June 19

Catching up

Big plans for today.  I'm not sure exactly where my friends are, but I'm going to try to go as far as I can and gain some ground on them.  I was up uncharacteristically early, and hiking well before 8am.  It's been nice and sunny all morning, and I had some great views from both South and North Marshall mountains.  Had a bit of deja vu here.  I remembered this past October, calling my parents from the summit of North Marshall, to arrange a pick up time at the road crossing near Front Royal.  It's been pretty surreal going through these sections of trail that I've been on before.  Pretty much from Beuna Vista, up through the entire length of Shenandoah.  Last year I was meeting thru hikers and asking them questions, and now this year I am one.  Pretty cool feeling.  Easy hiking for the rest of the morning.  Hiked up Compton peak, where I remembered seeing a bear last year.  Made it out of SNP, and to the Tom Floyd wayside.  Highking was there drying out some wet gear.  I took a lunch break.  No bears through SNP.  Bummer.  I'm like the only person who hasn't seen one.  I made it to the road crossing at Rt 522 and another thru hiker was there as well, who's wife had met him there and they gave me a ride into Front Royal to get a burger and some drinks.  After that quick pitstop, I was back on the trail around 3pm or so.  It was hot.  Good to be hydrated.  As a bonus I had a full belly of a double Whopper combo from BK as well.  I was breaking new ground now.  This is officially the farthest north I have ever been on the AT.  The rest of the afternoon was hot and humid.  I made it to the Jim and Molly Denton shelter sometime in the early evening, but nobody was there.  I was hoping I would have caught up with everyone there, since this shelter was spectacularly nice.  Cooking pavillion, solar shower, huge front porch with a nice bench to sit on.  Oh well.  Hydration break, and keep on moving.  I signed in the register, and noticed that my crew were the last ones to write in the book.  I must be right behind them.  5.5 sweaty miles got me to Manassas Gap shelter, well after 8pm.  The sun was setting and the woods were starting to get dark.  The crew wasn't here either though, just a huge group of Boy Scouts.  I filled up on water at the spring.  One of the leaders asked me if I was with the group of five that was just there.  The description he gave fit.  I was about 45 minutes behind the crew.  I threw my pack back on and practically ran out of the shelter area.  It was anohter 4.5 miles to Dicks Dome shelter, and I figured they wouldn't have gone all the way there.  A: it was a pretty bad shelter from what I've heard, and B: I was assuming they stayed in Front Royal, would have gotten a typical late start, and wouldn't have hiked that far to get to Dicks Dome.  It was dark now.  I was hiking by head lamp, trying to look out for any campsites, but the woods were thick and overgrown, and I never stumbled across their camp.  I passed several side trails along the way, and I wondered if maybe they had dipped off on one of those in seach of a suitable tentsite.  In that case, I would unknowingly pass them, but I figured, worse case senario I would get to Dicks and stay there and wait for them in the morning.  The downside is that it's been a long day hiking, and I had already put in 24 miles just to get to Manassas Gap.  I finally came across a group of hikers huddled around a campfire in the woods just off the trail, and sure enough it was Rainbow Eyes, Tink, Apache, Bambam, and Crayola.  I had done over 27 miles today, and caught back up.  It was great to be back.  Crayola gave me a friendship bracelet she had made.  So cool.  We stayed up pretty late talking.  Apparently, they had stayed in Front Royal last night and had a bad experience.  They had left the cheap hotel they were staying at at midnight after finding bedbugs, and ended up tenting and cowboy camping in a field behind the Kmart in town.  Sucks about the motel, but it sure made for a good story and another interesting adventure on the AT.  I had switched out my tent when I was home, to my ENO hammock.  Strung that up, and had the best nights sleep on the trail so far.

A restful spot north of Front Royal, Va.