The Valley of Indecision / Waynesboro at Last
The last leg of our journey has been plagued by the worst kind of indecision, and a healthy touch of the Virginia blues... but somehow the sun still manages to poke its head out in the most unusual ways.
Coming back on trail after a weekend in Charlottesville with Mom & Dad B. and Aunt Mary was a welcome return. We had a great time with everyone, and just the right amount of time off to rest the legs without getting soft. What we did not have enough of, however, was sleep. After saying our goodbyes and tromping up Bald Knob (which is incidentally neither bald nor a knob) on a hot afternoon, K and I were at each others' throats.
Not in any terrible way, mind you, we were just really tired and out of sorts from having been around people for such a time (after having been in the woods for two months you get used to a degree of solitude). Neither of us wanted to hike, and we had planned a 14 miler - short for a normal day, but somehow it seemed like eternity that day. We argued about anything and everything you could think of. During the excitement, I in my sandals was not paying attention and jammed my little toe on a rock, either breaking or severely bruising it. Not much to do for a broken little toe, 'cept keep walking and try to keep the pressure off it. Another issue with the mileage: Dutch Haus offers a free lunch to hikers, and it was about 16 from where we got on... do we try to go or not? 
Then lo and behold, we came down off the mountain and ran into a bunch of old friends camped in a field at Hog Camp Gap. There were tree-swings, box wine, wiffle balls, and the makings for a large fire. We had expected everyone to be long gone ahead of us after our time off, but pleasantly suprised, we threw down our packs at 3 in the afternoon and joined the fun.
Of course we missed the Dutch Haus' free lunch after hiking the 10 in the next day, but we stayed there and ate dinner and breakfast, and were rushed off in the morning back to the bottom of Fish Hatchery Road. Again, not feeling like hiking on a full stomach on a hot day, we struggled up Spy Rock (awesome view!) and the Priest, and lingered for an extended extended lunch at the shelter there, before descending toward the Tye River and stopping again and again and again on the way down. The topic of discussion: what to do in September after the trail. How silly. We have 1300 more miles before we even need to think about that, and planned it that way intentionally. Of course it's hard not to have it in the back of our minds, but no need to decide it now.
So we stayed at Harper's Creek, though we'd intended to go to Maupin... but there we met Comeback Shane, with whom we had a great conversation, and later re-met Stone Age and Triple Deuce. The following day, though, we'd have to make up the miles with a 22. Hrm.
So Thursday, our 22 miler, began well. The trip up the Three Ridges was excellent. However, the weather report called for strong winds and severe thunderstorms later in the afternoon, and we had a long way to go... We stopped for water at Maupin, and met some former thruhikers at the first Blue Ridge Parkway crossing who gave us cold sodas. Here we stopped to talk for awhile, and the skies began to darken. Here also our indecision began to take hold... should we continue with our original plan, plan to camp elsewhere, or try to get a ride into town and slackpack the missed miles tomorrow? Rather than discuss this at the crossing where we may have actually got a ride, we hiked on to Dripping Rock, and as we walked the rain began. As did thunder. 9 miles to go, up and over Humpback mountain, in a thunderstorm.
At this point hiking didn't seem a great idea, so we waited at the road for someone to stop. Nobody did. Eventually a gentleman in a Honda Insight did stop, but he walked across the street into the woods. We later met him as we ate our late lunch, his name was Phillip, and he was a local Botanist who knew a lot about the flora and geology of the area. We talked for a bit, and though the thunderstorms still loomed overhead, he urged us to go back into the woods. Eventually we did, as it became apparrent that we would not get a ride at that particular crossing, but we were still not convinced that going up and over Humpback was a great idea either. At the first blue-blazed side trail, we got off, and ended up in a 'picnic loop' with running water spigots, two bathhouses, and a lot of little asphalt pull-ins with picnic tables. As the sky broke open, we took shelter under the bathhouse awning, and wondered what we were doing.
At this point we'd spent countless hours on a day we knew would be a long hike lounging at shelters, conversing with people we'd run into, and standing around in the rain waiting for a ride (hitching is illegal on the BRP, so you can't thumb. just standing there looking wet works about as well as you'd think). If we walked the road, it was still 9.6 miles to Rockfish Gap, and another 4 or so to Waynesboro from there, with no guarantee we'd have a place to sleep. We could stay at the picnic area and wait out the storm, then look for a tarp-camping spot, but it was supposed to be kind of cold and sleeping in heavy wind on wet ground without a tent is not that appealing. Or we could go back to the plan and hike to the shelter, which at this point even walking quickly we weould not reach until 9:30 or so, well after dark. What to do, what to do. Well, we ended up doing what we usually do - walking. Over the mountain (where we met More Sunshine camped atop the very ridge we avoided climbing. At this point the rain had more or less stopped and the thunder rumbled off into the distance, and he'd been camped there since 2 or 3 hours efore without incident) we hiked. Up and down the rocks, and on down the descent, wet and in a bad mood, not looking forward to the prospect of a soggy night hike.
Then we saw them: the elusive Yellow Lady's Slippers. 
This about made my day. We'd seen plenty of pink ones, a more common species, but they didn't compare in beauty and excitement to these (isn't it silly to get so excited about flowers?). Suddenly, we were focused on the hike again, and enjoyed running into a not-very-shy deer, a large red toad, many orange salamanders, and more importantly, we were having fun walking again. We played A.T. alphabet game(A is for AT, B is for Blaze, C is for Campfire, etc.)to make noise and avoid startling nighttime critters, but upon realizing that 2/3 of the letters were foods, we later entertained ourselves by naming a food we would eat in town for each letter of the alphabet. We stopped to cook dinner on a wet rock. And we reached the shelter as expected, around 9:30, finally completing our 22 miles. Just like the plan.
I guess the moral of the story is to make plan and stick to it. Wait, no... It's to be flexible and make up your mind as you go. Really the point is just to stay positive, and remember that we're not stuck in traffic or juggling appointments and we don't have to go to work tomorrow. Being wet and cold occasionally is still way better than rush hour. And even when it doesn't go exactly your way, Nature's a brilliant and tricky lady, and always seems to keep a little beauty tucked up her sleeve, as long as you're willing to look.
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