Date: 2003-05-31
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Jim & Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning, I said my goodbyes to Kellen/Flykiller, Jason/Deerslayer, and Ray/Twisted Blister, as we weren't headed to the same place as them tonight. Randy was headed for the same place. As it turns out, Hotdog and I saw Twisted Blister later in the day. He'd been having a lot of trouble with blisters, and Deerslayer ran ahead to get their car, and pick up Twisted Blister at a road crossing. I had a good time hanging out with them several days in a row.It was raining when we left the shelter, and rained pretty hard for a while, but then the sun came out and stayed out for most of the day. The day's hike was fairly uneventful. We left Shenandoah National Park, without seeing a bear. We ran into a lot of other backpackers, most of them out for a few days to a week. We met southbounder Dolomite, and talked to him for a little while, which we tend to do when meeting others on the trail.We stopped for lunch just past noon, after having already hiked over 10 miles! It seemed like the miles flew by! Lunch was at Tom Floyd Wayside, which is just a shelter and tenting area. No food like the other waysides. There we saw Siesta, a thruhiker who'd come from a hostel just south on the trail, and a guy headed out for 10 days in the Park. He had rented all of his gear for an unbelievable $32!! He was in the Navy and got it from his base for that rate. When he put his pack on to head south, it looked strange, not fitting right. Hotdog and I were checking it out, when I noticed it was a Kelty, same brand as my pack. I realized it can be adjusted, just like mine, and we moved his shoulder harness farther up, providing a much better fit. He said it was like night and day the way it felt before and after the adjustments. It was nice to be able to help someone out.I don't consider myself an 'expert' hiker, even though I have well over 900 miles under my belt. I will tell people what worked for me, but by no means do I consider my way the best way for anyone but me.   Still, in the case today, I was able to help someone out, and that's a nice feeling.After crossing 522, we came across a sudden swamp. The trail, for about 50 ft was flooded, with standing water ankle deep. I tried to skirt around the edge as much as I could, and escaped with minor foot wettage. It was quite surprising, and honestly, not wanted. Right after that, as Hotdog and I were surveying the damage, and cussing the water, I looked off to the side and saw a snake curled up around the top of a bush that looked not nearly strong enough to hold it. As I showed it to Hotdog, it slithered down from its perch.Around 5pm, we arrived at the short trail to the Jim & Molly Denton Shelter. As we're getting to the shelter, Hotdog says "Holy shit! There's Gary!" Gary is a friend of Hotdog's, and I met him at Trail Days. He's a member of some of the internet mailing lists that I was a member of, and lives in the DC area. We had let him know approximately where we'd be, and he showed up at the shelter. He packed in strawberries, oranges, soda and beer. Trail Magic! I downed a soda, tore into the strawberries, then worked over an orange. Mmmm.... oranges! Then I started on the beer. Paparazzi and Mule had left to get the shelter beer and chips, and returned shortly after we arrived. A few showers came and went, but nothing bad.It was Happy Pappy's birthday, more reason to celebrate. Also at the shelter were Dutch Tulip, Siesta, Josh and Alicia, and the later-named Iowa Hive: Queen Bee, Drone, and Janet. We all sat around, having a few drinks, chatting. It was nice to meet s! uch friendly people. I spent a lot of time talking to the Iowa Hive. They were hiking southbound from Harpers Ferry.Before long, the beer was gone, and Siesta joined Paparazzi and Mule for another beer run. In all, a case and a half of beer disappeared somehow. We stayed up late talking, taking group photos and having a good time, and were probably too loud for those who didn't stay up as late. I had a great time, and was one of the last three to crash, around midnight.It is so awesome for people to come out of their way to make this hike better by providing Trail Magic. It's the people that I meet that make this such a special adventure. Most of them I will never meet again, but some, I hope, will keep in touch.