Making Great Time

Today is Monday, June 10, and it’s 7:47 p.m. I’m at around mile 927 and a little bit, and I'm still just on the perimeter of the Big Meadows compound. Big Meadows is the biggest car camping site in the Shenandoah National Park, and there's also a hotel here and what looks like condos and stuff. I don't know. It's just a huge complex. Anyway, I am stealth camping. I'm not sure how “allowed” this is since I’m so close to the Big Meadows property, but I'm at a spot that looks pretty well worn, so clearly, other people have been here before me.

This morning, I woke up at my other stealth spot that was just past the Swift Run Gap Route 33 entrance to the park and got going a little bit after 7 o'clock. It wasn’t a particularly eventful morning. I was gearing up to stop at the Lewis Mountain Campground, which is another car camping place in the park.

Oh, wow, the rain just kicked up a notch. It’s really coming down. Whenever S. and I are watching YouTube videos of thru-hikers and it’s raining, the closed captions say it’s applause. So I'll just pretend the woods are applauding for me.

Anyway, I guess not too far from Lewis Mountain, I saw a deer on the trail. All the deer around here seem to be fairly comfortable around humans, and this one was no exception. It seemed like it was very comfortable. I didn't want to get too close to it, but I was within a couple of feet of it, literally, and it was paying me no mind whatsoever. So I just stood there for a while, waiting for it to move. Finally, it looked at me, and I don't know if it just suddenly registered that I was human or if something else spooked it, but it took off.

And at that point, the trail was very close to Skyline Drive, and the deer ran right out into the road. Thank goodness there were no cars coming through at the time, because I think that would have been incredibly traumatizing to witness, especially because it would have been partially my fault. But I’m happy to report that it made it safely across the road and into the woods on the other side, so I’m going to assume that it will now go on to live a very long and happy and healthy life.

Not long after that, I made it to the Lewis Mountain Campground, which is great. There are these little buildings throughout the campground that are restrooms, and they're all pretty nice and clean. It’s always great to be able to use a real restroom. I was also able to refill my water at the campground without having to use a filter, which was also a luxury.

I sat down for a bit at one of the picnic benches that wasn't being used so I could have a snack, and this guy walks by. I don’t know how many people will know what I’m talking about, but  he looked just like Jerry from People of Earth, wearing a tie-dye shirt.

He asked me if I was thru-hiking, and of course, I said yes. And then he said, “Wow! You're making great time!”

I looked at him kind of funny and said, “But you have no idea when I started.”

And he just looked back at me for a second and was like, “Oh yeah,” and walked away. So that was random.

Not long after that, the support crew for the guy attempting the fastest known time on the AT pulled in and drove right up to the spot where the trail is adjacent to the campground. I thought that was kind of cool, given that S. and our friends had seen them all yesterday when they were doing Trail Magic.

So I got to talk to them a little bit. One of the guys on the support crew drives around in a pickup truck with a tent on the roof of it that the hiker sleeps in, which I thought was pretty interesting. They told me that the guy is averaging 55-plus miles a day right now, which just blows me away. The support guy said, “He's been complaining about feeling low energy lately,” and I was thinking, Duh. He's been going at this since May 25 and running 55 miles every day. Who wouldn’t be low energy at this point?

Anyway, I finished up my snack, got back on the trail, and bumped into another thru-hiker named Forest, who’s about my age. He was hiking southbound for a section of the trail for some logistical reasons. I commented to him that I hadn’t seen any other thru-hikers in a couple days, and he told me that there's actually a ton of hikers just about a half day to a couple days ahead of me. So I guess I must be in my own little bubble or something. I just haven't really seen anyone, which is kind of strange.

Not long after I parted ways with Forest, the FKT guy came through and very, very politely asked me to step aside, which I did. As he passed me, I said that we were all rooting for him. He was very gracious and thanked me and then disappeared off into the distance.

At that point, I had my sights set on getting to the wayside at Big Meadows, because they have a really nice café there. I’d kind of eaten lunch, but I was definitely saving my appetite for the cafe. I got there around 3 o'clock, or maybe a little before, and had a double smash burger with pimento cheese, lettuce, and a fried green tomato on it, plus a side of onion rings and a side of mac and cheese. And of course, I had to round it all out with a blackberry shake, which they’re famous for. I think altogether, it cost me about 30 bucks, but it could have cost me 100. I still would have gotten it.

After I devoured everything, I waddled outside and sat at a picnic table to finish my shake and enjoy the nice weather. And an older couple — who were clearly from the Upper Midwest, judging by their accents — approached me. The lady was like, “Eh, you doing some backpacking, eh?”

So I explained what I was doing, and — everyone get your Bingo card ready — she said, “Hey, do you know that author Bill Bryson?” I was like, Oh, here we go again. So I had to play along a little bit, but she really was a nice lady. She said, “Well, we're all just so real proud of you!” which I thought was pretty funny and very kind of her.

I did a quick resupply, just to get me to Front Royal. I didn't need much, but they did have the chocolate honey buns, so I picked up a few of those. It's so funny how if something has a lot of calories and it's not very big, it is very attractive for a hiker, whereas in the real world, if something has a ton of calories, it better be a decent size. These chocolate honey buns are close to 600 calories each, and they're not exactly tiny, but they certainly seem to warrant more bang for your buck, calorie-wise.

I was briefly tempted to try to book a campsite at Big Meadows, but the complex is so big, and sometimes you end up getting stuck pretty far away from the trail if you book a site. I didn't want to risk that, so I just got back on the trail and eventually found a pretty good spot and set up my tent. I was still full from stuffing myself at the wayside, so for “dinner,” I just ate a big Hostess apple pie.

The forecast hadn't been calling for rain, but it certainly seemed like it was on its way, and as soon as I got into my tent, it started to pour. So go figure.