Waynesboro, VA to Harpers Ferry, WV

Spring 2003 Trip

Day 1, Saturday, April 26

Rockfish Gap to Calf Mountain Shelter, 7.0 miles

One word sums up the start of this trip. Fog. In fact, it was so foggy last night coming into Waynesboro that it was almost impossible to see the road. The Inn at Afton, where I spent last night, was invisible on the side of the mountain in the absolute whiteout. It's not much better this morning when I get up. After breakfast at Weasie’s, it’s back to check out of the motel at 11 AM. I cross the road and walk down to Rockfish Gap to begin my next section of the AT to Harpers Ferry, WV.

I’m starting this trip with a new pack and another step closer toward ultralight hiking. My new pack is the Golite Trek, a two pound backpack that is more like a knapsack than a backpack. There isn’t a frame to the pack. It is designed to carry less than 30 pounds somewhat comfortably. I’m on the border with about 32 pounds at the start of this trip with full food and water load. I should be able to get closer to 24-26 pounds in a day or so. Since I’ve begun hiking the Appalachian Trail, I have continued to swap out my gear from trip to trip. Now almost everything I have is different than when I started my first trip from Springer 3 years ago. Different pack, sleeping bag, stove, clothes, shoes, and even approach to hiking. And my daily miles have picked up on each trip without too much additional suffering!

After self-registering at the Shenandoah National Park kiosk, I climb up the damp rocky path and begin to remember why I do this. First hill and I’m already questioning my sanity….I stop at McCormick Gap at 1:45 PM just 3.7 miles into today and put on my pack cover. It has been dropping rain on and off since I started hiking, and now a heavy mist is falling. While I’m stopped, I eat a banana and an orange for a quick snack.

It stops raining a few hundred yards up Bear Den Mountain. Putting on the pack cover always stops the rain. Works like magic. After 2 PM, the clouds pick up above the ridge tops enough that you can tell if the trail ahead of you is going up or down. That’s something. Beagle Gap comes and goes an hour later.

At 3:30 PM I reach the side trail to Calf Mountain Shelter. There are four folks at the shelter when I get there, and four more come in by 5 PM; “Momma” and “Papa Bear” and their Husky dog, “Woods Wanderer”, from Brunswick, Maine, and Jack and Josh from Elizabeth City, NC are there when I get there. Heather from Denver, CO, “Turbo”, “Mr. T” (aka “Nature Boy”), and “Noname” come in while I’m settling in. “Lunchbox comes” in shortly after 7 PM. Altogether ten of us share the shelter tonight. It will turn out to be the most folks at a shelter the whole trip. The Maine couple started at Troutville, VA and has been out several weeks so far. Jack and Josh are a father and son hiking south from Brown’s Gap for a few days. Heather is southbound from Harpers Ferry to Rockfish Gap. The four guys, “Turbo”, “Mr. T”, “Noname”, and “Lunchbox” are early thru-hikers already here from Springer. They started in mid-to-late February and early March. Quite a pace!

The evening is relatively uneventful, some rain, nice and cool temperatures. Most of the evening is spent talking about our common trail experiences and the philosophies of life in general. Typical shelter talk. Good night’s sleep overall.