As I rounded the corner of yet another switchback down the mountain, I was saw a man I didn't recognize, and as he began to introduce himself I thought "Oh man, I feel bad, I must have met him earlier on the trail and I have no idea who he is."
"You're not going to believe this, but I'm Scott, this is Gavin," he motions to the baby on his back, "and Annette is right behind us."
Annette?! She lives in New York, and we hadn't made any plans to meet. Was this real life?
To my glee, there she was, marching up the mountain in a pair of flip-flops. Annette was my closest friend in middle school, but after moving away in high school, she and I had only seen each other a handful of times. Despite the immense distance always between us, she has always been someone I can turn to.
Apparently Annette, her son Gavin, and her boyfriend Scott were on the way to visit her parents in North Carolina, and she saw my Facebook post that morning from Shenandoah National Park. Annette knew I was carrying a Spot GPS tracker, and called my mom to get access to my real time location. After 3 hours of trying to intersect my path, she finally found me.
The visit could not have come at a better time. Feasting on Polish food and interacting with the baby (awkward), brightened my spirits and reinvigorated me. Although brief, the unexpected visit was a break from the unrelenting heat and weariness of the trail.
To make Shenandoah National Park even more exciting, 2 days later I had a surprise visit from my dad! Just as I was hiking down to Thornton Gap, I see him walking up the mountain toward me. Once again I got super spoiled and enjoyed 2 days of hiking southbound with him while carrying a very light pack.
Sorry for the lack of photos with this post. I'm staying at a hostel that has a very limited bandwidth usage agreement and does not allow for uploading photos. The next few weeks I will have very limited access to Internet, so don't expect to see many updates.
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