Date: 2012-06-01
From: Front Royal Terrapin Statin Hostel

To: The Loft Hostel
Miles today: 7.7

This morning we were first to go back to the trail and were on the trail by 8:00am. We finished the last 3 miles back to the hostel that we had to make up from yesterday and got there a little past 9:00am. We packed up our gear and were heading north by 10:00am. The further we got up the trail the darker the skies got but it did not rain on us. We got to US 522 at around 11:30am and we could hear thunder off in the distance so we decided to go to town and see what the weather was going to do. We got a hitch to town in no time and got dropped off at Burger King and not long after we got there it started to rain. I checked the weather forecast and it looked like it was going to get worse as the day went on. We remembered about the Loft Hostel that the lady runs in town, the one that gave us a ride into Elkton VA a few days back, so we called her to see if she had any room. She did have room so we decided to play it safe and reserved three spots. The only thing was she could not pick us up in town until later in the evening but there is plenty to do in Front Royal to keep us busy. About an hour after we made reservations at the Loft Hostel, the rain stopped and the skies somewhat cleared up but by then it was too late in the day to start hiking again. Big Sky, Catfish and I walked around town, visited a few Civil War Museums, sat around the town square for awhile, went to Dunkin Donuts and got a free donut because apparently it is national donut day today...sweeeet...no pun intended! Then later on we ran into Mad Hat and hung out with him some. The four of us then went to a local pizza shop for supper and while we were there the bad storms finally showed up. The place was packed and the owner made an announcement that there was a tornado watch out and if there was one we were all to go into the walk-in freezer. Everyone stayed inside because it got really windy outside but I love storms so I was outside watching it. It was pouring and the wind was blowing in all diretions but there was hardly any lightning and it never really amounted to anything except a typical bad summer storm. The lady that owns the Loft Hostel came and picked us up at 7:30pm and we were on our way to her place. Her and her husband run a hostel out of their house, the hikers all stay up on a big loft above their garage, they feed us supper and breakfast, we can shower and launday and its all free. The hostel was a little out of town and we pulled into a gated comunity. There were huge houses everywhere. Their place on the very top of a mountain and the further up we went, the bigger the houses got. We arrived at the hostel and went inside and were greated by Sam their dog who was very happy to see us. She was running around howling and making all kinds of noises...it was funny to see! She showed us around the place. The house was designed to look like a Japanese house, it had Japanese decorations, stay furniture and even those sliding paper door things...I was so tempted to punch through them like they do in the movies. She then showed us the loft. We had our own bathroom, shower, dining area, a couch and tv, big sleeping pads to sleep on and all the fixings....this place is awesome. Later on four section hikers from Ohio showed up. They are going to be taken up to the PA/MD line and are hiking back to the hostel southbound. So tonight there are only seven hikers in the loft so there is plenty of room for all of us. Tomorrow we start the last push to get out of VA...finally!!! So its time for bed...night all.