(Bearfence Mountain Hut (mile 919) - Byrd's Nest #3 Hut (mile 941.2))

I started hiking this morning around 7:45. Right out the gate was a mile of climbing to the Bearfence Mountain blue blaze. The blue blaze parallels the trail for about a half mile, offering awesome views coupled with very technical rock scrambling that at times felt almost like bouldering. I reached the top of the Bearfence Mountain rock scramble, where I was planning to eat breakfast, just as Delta caught up to me. We both sat to eat and soak in the excellent 360 views.

Another 7 miles brought me to Big Meadows Lodge. I arrived at 11:15am and found that lunch wouldn’t be served until 12pm so I took time to charge my things in the lobby and enjoy the views from the lodge porch. At 12pm sharp, Delta and I sat for lunch. I ordered a pimento cheese burger with a side of mac n’ cheese, plus a blackberry ice cream pie for dessert. Shenandoah is famous for its blackberries, which the lodges and waysides use to make desserts and smoothies. Before starting my hike, I was told by a previous thru-hiker that one of the absolute must-dos on any AT thru-hike was ordering a blackberry smoothie in Shenandoah. The blackberry ice cream pie wasn’t a smoothie, but man was it delicious.

After lunch, I hung around the lodge for another hour letting things charge and writing a postcard to AC. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I met another thru-hiker who introduced himself as “Strap-on.” I resisted the urge to ask him how he had earned such an R-rated trail name. We chatted for a bit, I recommended he order a blackberry ice cream pie, and then I headed down the trail.

The next 9 miles offered tons of views and overlooks. Lots of cool rock outcrops and good trees. I reached Little Stony Man Cliffs and encountered what may have been the most dramatic cliffs I had seen in Shenandoah. I spent a long time admiring the views.

As I was enjoying the cliffs, John, Kayla, and Aurora arrived and I hiked with them for a bit until I pulled ahead. After almost 3 miles, I reached Pinnacle Picnic Grounds where I stopped to fill my water bottles under the bathroom faucets. Intriguingly, there were tons of people of all ages running around in some sort of traditional south Asian garb. They must have been celebrating some holiday, but the occasion was lost on me. A later Google search leads me to believe that it was likely a Buddha Jayanti Festival celebrating the birth of Buddha. In the moment, it struck me as beautiful and a bit surreal to be surrounded by so many richly colored fabrics and merrymakers at a party I was not privy to. Just passing through… the story of the AT.

After another 1.5 miles, I was surprised to find Delta eating dinner at an overlook on The Pinnacle. The sun was setting and we were only about a mile from the shelter, but I figured the views were better here, so I joined Delta. We ate our dinners while watching the sun creep towards the horizon, casting a golden hour glow across Shenandoah and the Loray Valley. Beautiful.

John and Kayla caught up and joined us for a bit until we all decided to hike down to the shelter. This was John and Kayla’s first time meeting Delta, but the three of them had already heard a lot about each other as the only MIT students hiking in our bubble. Delta explained that he was a member of the Skull House Fraternity and John and Kayla explained that they were part of the Sailing Club. The significance of these affiliations was mostly meaningless to me, but I think it communicated something among the MITers. We quickly made it to the hut, which was in a fantastic location, allowing us to catch the sunset climax through the trees in front of the hut.

Blackberry ice cream

in a graham cracker crust

this must be heaven