Miles Today: 14.6
Mile Marker: 900.7
This morning I woke up with a renewed wonder for the trail. Recently I had been a bit gloomy about making enough miles, focusing on the halfway point, and just generally feeling like the trail was work and wasn't an adventure. This morning I took some time and enjoyed the fact I live in the woods. I got a leisurely start and had a great day.
Half a mile in a couple was enjoying an overlook at a road crossing. They asked if I was doing the trail and offered me a Miller Lite. I would have preferred a soda that early in the morning, but an ice cold drink is an ice cold drink. I chatted with them about the adventure so far before heading on. My only goal for the day was to make it to the camp store for a resupply. The Shenandoahs are lined with them. They are expensive and cater to car campers, but only having to carry a couple of days worth of food is worth the extra cost.
I headed down the trail listening to podcasts and looking for the right turn off to the store. There are several of them marked from the trail, but only one of them is 70 yards long. The others are a half mile or more. I got to the third one and realized I must have gone too far because the trail was overgrown with weeds four feet tall. I checked my Guthook app and realized it was still showing me a half mile from the turn off like the last time I checked. I rebooted the app and it synced up and told me I was a half mile past the turn off. Annoyed, I turned around and re-covered the ground correcting my mistake. Sacrificed a whole mile to stupidity.
I ate lunch there, resupplied, and took a hot shower. $1.75 for 5.25 minutes on the shower. Highly weird increments, but it felt so good. While I was there I ran into Hop Along. He said most of the people he was hiking with had decided to aqua blaze (canoe through the park instead of hiking). We both agreed we came to hike the trail, not canoe near it. It feels like cheating to me, but some people think slack packing is cheating. We're all out here with our own goals, so ultimately it doesn't matter.
The rest of the day was uneventful. The trail is incredibly easy right now, and I really wanted to go further. But with the late start, the wasted mile, and hanging out at the store; it just wasn't in the cards.