I decided that from now on I will have my zoom lens attached by default, if I see another bear I don't want to settle for a cropped and pixely photo. As I was hiking the last short bit of trail before departing the Shenandoahs I did catch a few deer. I met Billy right on time and he gave me a lift to Front Royal so I could reup my food and then we decided to eat at a pizza/sub shop for a last minute calorie binge.
We hiked for several miles before arriving at the Denton Shelter which is equipped with a horseshoe pit, outdoor shower, and separate pavilion with its own picnic table and fire pit. We hung out with some other thru-hikers until it started to rain but then decided to head to Manassas Gap Shelter 5.5 miles up the trail. It was important to give Billy a taste of all that the AT has to offer and hiking in the rain is a must. Along the way he spotted a box turtle which was the first that either of us had seen on the trail!
Box turtle.
Moving to the next shelter was a good call because we were the only ones there and we later heard that a troop of boy scouts arrived at the Denton Shelter around 10pm so it was packed of soaked hikers. We set up our hammock/tent inside the shelter, drank some whiskey, and watched fireflies glow in the woods after the rain subsided.
Shelob the spider wrapping up breakfast. That is a 2x8 board on the left.
Day 2 of Billy's visit began with nice meadows and some hints of sunshine but it was too humid for any of our gear to dry out. Around 2, right as the heat was ramping up, we arrived at the famous Roller Coaster, a 13.5 mile stretch of the AT with constant ascents and descents totaling 5000 ft of gain.
New AT challenge: hike all 13.5 miles with your hands up in the classic pose for roller coasters
Before the roller coaster ride was over, we reached the 1000 mile mark. I hooted and hollered and ran in circles for a little before posing for a few pictures at this milestone. It was crazy to break into that 4-figure mileage!
We camped near the next shelter and then had a short three mile hike to Bears Den where Alex was meeting us and giving Billy a ride back to his car near Front Royal. Bear's Den hostel is a cool looking old castle and I stopped in for a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream before heading back out into the heat. Along the way I ran into a hiking buddy, Nemo, who convinced me to blast 20 miles into Harper's Ferry because there is delicious pizza at Mena's Pizzaria. We talked to some trail maintainer's, took an absurdly long blue blaze to a spring, and chatted the whole way into Harper's Ferry. When we finally arrived at Mena's there was a hand written sign in the window ”Sorry, we are closed. Ran out of gas"
We stayed at the Teahorse Hostel and ordered Papa John's who was having a 1/2 off everything deal which helped take the sting out of being denied local and fresh brick-oven pizza. I hung out the next day, did phone surgery to replace my cracked screen, and relocated to Wahoo and Tumblina's place. I met them at Trail Days and they are starting up a hostel in town. It just so happened they were having some friends over for a crab feast that night! It was great to kick back and rest up for the 4-State Challenge that I was doing on June 21, the summer solstice, and also hike naked day.
Something I'd never thought I'd be doing during this hike.
Hulahoops + long exposure photography
The phone issues causesd a backlog in my blog. I completed the 4-State Challenge and then took a 5 day halftime break to recover (44 miles in 17.5 hours is quite taxing) and visit friends/family in my hometown. I'm currently at mile 1103 at Pine Grove Furnace State Park where I just completed the 1/2 gallon challenge...in 40 minutes...for breakfast. It's the AT, I'll eat as much ice cream for breakfast as I want to!