Date: 2015-07-29
From: Front Royal

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: light rain

The day started early. I found myself awake in the hiker hostel's bed just at dawn. It wasn't daylight that caused me to stir, but the quiet packing of the other two, more experienced hikers. They were already dressed and starting the chore of repacking their backpacks.I quickly dressed and made my way downstairs. Seemed odd at first to have slept in the same room with two strangers - one of them being a woman. But that's the informality of the trail. Same thing happened in the trail shelters. Modesty at camp was stepping to the side of the shelter just out of eyesight of others to change a critical piece of clothing. True for men and women alike. Others respected your need for a brief moment of privacy.The breakfast at Mountain Home Hostel was great. Eggs, toast, a variety of jams and jellies, grits, plus a ton of coffee and a lot of fun conversation. I was polite and didn't ask for seconds. I still didn't realize it, but I was not eating enough. My caloric intake was still way below what I was burning on a daily basis. I was hiking over 12 miles per day on average - and that average was rising as I added more 14 mile days. With a 35 lb backpack on mountain terrain I was burning between 3,000 and 4,000 calories per day. What I was carrying in my food pack, including energy bars, didn't equal more than 2,500 calories per day. When I reached Bears Den Hostel a few days later, I stepped on a scale and was stunned to find I'd lost 10 lbs in just under 2 weeks on the trail.I quickly packed up after breakfast. Then like the old Woody Guthrie song, I bade my new friends a "so long it's been good to know you......." That's the unique thing about hiking the trail. You meet people, share stories and develop a common bond, connect with them at their level, then move on in the morning and never see them again. The anonymity of trail names ensures it.Well, I was going to bring down my average daily mileage today. Only planned a 10 mile hike to Manassas Gap Shelter. Recall I was now out of the Nat'l Park. And also remember, a lot of the trail was downhill yesterday. And what goes down in the mountains, must go back up. And so it did on this day's trip.The day was humid at the start. It became hotter as the day progressed - perhaps one of the hottest since I'd started the trail. Lowland temps were to be in the mid-90s. Even a cooler temp of the upper 80s in the mountains coupled with that humidity made the day a real killer. My first climb out of the gap was 1,000 ft.I planned on stopping at the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter about 4-5 miles up the trail. That would allow me to resupply with water. Besides, I wanted to see that particular shelter (see photo). It is one of the newest in Virginia and had a few nice amenities. One of them was a solar heated shower. Seemed that every woman I met on the trail wanted to overnight at that particular shelter. So I wanted to see this "Hilton" of the AT.I made it to the Denton shelter without much trouble. After inspecting the premises, resting on that fine Adirondack bench on the deck, eating my energy bar and slaking my thirst with fresh spring water, I again hit the trail. The heat kept rising.It was on that next uphill, the one just before Manassas Gap Shelter, that it happened. I bonked. I hit the wall. Scientifically, the glycogen stores in my liver and muscles were depleted. I had no fuel left in the old boiler. It was a struggle to make that last 900 ft climb. I stopped many times - something I had not done on any previous day. But I made it. No sweeter sight ever was that sign for the turnoff to the Manassas Gap Shelter. Sweat was steadily dripping off my arms and legs. Every clothing item I was wearing was soaked, including my hat. Boy was I glad that was over. I decided then I needed to carry more food - especially more trail food. But I would not have that opportunity to stock up until Bears Den Hostel. They advertised light re-supply.During my hike I had heard the voices of young people behind me. Amazing how loud kids can be in a place of quiet beauty like this forest - and how far the sound travels. But it had helped with the motivation to complete the hike before they were upon me. No dignity in having young teens see an older guy struggling along. Shortly after I'd set up my sleeping arrangement in one of the ugliest shelters on the AT at Manassas Gap, the young people arrived in camp. Fortunately, they were shepherded by counselors from the school program whence they'd come. And they chose a large campsite some distance from the shelter where I was ensconced. Nonetheless they had to come by the shelter to access the trail to the privy. I playfully gave each of them a hard time when one would ask directions to the outhouse. I'd point the way, and add, "But it's out of order." This seemed to cause special consternation on the part of the girls. It was just like teasing my daughters when they were younger......As I was about to start boiling water to add to my freeze-dried delight that evening, the last hiker arrived close to 6:00 pm. She was a heavyset older woman with a noticeable New York accent. I would characterize her as the classic Jewish grandmother (whether she was Jewish or not!). She chose a campsite not far down the trail from my ugly shelter, then joined me at the (only) picnic table that graced the front of every shelter. I introduced myself as Blazer. She introduced herself as "More-to-Go." Like me, More-to-Go was a section hiker. She had already completed many different sections of the AT. Living in Syracuse, NY, she had ready access to the trail. More-to-Go was a southbounder, while I was headed northbound. Starting at Bears Den Hostel, she had hiked the lion's share of the fabled Roller Coaster section of the AT in northern Virginaia - 10 miles of it to be exact. That was just two days earlier. She announced her trip was through early however. It was the heat. Just proved too much discomfort for her. More-to-Go was hiking on south to Front Royal the next day, then had arranged for her husband to pick her up for a ride home. She mentioned staying at a new hostel, Mountain Home. I gave it a very good reference.More-to-Go informed me that she had good information from a knowledgeable source that the shelter I was camped out in had a resident copperhead living in it. I laughed. Every shelter, I said, had snakes living underneath them. I would, however, keep my hiking shoes on the platform in the shelter that night, rather than on the ground in front of the shelter.She did give me a good tip about how to hike the Roller Coaster. That section of trail is marked by continuous steep up and down hills with very rocky terrain. She said on the downhill side in the hollow (or holler), there was always water. The trick was to guzzle water and empty your water bottles before tackling any uphill section of the Roller Coaster. Take empty water bottles uphill (lighter pack), then refill in the hollows, guzzle water and empty the bottles, then take on the next uphill. I thought it sounded like a good idea. Since More-to-Go had just been thru the Roller Coaster, there was still likely to be water in those hollows. I thanked her for the strategy.The night went by quietly. No copperhead joined me in the shelter or was found wrapped around my hiking shoes in the morning. Even though I was sure of that outcome before nodding off to sleep the night before, I did elect to keep a long trekking pole within short reach of my sleeping bag. You figure out why.....