Date: 2016-06-25
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: few clouds

Slept great last night for a first night back on the trail! This is such a lovely shelter area, it is difficult to get moving. I got myself packed up and went to the cooking pavilion to make breakfast. It was nice having a leisurely morning, chatting with other hikers that had arrived after I retired to my hammock. I was surprised that I knew quite a few of them. Getting to see people I met months ago is one of the benefits of jumping ahead on the trail. Of course the downside is having to return to hike sections missed!The trail north of the shelter headed downhill. What a nice change from the usual morning uphill climb. However, there is always a climb somewhere and the map listed a small climb to a ridge top clearing, that had a bench and offered a view. It sounded like a great place to stop for a morning snack and I was excited to make use of the bench! Coming out of the woods, I got to the top of the grassy ridge and began making my way across. I was surprised to see a SUV parked along the trail, and stopped to talk to the man doing trail maintenance. I asked him if he knew where a bench was along this section, and as you can see in the picture, he knew exactly where it was! Buried under a tree that had fallen. I was sooo disappointed, and asked him to hurry up with the sawing and get that tree outta my way! We had a good chuckle over that. I learned his name is Gray Ghost, that he made that bench, as well as all the footbridges and bog walkways in this section of trail! How great is that! I thanked him for all his work in maintaining the trail and told him how much I was enjoying the good footing. He is also an avid hiker, and will be heading southbound to Springer next week. Gray Ghost gave me a rundown on what to expect in the next few miles and I went on my way, smiling. The people I meet out here are incredible!Onward I went, down the switchbacks leading to Manassas Gap. I was about halfway down when I heard crash, crash, crash! I stopped. I listened again to be sure, I looked around carefully,seeing nothing. Hmmm. Mighty big noise, thankfully moving away from where I was standing, and it meant BEAR! Not seeing it, I proceeded slowly ahead, and took a deep breath, reminding myself that it was moving away, and that it could have been a clumsy deer. Not!Since my snack bench had been compromised in such an unfortunate manner, I aimed my sights at Manassas Gap, where there was a parking area, a stream and maybe someplace to sit and rest. Lo and behold, after walking through the parking area, there was a picnic table occupied by a couple of hikers, with room for me. I sat next to a young man, who looked awfully familiar, but I just couldn't place him. His name, Southwind, didn't give me any clues either. Finally I admitted that I couldn't place him and he told me the last time I saw him was the night at Symm's Gap - he was the kid who vomited all night! ( what a way to be remembered!) It was great to see him again, and looking so much better. We commiserated on how miserable we each felt that night and laughed about how awful it was. Also at the table were Tsai and Older Dog. I first met them both way back at Lance Creek in Georgia. Older Dog I saw again at Wood's Hole Hostel where he was taking a zero to recover from a cold. Sitting around gabbing wasn't getting us down the trail, so one by one we packed up our snacks and left. Gray Ghost had warned me about an area of blow downed trees and sure enough, climbing out of Manassas Gap was an obstacle course mess of trees. A super storm had gone through the week before, and the trail crews had done what they could to make the trail passable, but there is really so much work to do it would probably take a year. It was slow going and I arrived at Manassas Gap shelter for a late lunch about 2 pm. The piped water source was flowing well so I filled up my bottles. I had promised my feet some time out of boots, so I put on my Crocs and hung my socks out to dry. Ahhhh. A section hiker arrived with his dog off leash. The hound jumped up on me, slobbering all over while his owner is telling me not to pet him as he has been into poison ivy. Great. How about you leash your darn dog and keep it off of me! I love dogs, but cannot stand irresponsible owners. Soon they both left, and I went and washed my arms and legs, praying for no poison ivy, as I am highly allergic to it. The dog's barking was replaced by voices coming down the trail to the shelter, and who should it be but Storm Crow, one of my favorite people! He was with a father and son, (Shake and Bake, respectively) and Bake's two buddies. They were slackpacking this section and looking mighty pleased with themselves! Storm Crow I met at Hiker Hostel in Dahlongena, Ga, back in March. Then I saw him at Wood's Hole Hostel back before I got off the trail. He is doing well and continues to lose the weight as he wanted.After an hour of lunch, rest and conversation, it was time to get back to it. The trail improved from here and I was able to make good time, even with frequent rest stops to snack. I got to Dick's Dome shelter about 4:30 pm and was not impressed at all. It is a small, dome shaped shelter that was an Eagle Scout project. Unfortunately it sat in a low area by the creek, so it was dark and buggy. A new shelter is being built up the hill from it, and I wandered up there to see what that area was like. Big Heart (a section hiker) is here as well, and we decided this is the place to be even though it is not completed. It has a roof and a covered front porch with a picnic table. There are also two reclining camp chairs! Big Heart set up inside the shelter on the unfinished floor and I went up further to scout out my hammock trees and get set up. It is lighter and a nice breeze here and no bugs so this shelter will be a good one to revisit in the future. I took my food bag back to the shelter and began dinner prep by having a cup of tea while sitting in the recliner chair with my feet up! Now this is camping!!It was a very pleasant evening. Big Heart shared his Mountain House Apple Crisp with me as we watched hikers roll in. Two other tents joined him in the shelter, and more joined me up the hill. There were probably about 15 people in the area tonight.The sky is clear and I don't think rain is expected, so I am going to leave my door flaps of my tarp open so I can look out at the woods as I fall asleep.