We set out shortly after the Scouts. I was excited today because we were hiking up Stony Man Mountain and I knew that I would get to experience the views without snow this time. It's a cool experience to hike the same path as before but in a different season (Robby and I hiked the middle of the Shenandoah park in early March.)
We stopped at Skyland resort a few miles into our hike. We had to smell so bad compared to all of the clean visitors! We sat, charged our phones, drank coffee, and all had a sandwich. My turkey sandwich was a Goliath. It took me about 40 minutes to eat the whole thing. It was great to stop in and take a little rest before we finished off our day.
Skyland is right before Stony Man which is the highest point of the AT through the Shenandoah park. It was an amazing sight to see because the weather was great.
I was really excited to get to camp because we were staying at Bryds Nest #3 hut. We walked past this beaut on our shakedown and said we have to stay here next time. It has a fireplace in the shelter and feels very homey.
When we arrived at the shelter we met Mayhem. Mayhem is a young 46 year old who is thru-hiking the AT for the second time! He reminded me of my neighbor/ previous boss Pat. He had a way of making you feel important and smart and seemed to really listen to what we had to say. He said he was impressed with how much we had accomplished. That meant a lot to me. To hear a veteran give us kudos made me realized what an excellent job we are doing! He works for the ATC and they gave him the time off to go hike his hike! Pretty awesome!
When we arrived at the shelter we met Mayhem. Mayhem is a young 46 year old who is thru-hiking the AT for the second time! He reminded me of my neighbor/ previous boss Pat. He had a way of making you feel important and smart and seemed to really listen to what we had to say. He said he was impressed with how much we had accomplished. That meant a lot to me. To hear a veteran give us kudos made me realized what an excellent job we are doing! He works for the ATC and they gave him the time off to go hike his hike! Pretty awesome!
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| Jeff at sunset |
We all went and collected firewood and sat by the fire talking and laughing. It was one of my favorite nights so far. I love the people out here. This community is like no other. It’s nurturing and loving. You don't have to have a nice car or big house or have the most expensive gear to be accepted. You just need to be yourself. What a wonderful thing.
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| Fire in the hut |
Mayhem told us that it's an average of 10 degrees warmer inside a tent compared to a hut. That prompted us to set up our home because it was supposed to get cold, and it did! It was a windy, chilly night. Our rain fly came lose and we had to fix it twice in the middle of the night. I learned a lot about setting up the tent. Hey, by the time we make it to PA we might have it down!
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Mayhems map with a pen showing how far we've walked
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