It didn't rain for long last night, and I awoke to a dry tent. This is after I awoke to the sound of a bear nosing around our campsite. Stoves was shining his headlamp around our grounds as the bear ambled and snorted its way near the shelter and my tent. We just think of them as big dogs at this point, so I went back to sleep.
I was the first one up in the morning, and pulled my bear bag down for a delicious cold breakfast. Mr. Fantastic quickly followed suit. Tiny Dancer and Pinball Wizard walked in off a side trail, a brazen blue blazin' duo. This finally got Stoves out of his hammock and he joined us all for breakfast.
Mr. Fantastic and I then got a surprise, as Just Brian hiked in. We haven't seen him since way back at the Fontana Dam Hilton, before the Smokies. He arrived with a new trail name in tow; Olympus, named for the camera always displayed in prominence around his neck. We shared info on each others upcoming terrain, as is always quite handy. He also mentioned that Prometheus is playing at a theater in Waynesboro, which solidified our plans to make it into town today.
Back on the dusty trail I made good time to an overlook 6 miles out. There Mr. Fantastic rejoined me, and we hiked together for the rest of the trek.
Climbing atop a small mountain we stumbled across someone dozing in their hammock. We made to continue up the trail, when we heard a tired taunt from a lazy Dick Flap. Stunned to see him, we wandered over and sat down for a quick reunion and lunch. He had apparently yellow blazed up a few miles in an attempt to make it to Harper's Ferry by the 4th to meet his girlfriend. We shared trail gossip, as is always the best thing to do when bumping into old trail buddies. It's hard to describe the feeling one gets when wandering through a secluded forest, bumping into an old friend, and talking about other friends both ahead and behind. It's an experience unlike any other and truly solidifies the feeling of community out here. I know stories of people ahead of us, behind us, off the trail, and even of people I haven't yet met.
We had to keep our visit short, as Waynesboro beckoned, so kept on moving. The rest of our hike breezed by (this is in no way accurate) and we finally arrived at Rockfish Gap and the road into town. There was a flyer with a massive list of trail angel phone numbers to call for a ride into town, so we quickly dialed one up. 10 minutes later Miss Lady pulled up in a pristine truck, and we hopped in.
As we drove through Waynesboro Miss Lady gave us the royal tour, pointing out everything a hiker might need, before dropping us off at the Ming Garden Buffet. She truly was an angel, and made us feel as if we belonged here, asking us to give her a call tomorrow when we needed another lift.
The buffet was amazing, as all AYCE restaurants are to the hiking crowd. 5 plates of food and 10 dollars later we closed the place down.
We left at the same time as Tiny Dancer, Pinball Wizard, and Stoves to head over to the YMCA campsite. It was a pretty short walk, and tents were pitched just as the sun was setting. Tomorrow will hold a plethora of activities, before a short 7 mile hike to the next shelter. Showers, laundry, breakfast, gear shop, resupply, lunch, movie, hike. It's going to be pretty jam-packed, but completely glorious.
