Date: 2016-08-30
From: Manassas Gap Shelter

To: Mountain Cabbin Hostel 
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, today was supposed to start at 0400. I'd planned to beat some of this heat with a little bit of a night hike. The plan was to wake at 0400 and be on the trail by 0500. I'd have to use my headlamp for about an hour. Then take a break, let my eyes adjust, and then continue. Well, that was the plan. I'd gone to sleep at 1800. I slung my hammock in the shelter; there wasn't any one else around. Things always fall on the roof from trees. But I awoke about 2230 hearing what I believed to be things falling on the interior shelter floor. It was pitch dark. On goes the headlamp. As I start to look around I'm sure something dropped into my hammock. I get out and get a better look.At first nothing. Then I get a look at the corner behind me. It was like the scene from Indiana Jones. The actress states the floor is moving. Harrison FoRd drops the torch and says: "Snakes!"Yes, snakes. Lots and lots of little snakes. Coming out of the wall and falling on the floor. Falling into my boots. And landing in my hammock. I launch the one outide from the hammock. I pound on the floor with a trekking pole. The vibration causes them to slither back into the wall. Must be time to pack. My callsign (trailname) is Viper. I can't identify these. They are about 6 to 9 inches long,about the diameter of my shoelace, and dark grey or black. All cats are grey in the dark. I get all my belongings on the picnic table. My boots have been by the shelter opening. The inner soles were tilted to air the boot. I'd watched at least 2 snakes land on these like sliding boards. Zip, right into the boot.So, empty the boots; 4 in one, 2 in the other. Then, empty my pack. Everything out, then everything repacked. No snakes. A postscript note in the shelter register. I'm ready to hike. It's 2300. And it's a great hike. But it's still humid. Within the first hour I'm sweating about as much as I was this afternoon.And I get to view wildlife. Two does and a very proud pronghorn just stand perfectly still while I walk in close proximity. There are two instances where I hear what sounds like a bear. When I turn to look I'm searching in heavy vegetation. That's where bears usually are. If it sounds like a bear...I have no problems. I actually walk as fast as I do in daylight. I'm at Jim & Molly Denton Shelter about 0200.Well some things done right. Now for things done wrong. My hiking clothes work on evaporative principles. I've been sweating. The temperature is dropping, not much, but some. Enough to cause me to start to chill. I see one person sleeping in the shelter. Rather than disturb him I drop my gear on the picnic table. I continue to chill. In fact I start to shiver. That's a clue; time to eat. Heat water. Hot chocolate in a Nalgene bottle. Oatmeal into the rest of the hot water in the pot. The hot chocolate bottle becomes a "hot water bottle" tucked under my shirt while I eat oatmeal. As soon as the shivers subside I get into my rain gear. Vapor barrier. Once I eat the rest of the oatmeal and drink the hot chocolate I'm warm enough for a nap. I get a nap until 0530. I repack my gear and I'm off by 0600. At 0830 I'm on the porch of the hostel. A shower and then sleep.