Blackberry Cobbler & Humble Pie ala Mode

     Well, it's been a while since Waynesboro. The Shennandoahs were pretty cool, but had their ups and downs (literally and figuratively). Leaving Waynesboro I said goodbye to friends whe were aqua-blazing (paddling the river rather than hiking the national park), some of whom I may never see again. I enjoyed stealth camping, rolling into pay campgrounds after the ranger had closed shop and breaking down my camp before they opened again. I enjoyed camp store breakfasts of Starbucks coffee, Pop Tarts, beer, and Cocoa Krispies to fuel up for 20+mi days. I developed a taste for Dr Pepper (and his cousin Dr WHAM) and I had the most amazing blackberry cobbler with blackberry ice cream.

     Those of us that remained endevoured to make the aqua-blazers envious of us, so we had a huge Hiker Trash party complete with a girl (Spins) doing her fire poi thing and having the ranger come over and threaten to call the cops on us. Awesome. I also had a great time staying a couple nights at a Grateful Dead inspired hostel called Terrapin Station. I was able to do a slack-pack from there.

     Unfortunately, many of these wonderful times came on the heals of my learning my limitations. After numerous consecutive days of heavy miles (the last being a 26miler), it caught it to me and I developed shin splints. I feel that I deserved that because I had stopped at a shelter for dinner and when asked if I was spening the night, I boasted that I was doing another 12mi once I was done. Contributing to the shin splint, in addition to the heavy miles and heavy pack, were my lack of resting, and the fact that my boots had been falling apart.

     I have learned a lesson in modesty and in taking care of myself. I've completed the over 500mi of the trail in Virginia and here in Harper's Ferry I bought new footware from the legendary Baltimore Jack. I've never hiked with a big pack and done big miles in trail runner height footware, so we'll see how it goes. They feel really good and light, so I'm hopeful, but I'll be in Rocksylvania soon so I'm unsure. I know that I need to take it easy and allow my body the time it needs to heal. I know that taking time to rest is an investment in being able to hike further.

     There have been many good and less than great moments since my last update, but through even the worst, I've been having the time of my life. I honestly can say that I haven't been this happy and felt this alive since I was a kid. In fact, this may very well be better than that.