I was the last up again this morning. But it wasn’t my fault. The other two were both out of bed by 6am. Baby talk had apparently slept without a rain fly last night and was kept up when our LOVELY neighbors kept shining a flashlight in our direction and yelling “hello neighbors!”

In payback, rocket decided the only option was to make as much noise as possible this morning. To at least make their hangovers less fun. The second I was out of my hammock, he started talking as loudly as he could and “accidentally” dropping rocks from high heights.”byeee” we yelled as we walked off, hearing only a muted curse or two in return. 

But then the day turned around. Shenandoah notational park has a ton of stores and restaurants. And we were only a few miles from the first. So instead of eating breakfast, we just headed that way.  

I treated myself to a burrito and a cup of coffee. Then I grabbed a sandwich for lunch, a sandwich for dinner and a bag of sourpatch watermelons for everytime in between. 

The hike started out lovely. We followed skyline drive but just off in the woods. Taking in the views she had to offer but avoiding the cars. I even stopped at one point to admire a mama deer and her new calf. It was picturesque for the first 15 miles. But eventually the hike grew steep. No longner did the Shenandoah appear to be a “relief on the body.”

The last part of the hike was a slog. I kept trying to remind myself to put one foot in front of the other. That’s all you need to do, I told myself. But for the last miles, even that was a challenge. 

I was planning on making it to a shelter when I saw a sign a half mile before, “trail magjc.” The sign told me there was free camping, hamburgers and hotdogs. All of those sounded great. Plus I was pretty sure I could see rockets tent and he was there already.

I dragged myself down the hill to camp and plopped down. The trail angel who had paid for the site came over to say hi and immediately started talking way too close to my face about trekking poles. But I wasn’t about to tell the man who was offering to grill me dinner to take a step back. I kept nodding as he continued to tell me all about his trekking poles. 

I looked at rocket at one point as we sat around the fire. “I don’t know if I can do another day like that,” I said. “My feet hurt.  I’m tired, but it’s my joints that feel like they’re going to go.” I wasn’t kidding. As I sat there and everything tightened, I could hear my body screaming at me to take it easier today. 

As everyone else laughed and joked around the campfire, I wolfed down my hamburger and hotdog and stared at the flames in silence wondering how I’d feel in the morning. 

Key stats:

Miles: 28

Elevation gained: 6,200

Mile marker: 918

Sore feet: 2