6/05/01
Amazingly enough, it just keeps on raining night after night just after arrival at the shelter. Last night the rain began just as we finished dinner and were settling in for the night. I was sluggish getting out of the shelter this morning but got to the road crossing to hitchhike to Front Royal by mid-morning. It was the first time in over a month to attempt hitching alone and the second car that came by stopped. It was the rural mail carrier and she was taking her van into the shop in town for repairs, so she dropped me right at the post office where I could get my food drop. After sorting out all the food and other pack items in the middle of the floor of the post office, it was time for lunch. I ate the blue plate special at the Fox Diner in Front Royal, finishing off meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, pinto beans, and rolls and butter before taking on a brownie sundae. On the way back to the road to hitch back to the trail, I stopped at McDonalds as I was still hungry and polished off two cheeseburgers to go. Priceless was in McDonalds so we headed to the highway to hitch together. Then we saw Gypsy heading out of town so the three of us ended up sticking out our thumbs for a hitch. Cheryl, a local, picked all three of us up and drove us to the trailhead. Priceless was on a tight deadline so Cheryl took him several miles up the trail. Meanwhile, Gypsy and I began the afternoon hike with 15 miles to do and a very late start. It was a warm afternoon and the terrain was challenging but Gypsy set a great pace and I stayed with her the whole way.
First we passed the Jim and Molly Denton shelter, then stopped at the Manassas Gap shelter which is a creepy place. Apparently a very large rat makes his home there and the shelter register was full of stories about his antics. In addition, the trail guide mentioned that two resident copperheads live there, so we made haste moving on. A young guy was at a road crossing with a cooler when we came by, so we stopped to talk to John (from the Maryland Eastern shore). He gave us sodas and candy bars and told us a funny story. The group of thru-hikers just in front of us (Diablo, Sundial, Surefoot, Reader and Ziti and Cedar (dog) had met John earlier in the day and were scheming an idea to aquablaze to Harper's Ferry. Aquablazing means using water in lieu of the trail to make progress on the thru-hike. So they had decided that floating down the Shenandoah River to Harper's Ferry sounded adventurous and they asked John to drive them to WalMart. There they purchased cheap ($9.95) rafts, then got John to take them to the Shenandoah to blow up, then launch their expedition. John had a video camera to capture the fun and Gypsy and I were able to watch the video through his viewfinder. It was very funny watching those thru-hikers preparing their rafts, then launching them into the river. Diablo even crafted a paddle using one of his trekking poles as the handle. I was skeptical that their adventurous ride would be a success (52 miles) with the river pooling in many places with little or no forward flow. Gypsy and I laughed all the way up the trail for the next hour at those crazy fools.
We had to hike as quickly as our bodies would take us and we made it to the Dick's Dome shelter at 9:00 p.m. with very little daylight left to see the trail. Dick's Dome was a small 5-sided dome that was, frankly, unattractive at best. There was no place to tent at the site and Priceless, Little Thunderhawk, and Colonel were already there, so Gypsy and I squeezed into the shelter with them. It was a tight fit with five of us, but we made the best of it. By the time we finished cooking everyone was in bed, so I skipped journaling and went to bed too. I should have known it, the rain began in earnest just as I got in my sleeping bag and was heavy well into the night. I was one tired thru-hiker after several big mileage days back to back. Here are the stats: low 55 degrees, high 78. Sunny, then cloudy late, rain at night. Today's mileage: 18.0; cumulative 964.8.
