Monday, June 29 9:42 pm 20.0 mi
AT 844.3 Stealth Site → AT 864.3 Waynesboro/Stanimal’s 328 Hostel
Weather: Hot and sunny
Hikers Met: Toy Story, Blue Sasquatch, Cage
Trail Conditions: Rocky, but less miserable than yesterday. Much less elevation to deal with! Good number of day hikers
My Condition: Much better day than yesterday. Felt the pull towards town
Saw another bear today – this one was a pretty decently sized male who was scavenging a campsite which had likely been used the night before. Got a ride from Adam, the owner of Stanimal’s. He thru hiked in 04 and started out after his hike with about $500 as a hostel operator, and now owns upwards of 15 properties and growing in town. He has some incredible business acumen and runs a great operation – clean, modern facilities, recently renovated bathrooms and showers, the works. Met up with Edgar, my college roommate, who is living in Charlottesville until things in DC settle down. Great to catch up a bit! Ate 6 bean and cheese burritos from Taco Bell, which blew his mind. The employees looked at him funny when he ordered that many. Saw Running Bear and met Toy Story, Blue Sasquatch, and Cage, all thru hikers. I’m meeting my little bubble! First impression of them – great! They invited me, a person they literally just met, to come to dinner with them. Sadly I already had plans with Edgar, but I very much appreciated the gesture and who knows, maybe I’ll get a rain check.
Post Trail Analysis
This is another one of my favorite days from the trail. The hostel was incredible – the staff was personable and made me feel immediately welcome, and I even got my first pop or beer from the fridge on the house! The Yuengling from my home state of PA was appealing, but I think I opted for a refreshing Coke. I watched ESPN on the huge TV screen with Toy Story, marveling at the fact that this living room had a LUXURY MASSAGE CHAIR. The air conditioning was so powerful overnight that I actually felt cold! On top of that, I met some of the very people I’d spend a ton of my upcoming time on trail with. Right away, I knew I’d get along with them. Blue Sasquatch would become my older sister on the trail, and following her blue blaze of the Shenandoahs we would end up hiking the whole rest of the trail together. You could hear the Alabama oozing out of this tattooed, God fearing, freedom loving, Navy serving, online shopaholic – just ask her to say the word “cooler.” She had some of the best playlists on trail, always knew how to make me laugh, and roasted me every chance she got. Cage had a wealth of life experience, was business savvy, had a kind heart, projected almost a protective aura surrounding those he was hiking with, was a good listener, and had calves that put mine to shame. If you’re a believer in the hiking wisdom “Never take hiking advice from someone whose calves are smaller than yours,” he’d be a great person to listen to. Toy Story was so much fun to be around – it was always easy to laugh when you were around him. You could tell he was serious about the endeavor, but that he also didn't take himself or the experience too seriously. He made backpacking look so effortless, gliding up the trail with these enormous steps that you just couldn’t seem to keep up with. He was probably the best climber at the steep ascents of anybody I met all trail long.
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