Day 14 of AT in VA NOBO

Reid's Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway (845.5) to Rockfish Gap (864.6)
Total Miles: 19.1

One of Mithril’s associates, Derek Vanderveer, dropped me off at Reid’s gap at 8:30am. An early 30’s guy who grew up in the Lexington area. He and his wife have a 2 yr old daughter. Just a nice dude. Went to Liberty University. He’s a guidance counselor at a local middle school. Loves college basketball and football, so we had a lot to talk about on the 45 min drive north. He didn’t have a “trail name” like Mithril does (he essentially works for Mithril on any overflow biz Mithril can’t handle). I brought up that he has the same last name as Tara Vanderveer, the all-time winningest coach in women’s NCAA basketball history. He said he knew all about her. He then mentioned that he was currently coaching his much younger step brother’s hoop team. Based on those two things, and the fact that being a guidance counselor is essentially coaching young kids, I told him he had his new trail name: “Coach”. He loved it. Mithril called me later and said Derek was super psyched with the new name. He’ll be using it a lot starting in a couple of weeks when the throngs of hikers start coming up from the south. They will have a lot of biz as they are the lead shuttlers for this 50 mile stretch.
Was surprised to get to the top of Humpback Mtn and have such a great view of Wintergreen ski resort (see pic).
Saw lots of day hikers out and about and spoke to a bunch of them. When they saw my pack and set up, a few had questions re long distance hiking, how far the AT is, how do I get food, do I carry a gun for protection, the kids always want to know where I poop, etc. . Always fun to interact with inquisitive and creative minds!
When I hit the highly anticipated Rockfish Gap (the end of the Blue Ridge Mtns and beginning of the Shenandoah Mtns/Skyline Drive) at 5:45pm, to end a beautiful day and 19.1 miles, I was curious as to how I was going to get the 3.8 miles into town to camp at the YMCA. Waynesboro is pretty famous in hiking circles as being one of the most pro-hiker communities. They cater to us in so many ways. You can camp on the grounds of the YMCA for free, recharge all electronics, and showers are $2. Same at the local church. I had been told that once I came up to the 4 lane road from the woods at Rockfish Gap, most times it takes only a minute or two to have someone offer you a ride. Just look befuddled and like you’re trying to figure out where you are, and bingo bongo, you’re on your way. Sure enough, I came up to the road from the woods, and started looking around like I had lost something. Within 30 seconds, a nice 65 year old woman from town that had been hiking rolled down her window and asked if I needed a ride to downtown. Ahhhh, trail angel’s at their finest.もっと詳しく