6/03/06 Saturday: Rod Hollow Shelter to Blackburn Trail Center (17.8mi)

PICTURES:
1. Grinz... nice welcome sign which was done tongue in cheek by the gentleman on the last pic in the white long sleeve shirt... All in good fun... He was instrumental in constructing the trail which had previously been a walk on the highway.
2. Another interesting root system this time with a strategically placed rock...
3. Always nice to get a visual on your progress... Crossing into another state just makes you feel gooooooddddd...
4. A vista from Crescent Rock
5. Thats the bunk house that has 4 large bunks and sleeps 8???? Could have been interesting but had the place to myself... All the others chose to sleep on the porch.
6&7. A pic of the kitchen area recently remodeled and the front porch/dining area... What a feast. What a way to celebrate National Trail Days...
8. A view of Maryland and suposedly DC and the Washington Monument on the horizon... HMMMM could be???
9.A pic of the back porch where the other hikers chose to sleep as viewed from the bunk house.
10. Group pic of all before bed.
11. Pic of Trailboss on the left and Redwing on the right. Redwing manages the place and Trailboss well is the trailboss, manages the trails...

The front moved in over night bringing with it some relief... The temps dropped 20 degrees and so did the humidity... I started the day at 0645 with temps in the 50s and overcast...lovely hiking weather... I entered the roller coaster and was actually was not too overwhelmed by it... I thought it was a pretty nice walk... the elevations gains and losses did not exceed 500ft and that was only 3 times; most peaks were half that... I had intentions of dining at a Pub in Bluemont VA called the Horseshoe Restaurant which opened after 1200 and also making dinner at the Blackburn Trail Center by 1800. I made both appointments ahead of schedule...:)... I chose to stay at the Blackburn Center because the water source at the next shelter was .5mi down a steep hill from the shelter...I don't like that... Plus the Blackburn Center serves a free spaghetti dinner each night to hikers...:)... the bunkhouse and outdoor solar shower is also free...:)... And I was able to was my clothes in a sink, they have no sewer system there so there is an outdoor privy and shower facilities... They do have a kitchen with a sink...I'm not sure where the water for that goes...:0... LOL

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...:)

6/01/06 Thursday: Front Royal, VA to Jim and Molly Denton Shelter (5.2mi)

PICTURES:
1. After a rather arduous initial ascent from the road, the trail flattened out and was quite enjoyable.
2. Talk about a nice shelter. Nice porch, plenty of sleeping space, Adirondack style chair on the deck, solar powered shower and a piped spring with a fawcet... LOL very nice....

Hi all... I'm writing to you from the Appalachian Trail Conference HQ in Harpers Ferry, WV. This is the symbolic half way point of the trail but its really only mile 1008. The actual halfway point will be somewhere in Maryland... Things are going well and I'm pumped for big miles in the days to come. I am meeting and will be exceeding my milage expectations in the days to come. I'm doing this and still enjoying myself quite a bit...

I had a busy morning in Front Royal. I had lost my water purification device somewhere on the trail the previous day. I had left notes in trail journals at two different huts and received a response from a hiker who found it. I met him at the grocery store this morning while we were both resupplying for the week to come. I also had a package of supplies at the post office from home that needed to be picked up. And there was the stop at the outfitters to get a repair kit for my tent; I have 2 tent poles with fractured joints. And there was the important issue of breakfast before I get back on the trail... So I got my device back :)... Got my groceries :)... Got my package at the post office :)... Struck out at the outfitters :(... Oh well, Ill try again at the outfitters in Harpers Ferry... I checked out of the hotel about 1120 and made my way about half a mile, to the main road leading back to the trail head. It took about 10 min to hitch a ride the 3.5miles back up to the AT. So by 1145 I was back in the woods with the temp already in the low 90's with about 90% humidity. Definitely the hottest day yet... It took a few hours to make it to the first shelter, the Denton Shelter, and I was dripping wet. The skies were clouding and severe T-storms were expected in the afternoon. There were only 3 of us at this rather lovely shelter so I decided to just hang here for the night, hoping the cold front would move through and tomorrow would be a more pleasant hike... A couple of T-Storms passed and more were coming throughout the night but no real change in temps occured.