Training Hike in Shenandoah National Park
Our first big training hike in Shenandoah -- including a good bit along the AT portion that cuts through the park. We met up with a couple of thru-hikers who were on their way north providing some inspiration for our upcoming journey. Here are some pics from the weekend.
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As with every hike, we learned a lot. At first, we were just gonna car camp, since we had hustled for the past 6 weeks to get our condo ready to market, including selling some furniture and putting about half our stuff in storage. But when we got to the park, we found that the nearest car camping spot was closed until late May--and the next open one was a 40-mile drive. So we decided to get a free backcountry permit. So we put together a route at a ranger station, did a quick gear check at the trail head, and plunged 6 miles into a valley. In our haste to leave the condo, I forgot to pack our water filter. Fortunatley, we had stopped at EMS en route and decided to experiment with a purifying solution, which worked great. Lesson: essential gear, like nuclear weapons, should always hae built-in redundancy. Also, I decided to forgo boots for hiking sandals. I'll spare you photos of my torn-up feet. But we found a great spot our first night with a view of the horizon line of the next valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the sound of a babbling creek nearby. The creek's music, our real estate frenzy and our first time under pack this year lulled us into a 12-hour slumber. Little Pony experimented with some tasty meals. In doing so, we got ideas for packing additional condiments and spices for our next trip, statred thinking abot what further cooking gear we needed for our 3-month jaunt and got more realistic notions about portion sizes. We broke in our titanium sporks on some scrumptious chicken curry for dinner and scrambled eggs with bacon bits, dehydrated vegetables and cheese. Even after walking out 12 miles the next day--including a pretty good climb up a nice segment of the AT--we weren't surprised we didn't shed any body weight--even though our packs were lighter because of all the food we devoured. Of course, our stop at The Spelunker in Front Royal (I had a chili cheese dog and Pol consumed a "Cavern Burger, and we both had frozen custard) might have had somthing to do with it. The biggest lesson--passed on from the thru-hikers we met and applicable in non-trail life as well--is to take advantage of the little pleasures whenever they present themselves. And savour the completely, no matter how simple.
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