Waynesboro, VA

Another one bites the dust! I’m in a town that lies at the southern terminus of the Shenandoah National Park. Check out the location map at www.auontheat.com — they’ve updated it to show my progress Everything’s going great so far, and I’m learning how to be blissful in cold and rainy environments. The Shenandoahs are known for “easy” hiking, but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be easy.

I stopped at the outfitter here in town and dropped $115 dollars–but I came away with new insoles, a new knife (lost my old one), some seam selant for my shelter, some fuel, new titanium tent stakes, and a fifty foot cord for bear bagging (bears are very common in the Shenandoahs, so hopefully I’ll finally see one). I think I got something else, but I can’t remember right now.

I’m taking a zero today, even though I probably don’t need to. I want to see if Feezel and Bigfoot catch me. I don’t know how I would have gotten more than a day in front of them, but maybe they’ve passed me and just haven’t been writing in the shelter registers…quien sabe?

Aunt Sylvia, thanks for the mail drop! There was way more in it than one man could carry, but my fellow hikers also send their thank-yous. The reading material was a pleasant surprise, as well! Hope all is well with you and yours.

GrDi, I’m glad I opened your palate up to a new flavor. If I’d have known how expensive they were, I would have picked a bushel or so! Actually, it’s illegal to pick ramps in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park because the population is thinning. Anyway, hope you enjoyed them, but you can enjoy them more (and any recipe, for that matter) by adding 2 weeks of wilderness immersion to the recipe

Cody, just so you know, the invitation is always open for you to meet me/us somewhere along the Trail and pop some miles. Good to hear that you haven’t forgotten about the forest–someone’s gotta keep those Smokies tame.  I use a super light Platypus for water transport, and I’m guessing that the container you have is similar. I haven’t seen Bigfoot or Feezel for a while, so I don’t know if they’d want it. If you send it to my mom, I’ll probably need a replacement in a couple hundred miles…keep workin’ hard, you phlebotomist, you.

Leah, sweet. You know, you’re not too terribly far from the Trail in Minnesota. Maybe you’d like to be a Trail Angel? Then you wouldn’t just have to read about it, you could actually be a part of it! Kidding but not–take care.

imma!, yup, you returned the book–or rather, i had to rescue it. either way, it’s in my possesion. and i have been graciously feeding off the Trail Magic–the difficulty is not to expect it at every road crossing I got two Trail Magics in my mail drop yesterday from Spring Beauty…