Day 88 – A Windy Night in Shenandoah

Day 88
Start: Blackrock Hut
End: Hightop Hut
Miles Hiked: 21.4
Miles on AT: 906.6

Last night was a little rough. Ever since we had that massive storm back in North Carolina, nighttime winds have made me paranoid about branches and limbs falling on me. I set up my tent as usual last night, but I was awoken around 1 am by the sound of leaves shaking and wind howling.

It made me so nervous; I stayed up for about an hour, trying to figure out if it was going to calm down. When it was apparent that it wasn’t, I gathered up my quilt and sleeping pad and headed to the shelter.

Although I don’t like sleeping in the shelter, I knew that my mind could rest with the knowledge that a branch wouldn’t fall on me and I could still get a few hours of sleep.

Around 5:30 am, people started getting up, so I got up, lay down in my tent until I was truly awake, then started packing my things up. In the morning light, I could see that a bunch of small twigs had fallen, but nothing that would have injured me. Still, I got better sleep in the shelter than if I had stayed in my tent worrying all night.

I had breakfast with the guys and left around 7 am. My first stop was Blackrock Mountain summit, which was a short rock scramble to the top. It was so cool!

The wind was still a bit fierce, so I had to balance myself on my poles, but the views were breathtaking. Some of the best views I’d seen in a while. I could see in all directions.

I climbed down from the summit and started the rest of my day. The first thing I was looking forward to was Loft Mountain Wayside, where I could get a hot, hearty meal. I had about 8 miles to the wayside, which would get me there around lunchtime. Perfect!

Blackrock Mountain, where I started my day, is right above the tip of my trekking pole.

Luckily, the trail was nice and flat in this section. I took my time at viewpoints and enjoyed the rolling progress.

It was a little after 11 am when I arrived, but the grill was open. I ordered the smashburger and, wow, it truly exceeded my expectations! Maybe I was just really hungry; I devoured it in no time.

Just as I was getting ready to go, more hikers started showing up. I chatted with Cinderella for a while, then the guys from the shelter showed up, followed shortly by hikers I hadn’t seen since the Smokies. There were so many people!

After catching up for a bit, I said my goodbyes and continued on my way. The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully. I saw a bunch of deer and even more berries. One of the deer made a noise that sounded exactly like what I heard when Janitor and I thought we had a bear in camp. I knew it didn’t sound quite like a bear, so now I think it was just a deer.

Thanks to my early morning start, I got to camp around 6 pm. There was a SOBO section hiker from PA camping there as well, so we chatted for a while. After dinner, I had a chance to catch up on some journal entries and then Cinderella showed up. We didn’t have much time to chat before it was time for me to crawl into my tent.

Tomorrow is a short day into town!

And that’s day 88.

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