Hiking the Good Hike

5/8 Day 66 Front Royal, VA to Manassas Gap Shelter - 10.7 miles

     It's difficult getting out of town early. We were up with the sun as usual and went down for the continental breakfast but decided we might as well stay until check out to get our money's worth. We played around for a couple hours and finally left to do our resupply. Luckily the rain had ceased at some point this morning. After the resupply we figured it didn't make much sense to leave town without eating lunch so we grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King. We were finally ready to go so once again Cassandra did the dirty work with the hitch and we were on our way out of town in the bed of a truck. 

     We had seen Dirty Mike and Coups at the store and they got on trail at the same time as us so we hiked with them for a while. We heard thunder as we hiked and the clouds rolled in right as we arrived at a shelter. We took a break at the shelter and let the rain pass. When the rain stopped we took off to the next shelter. When we got to the shelter we were discussing either staying or hiking on and the rain started again making our decision for us. We were here with Ayce, Coups, Dirty Mike, and two section hikers. 

5/9 Day 67 Manassas Gap Shelter to campsite at mile 998.1 - 22.3 miles

     We woke to sunshine for the first time in several days. It was warm and sunny and we were happy to be hiking. The miles were going easy as we passed through Sky Meadows state park. Since we had covered nearly 13 miles by noon we decided to take a nice, long lunch break. We hung out with Ayce, Dirty Mike, and Coups for a long while before finally getting on trail again at 2:00. 

     When we left that shelter we started the infamous roller coaster. This section of trail is called the roller coaster due to the number of climbs and descents in a short distance. at first It really didn't seem like a big deal or anything different from what we've been doing the last months but we began to notice it had slowed our pace and was just kind of annoying. Cassandra, Ayce, and I camped at a spot just before Bears Den Hostel. Dirty Mike and Coups moved on to the hostel to join Blue Moon and Larry Boy. We made plans with those guys to hike together to the 1000 mile mark tomorrow to celebrate. 

5/10 Day 68 Campsite to Campsite at mile 1014.9 - 16.8 miles

     We were up and ready early to celebrate hiking 1000 miles and to leave Virginia. We had plans to meet at the 1000 mile mark at 9:00. We hiked to the location described in our guide books as the 1000 mile mark. The mileage of the trail changes slightly each year but we assumed there would be a marker. When we discovered there was no marker Ayce and I went to work creating one. We cleared a spot in the path and arranged rocks to draw "1000" hoping it would be a sign hundreds of people would appreciate as they reached this milestone. When the others arrived the celebration began. Many had packed various foods and drinks and we had a little party. It was goofy but fun. 

     We hiked on planning to hike to a campsite just before Harpers Ferry and then nero in tomorrow. We were in need of water and there were no sources near our chosen campsite. There was a road crossing a couple miles before our campsite and our guide book listed a store 0.3 mile one direction where we could get water or a pizza shop 0.3 mile the opposite direction. It seemed like a no brainer that if we were going to hike 0.3 mile we might as well get some pizza. We walked to the pizza shop where we found they had a buy one get one half off special on large pizzas. We enjoyed our pizza and people watching in what was a very interesting place.

     We left the pizza shop as clouds were rolling in. The rain began as we hiked to our spot. We set up in the rain and then the down pour began. We're hoping it will stop raining by morning at least long enough to get to Harpers Ferry to sign in at the ATC office and meet Nomad to hang out for the day.

Thanks for reading,

Moose