Date: 2012-05-30
From: Big Meadows Campground

To: Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel 
Miles today: 17.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night it continued to rain then stopped at some point. But the wind continued all night so when we woke up out tents were mostly dry and we were able to pack up and were on the trail by 9:00am. Today was going to an easier day because there were no big climbs and today we also will get to the best part of the trail through the Shenandoah¢s. We got to Franklin Cliffs before the haze set in so we had some good views. The rest of the views will be hazy today. I got to the first shelter and decided to go down to see who all was there last night. When I got there it was still packed with hikers. They were trying to dry out their gear before they left. DW was the only hiker from the shelter yesterday that made it that far; he said that he had to hike through last night¢s storms for two miles. I took a break there for half an hour waiting for Big Sky and Catfish to catch up but I guess they moved on past the shelter so I moved on up the trail.After hiking for 3.8 miles, I finally caught up to Big Sky and Catfish at the park stables...Big Sky saw her first black bear in this section! There was a picnic table at the park stables so we took a break there and watched the horses. When we were about to leave DW showed up and we hiked to the Skyland Resort and Restaurant to eat lunch. When we walked in, I did not feel that ¢us hikers¢ belonged there!   Everyone was dressed up and there was classical music playing and I did not feel that us smelly, dirty hikers really belonged. Once we had our fill we continued north to Little Stoney Man Cliffs and took a short break there to enjoy the views and nice cool breeze. The trail got really rocky after that point so our pace was a little slower but we made it the three miles to the Pinnacles Picnic Area by 3:30pm and refilled our water bottles before we did the biggest climb of the day which was only 375 feet up. I got out ahead and flew up the climb. I got to the Byrds Nest Shelter but did not stay because I wanted to get to Mary's Rocks to enjoy the best views in the park. I got to Mary's rocks and was the only one there; I climbed up on top of the tallest bolder and just took in the views. Soon after Big Sky and Catfish arrived and did the same.   (Pictures will be posted soon)Today we were planning on calling the Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel which is about 25 miles trail miles north of us. They do a special where if you stay two nights they do free slack packing. The plan is to go there tonight then tomorrow they will drop us off at US 211 and we will slack pack 24 miles back to the hostel and stay there tomorrow night. I had good reception on The Pinnacle but did not have any on Mary's rocks, so we decided to go down to the Panorama Parking Area to see if we could hitch a ride into Luray VA and call from there.We started down the mountain and the trail was really rocky, the rockiest section of the trail so far I think, so it took us awhile to get down to the parking lot. The rocks do not bother me so I just fly over them! I rushed thru the rocks and was ahead of the rest for a while. As I was going along and saw something black out of the corner of my eye and turned and look and there was a bear about ten feet beside me. It just stood there looking at me and I was able to get a great picture of it. It then walked up the mountain and out of sight.We finally got to the parking lot and there was one car in the parking lot and I passed the people earlier in the day. I started talking to them and they asked where we were going from there, I told them what our plan was and how it failed. I told them we were going to go down to US 211 and try to hitch into town. They then offered to take us up to Front Royal which is exactly where we needed to go. We piled into their car and were on our way to town. We were dropped off at McDonalds and we ate supper then called the Hostel to see if they can pick us up. While I was on the phone a guy came up and recognized us as hikers. He knew the owner and offered to take us there.We got to the hostel and found it was a full house, Connect Four and Tickle Monster were there but still a day ahead of us trail wise. All the bunks were full so we had to sleep on the couches and recliner but it was still better than a shelter. Tomorrow we will go back to Us 211 and hike 24 miles back to here so we need our sleep for tomorrow...night all.