charlottesville and gave us food, bed, and shower before dropping us on the trail with full bellies, the first five miles felt great. Eventually, however I started struggle, though AJ took it all in stride. My problems were caused mainly because of the following occurances:

a. started seeing bears (AJ saw two, of which I caught a glimpse of the second)
b. got really tired. My feet hurt a lot, my hamstrings felt very tight or pulled, and just wanted to be there
c. realized that our map had very little to do with the actual trail in front of us. According to the map, the final six miles of our hike were downhill. This was not the case.

We made it in the end though, and boy was I happy. We stayed in the shelter, ate mac & cheese with tuna, and I cuddled into my sleeping bag while AJ read to me from the shelter register. People write some absolutely hilarious things in them. This register was deemed a memorial register, since there was a marble bench at the campsite in honor of a hiker who had died on the Pacific Crest Trail (it appears that LOTS of people die there, as there is no water. I will never hike that trail). There were lots of entries in memory of lost or broken camping gear, lost pets and family members, and my personal favorite, "in memory of all the great sex I could have been having with my girlfriend if I had not decided to do this hike."



As we were drifting off to sleep (at the late hour of 9pm) another hiker joined us. We read later that he had hiked 29.5 miles that day. Honsestly, I don't know how that is possible. It would be pretty amazing to get into such good shape! His feet looked pretty gross though... black toenails, etc.

According to our schedule, we would have had a generally uphill 11 mile day today, which I was not looking forward to, especially since it was supposed to start off with a 1000 foot ascent in less than a mile. As it turned out, that ascent didn't really exist, it was just another (way nicer) example of how little our maps have to do with the current location of the trail.

In the register, lots of people talked about going to Ming Garden, a Chinese/Sushi/Everything buffet. When we got to Rockfish gap, we caught a ride for 5 miles into town and arrived in Ming's, which can only be described as paradise. We ate and ate and ate. So good. Oh man, it was so good. And, only $7.15 for all you can eat lunch. Incredible. Ming's will have a special place in my heart for a long time to come.

We also heard that there was an Evangelical Lutheran Church in town where we could stay the night, and even possibly receive further sustanance. However, when we got there (after an extended search) they would not have us. They said that the hosel was "last week" and ended on Sunday. So, I guess I'm not going to be converted to being a Lutheran after all. The YMCA is going to let us shower there for free, which is awesome, and they'll let us spend the night too, but in a field, rather than inside. It's been raining and thundering/lightninging off and on all afternoon, so perhaps it will be an interesting night. If it gets really bad, there's a 24 hour grocery store where we can possibly hang out.

Because of our stop, we are officially 1 day behind our itinerary (people with our itinerary (Mom) should take note). This also means another nice short day tomorrow, only 7 miles, by which time we will be all recovered and ready to speed through Shenendoah National Park.

So, in summary, out trip has been full of ups and downs, some expected and some unexpected, just like the trail.