Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 72 – Shenandoah national park
6th october 2023
Manassas Gap (mile 1215.6) - Gravel Springs Hut (mile 1239.7)
Daily miles: 24.1
Total miles: 1247.1
I had to shuffle down my sleeping mat in the night because I felt the others breathing on me; we were all a bit too close. That meant I could also lie on my back for a bit and I could hang my feet off the end, I can’t have my heels resting on the mat because it’s too painful.
I woke up with my alarm at 5:20am. I was hungry and I didn’t feel much like hiking, but there was also the call of town in 10 miles.
I was feeling annoyed with everything today, and paranoid. Annoyed with people in general and feeling regretful at my choice to go with the crowd instead of my own way. But I was hungry and tired and I knew that was heavily influencing my mood and thoughts.
I hiked out first, said goodbye to J13 and hiked the first half hour by headlamp. Thankfully the trail was pretty nice and there were a lot less rocks than there has been.
Hiking by head lamp, or head torch as we call it in the UK
I was disgustingly hot and humid and I was instantly sweaty and that was going down hill! I was wiping my face constantly.
I felt emotional. I cried for about 2 minutes. For some reason I was thinking a lot about my Nan and when she was sick and different times in her life. I had to distract myself with a podcast and I learned about the Californian Gold Rush which was fascinating. I never knew the Americans stole California from the Mexicans. They keep that one quiet while they are being all smug over the War Of Independence!
Down to the road. Under the highway. Across the railway. Then up to some meadows where is was cloudy and my feet got a bit wet in the grass, but the trail went back to forest and my feet dried out quickly.
Under the bridges
Across the bog boards
Over the railway tracks
There were a few ups and downs but I managed to bash out the miles and got my 10 by 10 (10 miles by 10am) plus the 0.4 miles down to the road. Just before the road I saw a big black snake.
Misty
Parker, call your mother
The green tunnel
Big black snake
Heading back into civilisation
I hitched into town (Front Royal). It only took about 3 minutes to get a ride; not the greatest ride I’ve had - the guy was very old, smoking in his filthy car and he looked at his phone and swerved to the other side of the road at one point! I asked him if he picked up a lot of hikers and he said no he never had before. So I was just hopeful that we would first of all make the 4 miles alive and that he would take me to where I wanted to go and let me out!
Of course it was all fine and he dropped me right outside the door to the supermarket around 10:30am. I went straight to the back towards the deli counter. I read in the comments on Far Out there was a Chinese counter there and I hadn’t been able to get it out of my head. So I got Chicken and Broccoli and Noodles from a really rude lady! At one point I nearly just walked away, but I persisted with my order.
I took it outside and sat in front of the store and ate it like I hadn’t eaten for a week. It was pretty gross actually and I left most of the noodles but made sure I ate all the broccoli and some of the chicken.
Chicken and broccoli and noodles
Then I went back in to get some resupply. All I had succeeded in getting was a Chocolate Milk and a Ginger Ale and I was wandering around looking at the same old stuff I didn’t want to buy.
I head Toe yell “Puff Puff” down an aisle. I was feeling so much better about everything and just about life in general now I had eaten something!
We came up with a loose plan of food we needed. I still had a lot of food. The problem with it is that it’s 90% sugar and no substance. So I got some more fruit snacks and some cheese and turkey and some extra Milky Way bars and some crisps. No idea if it will be enough but it will have to be.
I chugged the chocolate milk as soon as I was out of the supermarket, then we decided to go for Mexican food. Great decision, and after loads of chips and salsa I had a Californian burrito - which was Californian because it had avocado in it - but I couldn’t finish it so Cal had the last quarter of mine. They all got giant Margaritas but I was good and drank a glass of water.
A delicious burrito
El Mexican
By 1:30pm we decided we should go back to trail. I went to the loo for a wee, my first wee since this morning before leaving the shelter! I should have drunk more water at the Mexican as I’m still not hydrated enough.
We were walking back to the road to find a good place to hitch and a pick up truck pulled up and asked if we needed a ride. We all piled into the back and we were off back to the trail! A ride without trying is the best kind of ride. The journey was great, sometimes it gets really blowy and cold in the back of a pick up and you and up having to lie down but this time the temperature was perfect.
All piled in a pick up back to the trail
It was so hot and the low temperature light wind was so nice
Back on the trail we started with a climb. Cal, May Queen and Toe hung out by the river for a bit to lessen the effect of their margaritas and I followed Lemonhope up hill. He very quickly left me behind as I struggled with such a full belly and I wanted to make sure it all stayed down. We went back up to nearly 3000ft which we haven’t done for quite some time. The first climb was pretty steep and thankfully there were switchbacks. I kept going steadily, although it was bit of a struggle!
There were signs warning of a yellow jacket nest on trail and I looked for them, I could see a couple of the bastards but they must be dying off for the season as I was able to run past quickly while holding my breath and I didn’t get stung.
At the top of the climb the trail mellowed significantly and it was nice and wide and cruisy with minimal things to trip over. It was a pleasure to walk on. This is the start of a few days in Shenandoah National Park.
So wide!
The start of many, many road crossings through the Shenandoah
The green tunnel is turning into the golden tunnel
The trees are yellowing, especially the lower ones, so at times you are walking through a golden tunnel rather than a green one. It’s lovely. The trees haven’t fully turned yet.
There were so many day hikers on trail, but that also meant that the trail was very well maintained which was nice.
I stopped and got a bit of water 6 miles in where there was a piped spring and then I caught up to Lemonhope, I tried to scare him but he heard me coming. We walked together for a bit, I managed to keep up on the uphills, and we came to a nice viewpoint where there is a big cliff and a steep drop.
Views
Views for days
It was now 6pm and we were going to start losing light soon, so I got a bit of a move on and tried to make it to the shelter as fast as I could so I didn’t have to hike with my headlamp on. I got to the side trail - which is pretty steep so I’m not looking forward to hiking out in the morning - and I could hear voices. When I arrived there were a whole bunch of people there but luckily only one in the shelter.
Gravel Springs gap
The guy in the shelter said he was an early riser and likes to be hiking at first light. I said we would probably be up before then and he said he never hikes in the dark because he doesn’t carry a head lamp. Ok.
Shelter life chose them
The others arrived and we sat at the picnic table and ate dinner. I wasn’t that hungry so I had a handful of crisps and a couple of biscuits. We put all our food in the bear box. The weekend hikers here, maybe 4 or 5 of them, made a fire in the fire pit. It was a real man make fire kind of thing because it was really unnecessary. They stood around it for about 2150 minutes and then went to bed leaving all the smoke to come into the shelter and make it hard to breathe! My eyes are irritated from the smoke and everything smells. Bloody weekenders!
