David Lesser Memorial Shelter to Crampton Gap Shelter

Saturday, 6/13

AT Miles = 19.7 / 1023.9
Other Miles = 1.2 / 38.7
Total Miles = 20.9 / 1061.6

Today was an awesome day. After feeling totally wrung out yesterday, today I felt like I could fly down the trail. I think I was dehydrated yesterday. I drank 3 quarts of water after getting to the shelter yesterday afternoon, yet I still didn't have to get up even once during the night. I always have to get up at least once, and sometimes two or three times. So this morning I drank another couple of quarts with breakfast, and my feet had wings.

Yesterday I hit the 1000 mile mark, and today I walked into Harpers Ferry and stopped at ATC Headquarters, where they took my picture and added it to the album of thru-hikers. I am either number 231 or 321; I am really bad at remembering numbers like that. A number I do remember is 162. There is a scale at the ATC, and that is what I now weigh, including my hiking boots.

I also picked up my food drop at ATC, and I now have the biggest food bag ever. It took some doing to even stuff all my food into the bag so I could hang it tonight.

After finishing my business at ATC, I made one more stop in Harpers Ferry for a big lunch, then proceeded across the bridge over the Potomac River and into Maryland. So Virginia and West Virginia are both now listory. Five states down, nine to go. And Maryland will be gone in a couple of days!

I also stpped at the Edward Garvey Memorial Shelter this afternoon. I had no reason to stop there, other than that it is the Edward Garvey Memorial Shelter. If it weren't for Ed Garvey, I very well may not be here to day. When I was in my teens I got Ed's book "Appalachian Hiker: Adventure of a Lifetime," and I read and re-read it many times. That book was a big part of what planted the seed that led me to this hike all these years later.

So a full day, and with a lot of good emotions. And now I am going to retreat to the sanctuary of my hammock, away from the mosquitos, and read my book for a few minutes before falling asleep. Goodnight, all.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Bears Den Hostel to David Lesser Memorial Shelter

Friday, 6/12

AT Miles = 11.1 /1004.2
Other Miles = 0.7 / 37.5
Total Miles = 11.8 / 1040.7

When I am dead, do you think someone will build a trail shelter in my memory? No? A privy maybe?

Bears Den was such a great place. I really enjoyed staying there last night. I even stayed awake until 11:30 watching a movie on DVD. Have you seen "13 Days?" It was quite good.

I wasn't planning a very big day today, and as it turns out that was a good thing. I am not feeling my best today. I felt weak and shaky while hiking, and I started the day with the last 4 1/2 miles of the Rollercoaster.

It took me 3 1/2 hours to hike the first 8 miles to the Blackburn AT Center. Normally that distance would take me well under 3 hours. And the last 3 miles from Blackburn to the shelter took me just shy of an hour and a half. Like I said, I just wasn't feeling it today.

Hopefully I will be back to my usual self tomorrow. I hope to get in nearly 20 miles tomorrow, including stopping in Harpers Ferry for a couple of hours. Jodi mailed my food drop to the AT HQ there, so I need to stop and pick that up, and repack it into my backpack. I have been to Harpers Ferry before and it is a really cool place, so I hope to spend a little bit of time there, and hopefully get a bite to eat before heading back out.

The weather today is much better than I expected from the forecast, but the bugs are out in force and it feels like there is a good possibility of thunder storms tonight. I am hoping for dry weather while I am in town tomorrow.

There is a young hiker here tonight who has been out for a week, and obviously hasn't washed at all during that week. Oh my! The stink darn near makes my eyes water. As long as the weather is reasonably cooperative, I wash every night and rinse out my hiking clothes. I sleep much better when I am reasonably clean and not so sticky.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Dicks Dome Shelter to Bears Den Hostel

Thursday, 6/11

AT Miles = 18.3 / 993.1
Other Miles = 0.8 / 36.8
Total Miles = 19.1 / 1028.9

It rained like the dickens last night. I was comfy and dry in my
hammock, but there were a few minutes when I thought the tarp might
take off in the wind. That would have been bad!

The humidity today was oppressive; the air being totally saturated and
not a breath of air moving. Hiking is hot work and my body was
sweating to try to cool down, but the sweat could not evaporate so my
clothes were soon soaked through, and I even had rivulets of sweat
running down my legs into my socks and boots.

The tendinitis in my left ankle is better -- not better as in it's all
healed, hallelujah, but better in the sense of less bad than it was
yesterday. The ibuprofen seems to be working, so I will keep that up
for a couple more days and hopefully I will have no more trouble.

I am staying at the Bears Den Hostel, which is owned by the ATC and
operated by the PATC. It's a really nice place. They offer a package
that includes a bunk with linens, a shower, laundry, a pizza, a soda,
and a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, for $25. Sold! Unlike some
hiker hostels, this place is spotlessly clean. And the laundry is a
blessing. It is so humid and wet outside that I could not wash my
socks, since they would never dry. Now I've washed and dried my dirty
socks, along with all my other dirty stuff. Clean, dry socks go a long
ways towards making a comfortable hike.

I am only about 20 miles from Harpers Ferry so I could make it there
tomorrow if tried hard, but I am not planning to stay in Harpers
Ferry. Jodi sent a food drop to the ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry,
and my plan is to stop there, get my picture taken and put in their
book of thru-hikers, pick up my food drop, then push on to the next
shelter. All that will work better if I get there earlier in the day,
so I will stop south of the town tomorrow night, then go into town
Saturday morning. Also, the weather is supposed to be much drier on
Saturday so it will be more conducive to spending a bit of time in
town amongst civilized people, before pushing on back into the woods.

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Front Royal VA to Dicks Dome Shelter

Wednesday, 6/10

AT Miles = 15.2 / 974.8
Other Miles = 0.2 / 36.0
Total Miles = 1009.8

Hey look, I've hiked over 1000 miles! That's not 1000 AT miles yet, though. I should reach that milestone sometime on Friday.

The tendon in my left ankle is still very tender. The only way I could hike was to wear my boot very loose on that foot, which means my foot moves around a lot inside the boot, and also that I end up jamming my toes on downhills.

If I tightened my boot normally, it hurts enough that I make audible whimpering sounds with every step. When I loosen the boot I only wince silently. Needless to say, this sucks all the fun out of hiking. I am taking ibuprofen (known as "Vitamin I" on the trail), and I soaked my ankle as long as I could stand it in the cold stream in front of the shelter.

I hope the ibuprofen gets this under control. I don't know wqhat I will do if it continues to hurt, or even gets worse. I can suffer through a few days of walking gingerly, but I can't do it indefinitely. Well, I have to get to Harpers Ferry by Saturday no matter what, or I will be a very hungry hiker. I guess by then I'll know whether it is getting any better or not. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and it will be magically healed!

Other than the ankle, it has been a hot, muggy, oppressive day without a breath of air moving. It looks and feels like we are definitely in for some rain. Tomorrow I will hit the Roller Coaster, which is a 13.5 mile stretch where the trail goes up and down something like 14 peaks. Basically, I have to hike up and down the same few hundred feet 14 times. That should be fun with a tender ankle.

Okay, obviously I am in a negative mood this evening, so I'll quit now. Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully things will go better then.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Zero Day in Front Royal

Tuesday, 6/9

AT Miles = 0 / 959.6
Other Miles = 0 / 35.8
Total Miles = 0 / 994.4

When I got up this morning it was raining, which made it very easy to
decide to stay here today and kick back instead of slogging through
the rain and mud out in the woods. It did clear up later and I spent
the early afternoon sitting out by the pool reading my book and
jumping into the pool to swim a lap whenever I got too hot. I also had
a nice long phone conversation with Anju, which made me feel really
good.

In mid-afternoon another line of thunder storms rolled through and I
retreated to my motel room. Finally around 5:30 I ventured out again
to get some dinner at a local downtown restaurant, and only then did I
realize that I had not packed up my bounce box and taken it to the
post office. Damn! There goes my plan of an early start in the
morning, as now I have to wait around until the post office opens at
8:30.

Coming into town yesterday was an easy hitch, but the road through
town carries very heavy traffic and there is no shoulder for a vehicle
to stop on, so I think hitching out of town back to the trail could be
very difficult. I think I will call a cab for the 4 mile ride out of
town in the morning.

Yesterday morning when I started walking I had a sharp pain in the
front of my left ankle, and it stayed there all morning. Once I got to
town and switched from boots to sandals I forgot all about it, but
this evening, since it was raining, I put my boots on when I went out
for dinner and it hurt a lot. Now that I am back to my room I poked
around with my fingers and some tendon or something is very tender and
inflamed. I've taken 800mg of ibuprofen and am sitting with ice on my
ankle. I sure hope I can get this under control, because there is no
way I am going to cover many miles when every step hurts this much.

My plan is to be just a few miles south of Harpers Ferry on Friday
night, then stop in at ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry on Saturday
morning, where a food resupply from Jodi will be waiting for me. From
there it should be another 6 or 7 days to Boiling Springs, PA, my next
overnight town stop.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

New Photos

I forgot to mention that new photos are up:
http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/WaynesboroToFrontRoyal/

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Stealth Site North Of Hogwallow Gap to Front Royal VA

Monday, 6/8

AT Miles = 8.5 / 959.6
Other Miles = 0 / 35.8
Total Miles = 8.5 / 994.4

As predicted, it was a sweaty and sticky night last night. I didn't
sleep very well, yet at the same time sunrise seemed to come awfully
fast. I was up and out PDQ, especially since I had eaten the last of
my breakfast cereal yesterday and all I had for breakfast this one was
a blueberry ugly (Man, I have to find a source for uglies, they are
GOOD!).

The trail in the north end of SNP is easy walking, with more downhill
than up going north, so I made really good time this morning. I
reached the northern park boundary, and soon after was at Tom Floyd
Wayside Shelter. I stopped here so I could get water at which turned
out to be WAY down the hill, so that I could wash up a bit before
getting to the road and trying my luck at hitchhiking into town.
There's no point in being any dirtier and smellier than is absolutely
necessary.

When I left the shelter I left a note for Gator on top of the sign at
the turnoff for the shelter, telling him where I would be staying in
Front Royal, leaving him my cell number, and asking to get togehter
for dinner tonight. From here it was less than 3 easy miles to Rt 522,
where I got a ride to the Quality Inn after 4 or 5 minutes of standing
with my thumb out.

This is a pretty nice motel with a pool and a laundry on-site. I've
cleaned up, walked to the post office, walked to the grocery store,
and done my laundry. I relaxed for a couple of hours watching "Get
Smart" on HBO, then Gator and I went out for dinner at a local
restaurant that was quite good. I never had time to relax outside by
ther pool, but the weather forecast for tomorrow looks hot and muggy,
so I might zero here and try the pool routine tomorrow.

So, I've hiked the length of Shenandoah National Park. I had looked
forward to this for a long time, as it is a rather big milestone in
the hike. It was somewhat of a disappointment to hike. The park is
really all about the Skyline Drive. That's where all the great views
are. In many places the trail skulks along down in the brush and
undergrowth, while I could look up and see the cleared area where the
viewpoint off the Drive was just above the trail. I could even hear
people talking at the overlook. But I could see nothing buried down in
the bushes below. On the other hand, it was wonderful being able to
stop at the waysides and lodges throughout the park and get cold
drinks and hot food and ice cream and such. I guess like most things
in ife, there is both good and bad in it.

Oh, here's a little story I forgot to tell you before. A few days ago
-- I don't remember exactly which day or exactly where -- I stopped at
one of the shelters for my mid-morning break, and went to use the
privy. I opened the privy door only to discover a big Black Snake had
taken up residence there. My best efforts to convince him to leave
were for naught, as he coiled himself up in the corner and refused to
budge. Long sotry short, we ended up sharing the privy in an uneasy
truce.

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

A Request

A request to all my fellow Abbey fans out there:

I'd really like to get a paperback copy of Monkey Wrench Gang to read
while hiking. When I was home a couple of weeks ago I checked my local
used book store, but alas, no joy. If somebody out there has a copy
they would be willing to part with, I would be more than happy to
reimburse postage. Just to be clear, I am looking for a regular
paperback edition, not a trade paper copy. Bulk and weight are very
important.

So, if anyone thinks they can help me out, please let me know.

Thanks!

--
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Pass Mountain Hut to Stealth Site on Unnamed Peak North of Hogwallow Gap

Sunday, 6/7

AT Miles = 18.0 / 951.1
Other Miles = 0.4 / 35.8
Total Miles = 18.4 / 985.9

Today was another easy day, more or less. I was camped with a bunch of
people at Pass Mountain Hut including Gator, Slag Line, Couscous,
Hulk, and Bookworm. We all decided that we would hike the 7 miles to
Elkwallow Wayside in the morning and get both breakfast and lunch
there. I usually get up early and am used to tiptoeing around trying
to be quiet as most of the other hikers are still sleeping, but this
morning most everybody was awake and I was the 2nd one to leave about
a quarter to seven. By 9:15 I was at the wayside and ordered a muffin
with egg, cheese, and bacon on it. I let that settle for a while, then
about 10:30 I decided it was late enough to have the first lunch of
the day and I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a blackberry
milkshake. Yum!

A bit before noon I finally tore myself away, shrugged into my
backpack and bid farewell to the hikers who were still sitting at the
picnic table outside the wayside. I hiked the next ~ 5 1/2 miles to
Gravel Springs Hut, where I stopped for my second lunch and to refill
my water bottles. This hut is a very short distance from a trailhead
parking area on the Skyline Drive, and as I was walking over to the
spring to fill my water bottle a couple who had walked down from the
parking lot with their dog were letting the dog play in the spring.
Yuck! I yelled out "Don't let your dog play in the spring, please!"
and they scurried back up the trail without acknowledging me.

Gross! Spring water spiced with dog slobber and bacteria. Well, I went
back to the shelter and sat for another 10 minutes to let the spring
flush itself out and settle a bit, then I went back and filled my
water bottle. I treat all of my drinking water, though I wish I had a
filter for this fill up!

Back at the wayside I had discussed today's planned stopping point
with Gator and Slag Line, and we all planned to stop at a spring shown
on the map and in the guidebook at Hogwallow Flats. I left Gravel
Springs Hut with Gator for the 3 1/2 mile walk to Hogwallow Flats,
stopping to take in the view from the top of North Marshall Mountain
on the way.

Well, we never saw any spring at Hogwallow Flats, and we knew for sure
we had missed it when we came to the Skyline Drive crossing north of
it. The next sure water was another 6 or so miles away, and while we
could have pushed on that far it would have been an unpleasant way to
end the day and would also have left us way too close to town this
morning. Getting into town at 8:00AM is no good because you can't
really check into a motel that early in the morning and that leaves
you dirty and smelly and laden with a backpack as you go about town
doing your town chores. So, we crossed the road and pushed on up the
trail a ways just looking for a spot big enough to set up for the
night. We found the spot shown in the picture in the previous post and
while Gator and I were setting up for the night Slag Line showed up.
He hadn't seen the apparently invisible spring at Hogwallow Flats
either.

Since we were dry camping I didn't have enough water to take my usual
bandanna bath, and I think sleeping is going to be difficult tonight.
My body is coated in sticky sweat. I hate that.

--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Stealth Camping With Gator & Slag Line

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Rock Spring Hut to Pass Mountain Hut

Saturday, 6/6

AT Miles = 15.3 / 933.1
Other Miles = 0.8 / 35.4
Total Miles = 16.1 / 967.5

What a nice day! I even saw a bear while eating breakfast in the dining room at Skyland. The bear was just outside the window. The waitress told me that yesterday morning a bear took a fawn in the same spot. That must have freaked out some of the guests!

I didn't leave Skyland until after 10:00, when the weather was finally beginning to break and the sun was making itself felt. I hiked in a very leisurely fashion northward. I even took the side trail to Mary's Rock overlooking Thornton Gap. I don't think I've taken a side trail that didn't lead to either a shelter, food, or water, since the sidetrail to the summit of Mount Rogers, weeks ago.

When I reached Byrds Nest #3 a maintainer named Dick (I think) was there cutting the brush arfound the shelter. We chatted a bit and he told me he cares for three (or maybe it was four) shelters, including Pass Mountain Hut, where I am now. Since he was going to be coming here, he offered to slack pack me. Slack packing is hiking without a backpack; he was offering to transport my backpack here in his truck and allow me to hike the five miles or so unladen. A generous offer but I had decided way back at the start of this hike that I would not slack pack, so I thanked him but refused his offer.

It is funny how hiking "only" 15 miles in a day feels almost like a day off. It takes away the feeling of pressure to cover miles, and makes the day so much more relaxing. The downside is that I also feel guilty that I am not working harder to make forward progress. I actually feel guilty that I didn't push really hard on Thursday and Friday in order to get to Front Royal this morning before the post office closed. I think this is a bit of a character flaw on my part, as I am not supposed to be trying to get to Katahdin as fast as possible. I took 10 days off, and I am only 7 days behind my original schedule, and that schedule includes no zero days whatsoever. Not bad, methinks.

There is no shelter or campsite at the right distance I want to cover tomorrow, in order to get myself situated the right distance from Front Royal to get there around mid-day on Monday, so I will be searching out a casual campsite tomorrow afternoon. If I do 16 or 17 mils tomorrow, that will leave me about 10 miles outside of Front Royal.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com