I went on a hike today. Solo adventure! I had been planning to go for a hike today and tomorrow, with camping in between. Two things happened to make me change my plan:

1. I hiked faster than I thought I would.
2. It was raining buckets near the end.

I chose a 14.4 mile circuit in Shenandoah National Park. I went from the Elkwallow picnic/parking area to Jeremys Run to Neighbor Mountain to the AT to my car. I figured I'd do a bit more than half of the circuit today, camp somewhere pretty, and finish up tomorrow.

I woke up at 7:00 (on a Saturday!) to get out there. It's maybe an hour and a half drive, and I headed out around 8:00. Add in buying admission to the park and finding the picnic area, and I was on the trail somewhere around 10:00.

Highlights from the drive down:

• I think I saw a couple wild turkeys on the side of the road on 211.
• I got stopped in a line of cars for about 10 minutes while the Sperryville volunteer fire department handled a car accident.
• It was already misting. The fog was super thick on Skyline Drive.

Highlights from the picnic area:

• Why do people leave the lids up on pit toilets? That's just silly.
• Because of the awful weather, my car was one of only three in the lot. (I saw a total of four people on the trail today. Bad weather, good solitude.)

Highlights from Jeremys Run:

• It was pretty. The fog got a lot better once I got on the trail, and I could actually see the pretty things.
• The trail crossed the run 14 times, according to my guidebook. I believe it. Lots of water. There was even a little waterfall.
• I saw an amazing heron. I think it might have been as tall as I am, head to foot, stretched out in flight.
• Oh, and here are some pictures of the run.

Highlights from Neighbor Mountain:

• It started raining. I mostly stopped taking pictures because I didn't want to get my camera wet.
• I SAW A BEAR. It was an adult black bear, in a tree, near the top, clearly trying to reach something. The tree was downhill from me, so the bear and I were actually on almost the same level, and its tree was only maybe the second or third treetop out from the trail. So I was pretty darn close to that bear. It was very intent on what it was doing, and I was very quiet, so I don't think it noticed me at all.
• I realized that maybe I was being too quiet, seeing as I'd accidentally snuck up on a bear, so I started singing to myself a bit.
• I took a picture of this sign. Clearly, this proves I was there.

Highlights from the AT:

• I saw evidence of a trail angel: someone had left a gallon of clean water out for whoever needed it.
• I startled some deer. Even with the singing, I guess they couldn't hear me over the sound of the pouring rain.
• Did I mention that it started pouring rain? I had about a mile and a half to go, and WHOOSH, it was suddenly pouring buckets. I had been considering camping, then waking up in the morning to hike the last mile or two and find another route in the park to do. Nope. Buckets. Buckets from the sky.

Highlights from the drive home:

• I dried off, changed, and ate dinner in the car before I headed out. Warm! Dry! Yay!
• OH MY GOD IT WAS RAINING SO HARD.

And now I'm back, safe and sound. I will definitely be sore tomorrow. I feel a little silly for carrying a bunch of weight I didn't need, seeing as I didn't end up using my tent, sleeping bag, etc. Whatever. It's good practice, or something. What does not kill me makes me stronger.

Yay adventures!