blackrock hut to hightop hut

i’m not going to bother to check the weather anymore because i can’t actually predict what the weather will be based on the forecast. the weather called for a 20% chance of less than a tenth of an inch. it actually rained most of the day, at times pretty hard. i broke another stave on my umbrella. it seems like it’s reached it’s useful lifespan.

the trail today was pretty easy. shenandoah trails have very little in the way of climbs or steep descents. i spent much of the morning trying to pry my brain off the fact that a section hiker last night threw his plastic sprite bottle in the fire so he didn’t have to carry it, and then this morning i found out he had camped directly behind the sign designating a revegetation area. for some reason my brain could not stop lecturing the imaginary man in my head. i’d return my focus to the trail, and soon i’d find myself back on it again. i’m not sure how to let things like this go. i’m not even totally sure i want to.

i got to the shelter pretty early, around 15:30. a section hiker by the name of ‘songbird’ was there. we chatted for a bit while we set up our stuff. a little while later, a guy walked up, soaking wet with an urban style backpack with what looked to be a folding chair sticking out the top. he identified himself as joe. joe preceded to ask us a ton of questions and talked at length at songbird who had made a comment he disagreed with about housing in baltimore. he apparently has a job with a government contractor whose name he would not tell me because he did classified work. he was pretty intense, but otherwise a nice guy. apparently this was his first ever hike because he thought he would like it and wanted to feel something new. eventually he decided it was getting late and he needed to head back to his car and took off. he was a little strange- songbird said she thought he might be on the spectrum.

and then about 20 minutes later he came back. he now seemed somewhat anxious and talked about his therapist and the fact that he was thinking about leaving his job. we both asked him if he was okay. he said yes, but then just kept talking about his issues. he was amped up enough that i made a mental note that there was a fuel can near my hand that i could use if necessary. a few minutes later, two other hikers walked up and the conversation immediately shifted to them as they asked the usual hiker questions about the day, mileage, etc. joe quickly excused himself and left.

songbird told me later that when he came back, she had started freaking out a bit and she was glad i was there. hopefully joe finds what he needs. it was definitely a little scary. in my mind he looked like someone trying to muster courage to do something. what however, i couldn’t tell. maybe it was just to leave his job, but then again, maybe it was something else.

eventually the rest of the crew arrived as well as a pile of other hikers. the rain continued and we all had dinner over which a section hiker named smeagle who used to be a math teacher regailed us with stories and questions about thru-hiking. it was a good end to an otherwise trying day.

some images from today: