More updates to come

For any of you following my journey, I apologize for the lack of recent posts. Even with the iPhone it's been sparce opportunities to upload info.
I'll be catching up the next few days so stay tuned. I also have some fine hi-rez photos from my new camera that I'll be sharing. Thanks for your support and God bless.

Front Royal, VA

I made it into Front Royal on Wed eve 10/26. I had the good fortune of hitching a ride with the second car passing me on 522. Good thing: my feet were pretty ground up from all the rocky trail in the north end of SNP. Had a slight knee strain coming down Marys Rock in the wet leaves too, so I wad ready for a break.
Took a "zero" on Thurs and was feeling pretty good to head back out Friday when I heard report of a winterstorm warning. Hmmm... Not good.

Shenandoah National Park

The AT runs for a liitle over 100 miles in Shenandoah NP. It's a beautiful, wildly diverse section. Some areas like Big Meadows, Skyland, and Loft Mtn. are high traffic areas where the trail is almost manicured to perfection for those tenderfoots :) But other sections have an almost wilderness feel to them and I might only see 1 or 2 people over many hours. A lot of SNP is old, broken up granite which makes for tedious and grinding hiking. But there's always the omnipresent Skyline Drive which the AT crosses numerous times. The upside of that is many food opportunities at the waysides and campstores. I don't think I wad hurting for calories that week.
Also, saw a lot of bears some of whom were quite unafraid. Not a good thing.

Shenandoah Homecoming

As of today I'm about 2/3s through Shenandoah NP. Had a few beautiful days of cool hiking weather. Some of the trail is very smooth (some not) and there aren't the big ups and downs of last week. So my mileage is up. Had a couple 20+ days in a row.
Being in the middle of the park, around Stony Man, Hawksbill, and Old Rag is like a homecoming for me. My brother and I used to hike these trails a lot back in the 70s.
But a wicked rain and hail storm blew in unexpectedly out of the west and chased me inside Skyland. Thank god for dryness.

Waynesboro nice.

Posting somewhat belatedly--no cell service. Made a town stop and took a zero day in Waynesboro, VA last Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice downtown area which seemed very hiker-friendly. There's a great outfitter (Rockfish Gap Outfitters) on US 250. Many thanks to Chuck and Ty for straightening out some gear problems.
I was also impressed with Stone Soup, a local bookstore/cafe. Plenty to eat around town and a really killer produce market. Ah, town...but this is about hiking.

Onward to Waynesboro

The section from the James River north to Waynesboro VA (78 mi) proved to be a lot wilder and more difficult than I expected. It included three big uphill climbs (approx 3000') in four days and passed through three Wilderness Areas including The Priest and Three Ridges.
I was able to increase my mileage to the high teens, even hitting 20 mi one day. But the warm weather took it out of me. Hydration was an issue and water sources still unreliable at times. Saw some absolutely beautiful country.
Unfortunately, this section ended like the last--in the rain. I was really grateful for a town stop in Waynesboro to regroup. And eat.

The James River

I finally reached the James River crossing by Thursday afternoon after much rain and a steep downhill. The James River footbridge is the longest pedestrian only bridge on the AT and spans almost 700 ft. across this beautiful gorge.
I was very grateful to find my truck waiting for me and planned to drive into Lynchburg to regroup at my aunt's house for a day. Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan. I'd left my lights on and run the truck battery down and with no cell service in the gorge, things didn't look very good. But I was able to get a jump start pretty quickly and head off to a much needed town break.