Date: 2006-11-20
From: Near Compton Gap Trail - Shenandoah National Park,

To: Shenandoah National Park - Pass Mountain, Va
Miles today: 21.7

It was chilly last night...in the upper 20's. I had trouble sleeping because of my knee...the one that took a banging on the rocks when I fell last week. It's much better to walk on, but when I lay on my side at night, my knee aches. The only way that it doesn't hurt, is to lay on my back and I'm not a back sleeper. Sure hope that doesn't last long. :-))) I woke up at 5:30, but it was still dark out and I didn't feel like getting started yet, so I stayed in my sleeping bag. Next I knew, it was 6:45am, so I made a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, then packed up. When I crawled outside my tent, I was surprised to see some lite snow on my tent and the leaves, but it stuck mostly to the fallen trees. I rolled up my tent and started walking at 7:15am. It was an easy walk to Compton Gap, then about a 500 foot climb to Compton Peak. I walked by four deer about 5 minutes into my walk. They were all close, but the closest was only about 10 feet away. They all just stood there and watched me walk by. I walked down to Jenkins Gap, then climbed about 1,000 feet up to the summit of N Marshall Mountain. I walked back down about 800 feet and passed by the side trail to Gravel Spring Hut without stopping. I climbed back up 800 feet to Hogback Mountain and sat down to eat lunch. I had a couple pieces of whole grain bread, the last of my cheese, a chocolate bar and some candy. I walked by another deer near the summit of that mountain. The temperature was changing a lot today. I would be walking along and the sun would break through the clouds and it felt warm even though it was in the 40's, then the clouds would come back, the wind would pick up and I had to zip up my jacket. It stayed on the cool side most of the day. I saw three more deer as I was descending Hogback Mountain. I walked down about 1,300 feet to Elk Wallow Wayside. It was closed, but I sat there and ate a real early dinner because there was garbage cans and I didn't want to have the smell of an empty Spam packet in my tent tonight. :-))) I sent in my journal entry from the payphone there, ate two Spam sandwiches, got rid of my garbage and walked on. It was an easy four miles to Byrds Nest 4 Day Use Area, but I missed the side trail to it. The markers here in Shenandoah are small steel bands on short concrete posts and us walkers that need reading glasses can't always read where we are. Well, I missed that area and didn't know it until I started climbing Pass Mountain. I stopped late in the day and set up my tent about 30 yards off the Trail and half a mile before Pass Mountain Hut. It was getting cold again since the sun was setting, so I crawled into my sleeping bag, ate a few cookies, brushed my teeth and put my food bag away. I normally write my journal for the hour before I fall asleep, but I didn't want to have my bare hands outside of the sleeping bag. :-))) I got out my MP3 player and listened to some music until I fell asleep. That music helped drown out the sound of a tree that had fallen part way and was leaning on another tree. It was making squeeching sounds as it rubbed on the other tree because of the wind. The Leaf Catching Game is history at midnight and I will tally the results and post them when I feel like it. Ha!!...remember, MY game, MY rules. ;-)))