The Shenandoahs and Beyond (April 26-May 5, 2011)

Killing It in Waynesboro (April 26, 2011)

It was a damn fantastic feeling to walk into Waynesboro, VA and I'm quite sure no one

has ever said that before in their lives. It's a good enough town, but I felt like I'd just come out of the desert. The few days prior we'd been inundated with 3,000 foot climbs that wore me down.

The best thing about leaving Waynesboro after a day and half off was that the Shenandoahs were looming. They are easy, painless miles in the Shenandoahs compared to the rest of the trail. I would like to say the Shenandoahs were marvelous in the sense that they were beautiful but it was just plain marvelous for a different reason: it was easy. There are places to stop and get meals instead of terrible trail food. The camp stores in the Shenandoahs inexplicably sell a bottle of Yuengling beer for 99 cents, yet a pack of noodles or a Clif bar are marked up 100% to $2.00. A cheeseburger off the grill the size of a half dollar costs $5.50 and a Budweiser was something like 75 cents. The person setting the prices there is the same person that sets the price of a cable TV at $100 a month while Netflix is $8 for unlimited movies. There is no logic here. Just know that people are daring you to drink beer there. Take them up on that dare. It's cheaper than Costco.

I pull into a camp store near the end of the National Park to discover Bin Laden's been killed. We have no knowledge of what goes on in the outside world normally. So I do the only thing that makes sense--I buy a handful of Yuenglings and drink them, smiling the entire time.

In the Shenandoahs we continue hiking with Face Jacket and the 3 Bears (we met them before Waynesboro). Everything is pretty carefree at this point. We're feeling overconfident being so close the halfway point in Harper's Ferry. Two nights before Harper's Ferry we spent the night in Rod Hollow Shelter (not named after a porn star as far as I know). Some night prior it was Dick's Dome Shelter. This area is priceless. If only it was all this easy. The final day before West Virginia we stay at the Bear's Den, a truly fantastic hostel. We watch movies and eat ice cream. We dream about finishing and become giddy.

1,186.5 miles left.