Waynesboro, VA...857 miles into the hike  

We hiked into Waynesboro about noon Saturday and will take a zero day here before heading north through Shenandoah National Park. The best news is that the weather forecast is for little to no chance of rain and lots of sunshine. Yeah!

From Daleville the AT loosely follows and occasionally crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway giving some nice views from parking areas on the road. We followed the James River for about a mile until we crossed it on the longest footbridge on the trail which was built in 2000.

We went into Buena Vista (locals cal it BUna Vista) to resupply. This is a fairly new official AT town and they are very hiker friendly. We were asked by two women if we needed a ride before we ever tried to hitch! And believe it or not, the majority of our hitches have been from women.

These days also included my birthday and it was marked by some wonderful trail magic from a lady who is driving support for her husband who is mainly slack packing. This means that he hikes and she meets him at the end of a day at a designated spot on many days. She was surely my trail angel that day as she brought out pop, snacks and Oreos just after we'd stopped for our morning break.

Another treat turned out to be the decision to take an alternate trail that cut off about 4 miles of official trail, but would be shorter and harder. Not much harder as it turned out and very scenic as it led us down several hundred feet to the bottom of a creek and then back up following the cascading waterfalls for about 1/2 mile. It was beautiful and a nice diversion from the normal trail.

We walked about a mile of an area next to another creek one afternoon that had a few rock wall remnants of freed slaves who lived there from the turn of the century till the 1920s. Suspension bridges, views of and walks across some Virginia countryside, more flowers, and yes, more rain.

 

We occasionally see trail maintainers who are volunteers who we appreciate greatly and Ridge Runners who are employees sort of like park rangers who spend several days hiking the trail talking to folks and keeping things safe.

 

Last night we were in the Grace Luthern Church hostel, in the basement of the church. It is very nice with internet, kitchen, and super volunteers. Had dinner at a locally owned Mexican restaurant and it was great! Relaxing  zero day today and on the trail to Harper's Ferry Monday.