Date: 2016-05-25
From: Front Royal Terrapin Station Hostel

To: Gravel Springs Hut
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

We get an early start and arrive at Gravel Springs Hut in Shenandoah National Park (SNP) by early afternoon. For the time being we seem to have the camp site to ourselves. It is sunny and clear. I decide to test the feasibility of a couple things I have not tried yet on the trail. I have brought a foldable 2 liter sink with me, so I fill it with water from the stream and take it and a washcloth out to a semi-private area behind the privy. It feels good to wipe off the sweat from a day of hiking and put on clean clothes. This is definitely worth trying again if I can work out the privacy issue. The 13L dry sack I pack all my clothes in can also be used to wash clothes. It is called the Scrubba Wash Bag and has internal nubs that act as a washboard. It is pretty slick. I wash today¢s hiking clothes and hang them to dry. What I find is that it is also very important to have a towel to roll your clothes in after washing to get most of the water out before hanging to dry. I did not do that and I had some items that did not dry completely by the end of the evening. I am beginning to realize I packed too much food for this hiking section. I packed as if for the next eight days I would only be eating from my pack. But we are in SNP with multiple opportunities to eat at a grill or restaurant, or shop at a camp store. People at camp made gentle fun of my red seemingly Santa bag-sized food bag. My 55L backpack is barely able to hold everything and it is heavy. My combined pack weight without food and water is about 30 pounds, so I was easily carrying 45 pounds today. I say combined pack weight because, in addition to my main pack, I also have a small two-chamber pack (Ribz pack) that clips together over my ribs. It holds 4-5 pounds of food and gear. I keep my camera and stuff I want close at hand and easy to get to in this pack. I have also found that I can tuck the lens end of my camera in between by breastbone and the pack so it does not swing free on my neck cord, and is easy to grab with one hand to quickly take a picture.We had our first bear sighting today. A bear kept circling the camp site this evening looking for food. It was very persistent despite our yelling and even throwing a few stones towards it. I walked back uphill towards Skyline drive to get cell reception and call Gayle. While there I saw a deer and fawn crossing the road. By the end of the evening there are a lot of people at the shelter. The shelter and picnic table is the social hub of the whole campsite. A large number of hikers know each other from the trail and it feels like Pilgrim and I have stepped into a well-formed community of people. We meet lots of neat people including: Veggie Stew (or possibly Stu) is a young English teacher from Birmingham England. El Tejano (The Texan) is about my age. His Trail Journal is definitely worth looking up. He has posted a lot of pictures and many stories of his journey thus far. It was amazing to me that he could write so much information while he was on the trail, but then I read in one of his posts that he dictates his journal. He then sends it electronically to his wife at home who transcribes it and posts it to the Trail Journal web site. That explains how he does but it is still quite impressive to me.