May 27th- Weathered some storms last night that kept us awake, that and Shadow re-inflating his sleeping pad. He'll be getting his new one on Wednesday...we hope. Headed out this morning at 7AM for a 17 mile day. About a half mile from camp we came across a box turtle in the middle of the trail. Flute goes to move it and I guess she didn't place him flat on the ground because he tumbled over...and over. The three of us watched with our mouths open as the turtle picked up speed going down the hillside. He would hit the ground, bounce, flip in the air, and hit the ground again. Amazingly he made it to the bottom without hitting a tree. We looked at each other and started cracking up. The trail joined up with the Blue Ridge Parkway today. The AT was moved for the road to be built. Looks as though we will be following it through the Shenandoah National Park.
Each shelter has a journal. Hikers that stop in sign the journal and leave notes for others. It's a way to check on friends and help finding hikers if for some reason, they go missing. Shadow was reading one at lunch today and it looks like hikers are realizing that this is a long hike and to stop and smell the roses. We were discussing that we haven't seen any Full Timers (homeless) lately. Damascus was the last time we saw one. I guess it's because the towns are getting few and far between. During our afternoon hike a gnat flew directly into my ear canal. He tickled my ear for a few minutes until Shadow drowned him. The only water we had was flavored so my ear will be covered in grape flavoring until I get a shower and q-tip.
About 1.5 miles from camp (Jennings Creek) another storm rolled in. One of the worst things on the trail is to setup camp in the rain. Luckily we had a small break in the weather to eat our Thanksgiving dinner, which included a pecan roll for dessert.
Tomorrow brings a hard 14 mile day that I will be having nightmares about tonight. We have a 3,000 foot ascent in the morning. The good thing is that a group of previous thru-hikers are having a dinner cooked at the shelter for us tomorrow.