Anniversaries and Advancements

No Cameras allowed inside, but there's a big government secret under that fancy hotel behind me...

My internet connection in Shenandoah is rather unreliable, so a lot of backed-up posts are coming. We took a few days off from hiking so that Daddy and Trail Angel Mamma could celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary. We went up to West Virginia for a few days, where there were nice accommodations, good food and rest to be had. One of the most amazing things we got to do while were were on this detour was go on a "bunker tour" of the underground nuclear fallout shelter built under the Greenbrier Resort as a relocation facility for Congress during the Cold War. It never got used, but it was kept in a constant state of readiness for 30 years, and much of the old facilities and equipment are still there for the public to see, since the facility's cover was blown in the 1990s so the government can't use use it as a secret base. It was really fascinating. Like something straight out of a James Bond movie. Congratulations, Daddy and Mamma. Thanks for including me in your celebrations. I love you.

27 Years and still lookin' good.

All rested up, we came back to Shenandoah and had two 14+ mile days in a row. I have to admit, the long days wear me out, but now that I'm finally finished with all my medical school secondaries (15 total!), I have to make miles while I still can. The AT follows Skyline Drive pretty closely the whole length of Shenandoah National Park. Occasionally, this gets annoying, because you're never out of earshot of the highway. If you're looking for solitude and raw nature, this is not the place to come. However, if you're looking for something incredible to see, in a place that's easy to get to and incredibly visitor friendly, this is absolutely the place for you. On our hike on Sunday, we got up close and personal with some interesting geography we'd only read about up until then.

Remember the "Talus Slopes?" This is when it looks like when you crawl across one.

We also rediscovered why they call the highway "Skyline Drive," since we were treated to some truly incredible views.

Blue Skies, shining at me...

Sometimes staying sane on the AT is a balancing act...

On Monday, things got a bit cloudy. We didn't run into any bad weather, but the temperature drop was definitely noticeable when the sun wasn't out. I've actually come to love those days, though, because they give my sweat glands a break. Even though it was cloudy, there was no shortage of pretty views.

Lunch Break.

We actually met a lady on our way up Hightop Mountain for lunch who had apparently lost track of a couple of children while she and her husband hiked. The lady had a baby strapped to her chest as it was, and I can only imagine the fear when you think you've lost a child in the wilderness. It wasn't clear how old the children were, and we never saw them, or her husband, even though we stuck around the mountaintop for an hour eating lunch. I assume (read: desperately hope) that the kids were found and all is well. Being lost out here would be a nightmare. On the way to our pickup spot, we did find something very interesting/frightening though. As I was walking, lost in some completely useless though as usual, I almost stepped on this guy:

Black Racer.

It doesn't look like it in the picture, but that guy is about 4 feet long. Black Racer Snakes are nonvenomous and really harmless. In fact, they eat rodents and poisonous snakes, so these guys are good to have around for pest control. But they are still startling to come across. Size wasn't what fascinated me about this guy though. I poked him a little with my hiking pole to get him to slither on, which he did, but in the process, he rattled his tail. Wait, what? Nano, I thought you said this was a harmless rat-eater, not a rattlesnake! Yes I did say that. But Black Racers beat their tails against the leaves on the ground to simulate the rattle of their larger, poisonous, and generally scarier cousins. Amazing little defense mechanism. I jumped when I first heard it, but when I realized what was happening, I was fascinated by how critters adapt to survive. With these thoughts in mind, I walked the rest of the 14 miles to the pickup spot in peace. Doing 28 miles in 2 days is tough for me, even after this long on the trail, and as always, I was glad to see my favorite trail critter of all...

Trail Dog has no adaptations for survival except indescribable cuteness.