6/02/06 Friday: Jim an Molly Denton Shelter to Rod Hollow Shelter (18.3)

PICTURES:
1. This sign reminds us that portions of the trail go way back in our countries history aroud these parts...
2. I do tend to walk with my head down alot, and I'm sure this little guy appreciates that alot...;) I did a doubletake when I noticed this glowing orange salamander in the middle of the trail at about 0820.
3 At about 1345, I passed through another open field, this one though was cut back as you can see. Yesterday, we all passed through fields such as this that were not cut back and when we arrived at the shelter many of the hikers, all wearing shorts, picked a number of ticks off. Thank God I'm wearing long pant just for that reason...
4. Pics 3 and 4 were both taken in Sky Meadows State Park... That was a lovely flat walk allowing me to move at better than 3mph... I did stop long enough to get a pic of this little beauty...
I had a restful night at the shelter... I was a bit sleep deprived at the Super 8, I think I had too many Mountain Dews while blogging... LOL... Anyway I woke at 0600 to an overcast and humid morning, with thunder rumbling in the distance... I was out at 0645, hoping the weather would improve... The day stayed hot and humid but the walk was not too stressful, and I was already soaked from the hike the day before, nothing was able to dry overnight... Theres nothing like putting on wet socks, boots, shirts, and pants in the morning....BLAH :(....... The storms did hold off throughout the day and within a few hours I had covered the 4.4mi to the Manassas Gap Shelter. There I noticed I had a problem with my pack. A part of the internal frame had made a hole and was protruding out the bottom of the pack. I was a little concerned and decided to check it out... I had adjusted it some time earlier and did not seat it properly in its fitting so I readjusted it and everything should be fine now... The repair took about 1hr, it took that long to figure it out, it was a 5 min fix... LOL... I was then off to check out Dick's Dome shelter, a supposed engeneering marvel... Well I rolled into Dick's and :0 ... wondered if the engeneer was drunk when he designed this place... LOL... Its suppose to sleep 4 but that would require 4 munchkins...LOL... Thank God I was only having lunch here... I had lunch with Sir Lancelot and Glowworm... After about 1hr we were all off, having resupplied with water, and headed for our shelter for the night, the Rod Hollow Shelter at the beginning of the imfamous Rollercoaster... The Rollercoaster was a series of 1o ascents and decents over 13mi... Sounds bad...like the Mahousics in Maine... Anyway, I decided to stop here at about 1600 and hope for cooler weather to get through the roller coaster tomorrow.... Good thing I stopped too because the skies opened up and the worst downpour over 60 min occurred... Sir Lancelot and Glowworm, who had diverted to a Pub for dinner were caught in it... But to our surprise, they produced a Hagen Daz ice cream bar for everyone in the shelter... Happy Feet, The Chocolate Bandito, The Sexy Monk and I were all hold up in the shelter when they arrived... They put a smile on everyones face...:)