day 44 - 04/23

snow! the weather said it was possible and given the temp drop yesterday it is not surprising. but it is april 23rd! i am not even that high up in elevation. only 2000ft or so. wow! the pic below is from when i started, but trust me that there was much in only a couple hours. it was really coming down. i hiked 8mi and decided to take a chance on the first wayside that i passed in shenandoah national park (snp). in snp you cross skyline drive, which is a scenic road that goes thru the entire length of the park, about 100 times and every 25mi or so there is what is called a wayside. it is a small single pump gas station and then a restaurant with short order food. my guidebook said that the loft mt wayside opens on 04/22, but maybe because of the several inches of snow on the ground they decided it was still winter, cuz it said "closed for the winter" when i walked up to the door. i was very cold at this point, but i got back on the trail and hiked another 5mi to pinefield gap shelter. i have never been so happy to see a shelter! at this point my hands were not working so well. i of course became fascinated by this phenomenon - that my core could be fine, but my extremities were so cold they were sluggish and not responding right away. then i reminded myself that it was probably a good idea to get warm. lol. they were definitely hypothermic cuz i had to use my teeth to open my backpack and get out my sleeping bag. i just crawled right in, put my hands in my armpits, and went right to sleep. i am grateful that my core stayed warm cuz i suppose it could have gotten dangerous. i just love the experience. the latest i recall winter weather like this was on april 1st, 1997 in massachusetts during my freshman year of college. this is april 23rd in virginia! so cool. i love snow. obviously i am writing this after my hands have warmed up cuz they were not iphone functional 5 hours ago at 15:30 in the afternoon. i wish i could have hiked farther today, but the weather was just a little too much. 13.2mi from blackrock to pinefield gap shelter. 887.2 total.