The past three nights Delta and I have been staying with our friend Thorny who we hiked with during the 100 mile wilderness back in Maine. We hadn’t seen him since then way back in July so it was great not only to have a place to stay but also to see an old friend. Thorny lives outside Front Royal, VA. He slackpacked us for two days, one easy 11 mile day and then a long 24 mile day in Shenendoah National Park. Hiking in the shenendoahs was a crazy experience because the park is technically closed due to the government shutdown. Thorny said that this time of year is usually super busy in the park, with traffic all throughout skyline drive, the road running the length of the park. The AT crosses skyline drive many times— we probably had seven or eight crossings in the one 24 mile day alone. It was eerie—the roads were silent and empty and littered with leaves. The parking lots and overlooks stood silent and uninhabited. It was pretty cool being the only people in the park besides the rangers. Some thru hikers ahead of us were spotted by rangers while hiking in the park while it was closed and were kicked out. So we had to be careful. It was kind of fun running across the road crossings where the rangers might spot us.
The shenendoahs are absolutely beautiful especially this time of year. We haven’t been in real mountains since Vermont/NH so it feels good to finally have beautiful views again. The foliage is so colorful and pretty as well. I couldn’t help but grin as I walked down the leaf covered trail. We also spotted three bears! Well delta saw the mom and two cubs but I only saw one of their bums. Better than nothing I guess.
It was also great slackpacking only carrying water and snacks for the day. It’s amazing how easy hiking is when you’re only carrying a few pounds! Not to mention, we were spoiled to the max during the three days we spent with thorny. He was the best host I could ask for. Seriously, I am so grateful for him. We got to shower nightly and do our laundry (twice!) and watch movies and sleep in a real bed. But not only that… He made us breakfast each morning and dinner at night and took us out to eat. He had to drive an hour to take us to the trail twice and did so happily. He is such an incredibly kind, not to mention awesome person. To prove that point, consider this.. He just returned from a solo trip to South America where he participated in a raft race down the amazon river… In which participants had to build their own rafts. Anyway, we were so spoiled and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was tough to leave but luckily the government reopened so we have lodges with snacks and such in the shenendoahs now.