TRAIL DAY 99
Sun, May 29, 2016 I was pitched on a small triangular area of ground with a young couple at the far side of a tree and brush just beyond my tent and a couple of older guys across a path from me. One of them was particularly interested in my adventure. The couple packed up quickly and were outta there. The older fellows took a little more time and may even have left after me.
The crowded shelter was empty and the ranger had gone on her way. After use of a fancy privy, Theo and I left, leash packed away.
The stretch of trail ahead was a continuation of road crossings and public campgrounds. We would cross Skyline Drive at mile 66.7 and 65.5 and spend the night at Lewis Mountain Campground.
We were definitely out of the wilderness of the far south and making our way into areas where population began creeping in on the AT wilderness or, put another way, the AT began traversing areas of greater development.
Back on the trail it was clear a bear or two used the trail for its privy. An occasional clearing opened up to the rolling hills of the Shenandoah. The mountains, the valleys and, oooh that name – how the romantic in me gets tapped by those words as with the book How Green was my Valley. That title stirs the soul like musical notes scaled across a smooth ocean surface, slowly sinking into its depths.
Shenandoah
I sang the song many times in those mountains – many times looking out over the valleys to the west – many times lost in the thick of its wild forests. Google tells me there are many versions of the lyrics but this is what came to my own wild heart in the heart of the wild:
Oh Shenandoah
I long to see you
Away you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah
I long to see you
Away I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah
I love your daughter
Away you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah
I love your daughter
Away I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri
‘Tis seven years,
since last I’ve seen you,
Away, you rolling river
‘Tis seven years,
since last I’ve seen you,
Away I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah
I’ll not deceive you
Away you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah
I’ll not deceive you
Away I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah
I’m bound to leave you
Away you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah
I’m bound to leave you
Away I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri
At our first SLD crossing around 10:00 a.m., we came upon Trail Magic! I don’t remember if they were former thru-hikers nor the vittles they served but I remember their kind offer to thru-hikers only: an airline-type bottle of Gin or whiskey. Again, that little special thru-hiker kinda feelin’.
Back in the woods, we were soon hiking over US 33 on the SLD and then back into the woods on long, straight paths with hardly an obstacle to challenge our course. It was 3:30 when we arrived at the Lewis Mountain Campground. There was a small building along the road to self-register, pay the small fee and designate your camping site. Farther up the road was a store on the left with a pay-shower to the back left from the entrance.
I went back to our site and set up the tent the best I could in the gravel-and-grass area by a picnic table.
Later in the evening some Indian fellows showed up and invited me to join them for a chicken barbeque and endless beer. I accepted with thanks and didn’t cook that night. When the rain started their spirits only picked up. They were all students from some nearby city. It was still Memorial Day Weekend and they were in the partying mood. I didn’t see any tents right around us but perhaps theirs were in the woods.
I had some contact with a gal nearby but I forget the substance. She was setting up her tent as I walked by. There was just a little mini-bond as she was doing for herself what I had done so many times and was committed to for months to come.
Theo and I took to our tent after chicken and beer in the rain and slept well.
Day #99 Hightop Hut > Lewis Mountain Campground 11.7 miles