Mountains Under Foot

From Hazard’s notes:
Day 53: July 1, 2009
Travel:
From: Byrd’s Nest #3, VA
To: Front Royal, VA
Beginning: 6:50am
Ending: 6:45pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 30.9
b) other
c) AT Mile Marker – 959.5 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Sunny and nice, for now.
PM: An afternoon thunderstorm that came with a vengeance. It was like it knew we hadn’t had rain for a long time and wanted to punish us. We walked in a downpour for over an hour.
People: Kathy and Don who gave us some primo trail magic. Nick from UConn. Hecklers from town.
Animals: Mamma bear with her cubs at the wayside.
Money: $15 for lunch, $17 for room at the Scottish Inn, $11 for dinner, $8 for movie ticket. $878 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Woke up at 6am because we had a ton of miles to cover. We pushed really hard and made it the 11.6 miles to the Elkwallow Wayside in about 3.5 hours, that’s really moving. When we got there Kathy and Don, who we had met yesterday going up Stony Man, were waiting for us. They had been trying to catch us all morning but we had hiked faster than anticipated and they missed us at the road crossings. Don brought us some drinks and I mixed up some Gatorade with the bottled water he gave me. He handed us a couple of Snickers bars each and then brought out a big Rubbermaid container of hiker goodies. We were actually able to resupply with enough food to get us to Harper’s Ferry with the stash. Then we walked into the wayside and paid a fortune for lunch of a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, and a blackberry shake. Blackberry has to be my new favorite flavor for ice cream now. Nick came down to the wayside, we had somehow passed him as he was in front of us throughout the Shenandoahs. We told him of our crazy DC plans and he thought it was a cool idea and decided to join us. Another hiker came down the trail who we had never met and asked us, “Hey, are you the guys blazing through the Shenandoahs?” I guess we are. While eating lunch a bunch of tourists started gathering down the way taking pictures of something. That something, we learned, was a mother bear and her two cubs. We were able to catch a glimpse of them running off into the woods as the tourists chased them with their cameras.

PM: Spoon, Nick, and I departed the wayside with full bellies, intent on making it to Front Royal. The trail was pretty good to us like much of the rest of the Shenandoahs with gentle hills and descents. Then the sky got dark and opened up with furious anger. Within minutes we were all completely soaked and slogging upstream. It went on to rain for almost two hours until we finally made it to the park boundary. Sadly there was nothing other than a small sign to mark our accomplishment and then a slippery climb down some sharp rocks. We stopped for a moment at the next shelter, just past the boundary, to take a look at the guidebook and rest our feet. This shelter was more elaborate than we were used to as it had a front porch with a railing and a loft overhang for gear. Too bad we couldn’t stay for long. Next stop was US 522 and Front Royal. When we got to the road crossing we dropped our packs and stuck out our thumbs. I was worried that as three wet and dirty hikers we might not have much of a chance getting the hitch and be stuck on the side of the road for hours. Luckily a woman with her dog came down to the road from the other side of the trail and offered us a ride into town. She dropped us at the Scottish Inn, (run by Indians) that she couldn’t really recommend, but it was cheap and that’s what we like. I went into the office to inquire about rates and stood at the desk while the lady talked on the phone for another 5-7 minutes and I just wanted to yell, “I’ve hiked almost 30 miles to get here, get OFF the phone and hand me a key to a room with soft beds!” Anyway, I eventually got that key and when you split a room three ways it’s pretty darn cheap, so I was happy. We showered and cleaned up the best we could and collected our clothes to go do laundry next to this pizza and subs place up the street. When we got to the strip of shops we found out that it was more of a dry cleaners than a laundromat so we simply moved on to the food. First up was a pepperoni pizza for everyone to snack on while we waited for our foot-long subs. I found some hints of WiFi and stepped outside to check email and…wait for it…show times at the local theatre for ‘Transformers’. There was a show starting at 9:30pm so I went back inside with the news, Nick ordered another sub to go, and we headed out to the movie theatre. We purchased tickets and then I did something I had never done in a theatre, I walked up stairs to the movie. It was a much smaller room than I was used to with a much smaller screen and frankly too much bass. Despite those small things it was a dazzling display of computer and technical effects and if that wasn’t enough to melt your mind, the explosions certainly were. Optimus Prime rocked my socks and then we staggered back to the room after midnight for some much needed sleep.