Date: 2009-06-07
From: Manassas Gap Shelter, VA

To: Sam Moore Shelter, VA
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: few clouds

Cell very poorOG notesIt is amazing how the time of day you hike something effects your feelings about it. Today we hiked "The Roller Coaster". This is a section named that because of the hills you go up and down on. Today we hiked about 6 miles of it at the end of an almost 20 mile day. The last time I hiked it was at the beginning of the day. Last time I thought it was so easy and didn't know what all the fuss was. Today I found it a bit harder but not that hard. I guess it's the almost a thousand miles of conditioning we have that puts us in a unique position. I'm sure this section really kicks the butt of many day hikers and weekenders. I know hiking from Harpers Ferry into the Shenandoahs is a popular hike. That would put this section in their second day of hiking. With little hiking behind them it probably is very hard.We found ourselves with a lot of energy today. We reached the last shelter about 1pm and felt it was too early to stop for the day. In the past we would have stayed but today we had an urge to move on. I think Harpers Ferry is calling us. Harpers Ferry is the home of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the governing body of the trail. When we arrive there they'll take our picture and tell us how many thru-hikers are ahead of us. This caused us a lot of thinking of all the friends we've hiked with that we know are ahead of us. We reminisced about different people and how much we liked them. We will probably not see most of them again as the gap between us will grow. We may also be surpised by some as we catch them or they come up behind us later down the trail. A big part of being in this traveling community is the people you meet and the friendships you build. We all have the trail in common and similar friends and experiences. This makes for conversations to start very quickly at the shelters in the evening. In some cases these hikers become your new friends for a long time and others cases you will never see them again. Tomorrow we will leave Virginia. We entered her on April 24th and we've hiked her over a month. Virginia has about 1/4 of the trail miles, the aongest state on the AT. It is a real accomplishment to hike all the way through her and continue toward Maine. Soon the we'll change states fairly quickly. Finishing one state and starting another is a real morale boost, we tend to get excited by little things. I'll leave you tonight with "Onward to Maine"C6 notesWe stop at many of the shelters and read entries in the shelter logs each day to find out how our friends are doing. This afternoon we read about an experience with a rabid skunk! Prarie Dog, Angry Beaver, Early Bear, and Neal (O.G.) had quite an experience a few days ago. Prarie Dog and Angry Beaver woke up at 5:30am to a skunk chewing on their tent. It's a long story in the shelter log, so I don't remember all the details. The highlights that I remember are that the skunk tried to get in Prarie Dog and Angry Beaver's tent multiple times. The skunk chased them and Early Bear. They kicked the skunk and it went away long enough for them to grab their stuff and run about a mile down the trail. The skunk chased them up the trail! Neal came along and guarded them with a can of mace so Prarie Dog, Angry Beaver, and Early Bear could get dressed, put on their boots, and try to pack their gear (they were just carrying things loose). Neal sprayed the skunk with the mace, but it still tried to attack everyone. Unfortunately, the skunk sprayed Prarie Dog and Angry Beaver and bit Early Bear on the foot. Early Bear finally killed the skunk with is hiking pole...a necessary evil in this case. It could have attacked others. Early Bear is now getting the series of rabies shots.Thank heavens you rarely hear stories of rabid animals. We're glad we stopped at that shelter and looked in the log. Wow!We hiked most of "The Roller Coaster" today. It's a hilly section the section maintainers dubbed with that name. The section has a reputation of being very difficult. We found it hard, but not as hard as many of the mountains we hiked in GA and NC. Many thru-hikers wrote notes in the shelter log here of how disappointed they were with the roller coaster because of all the hype about it. I do admit it has parts that are quite challenging...especially if you are not a regular hiker. I could see some folks having a very difficult time with it. The last hill just before this shelter kicked our butts, but overall the hills were okay. They didn't last a real long time, and there were nice level areas and downhills. So today was a much better day than yesterday! We hiked a good number of miles and we felt good until that last hill. The shelter is right after that last hill, so we were able to refresh ourselves with dinner not long after we got here.Old Goat & Check Six