Date: 2019-07-06
From: Rock Spring Hut (VA)

To: Pass Mountain Hut (VA)
Miles today: 15.3

The plan for today was to do just over 15 miles. I¢ve done a 20 now, 15 is nothing, right? Never mind that it is our second longest day since we started.I was the first one up at the shelter this morning. I got water from the spring down the hill and retrieved our food from the bear box. Eventually everyone else was awake too.I started hiking a little earlier than our usual of 8:30, maybe 8:00. The elevation profile looked tame, and we arrived at Skyland Resort (4.4 miles away) almost an hour before lunch was being served. Like at Big Meadows yesterday, we hooked into the WiFi and charged our devices while waiting.SC and I shared the fried brussel sprouts. She had the turkey dinner while I had a salad with grilled chicken. Everything was good once we put more salt on the sprouts. We were disappointed that they didn¢t offer the sundae here, but the cheesecake with blackberry compote was an acceptable alternative. Anyway, I¢ve been enjoying this eating at restaurants along the trail thing. We left a little after 1. We still had 10.9 miles to go, but this is Shenandoah National Park. It¢s flat, right?We first encounter a bunch of day hikers. A woman points me out to her son, maybe 11 years old. ¢Do you want to do that one day, put everything you need into a pack and go on a long hike?¢¢Um, no.¢Most of the day hikers are headed to Stony Man. It¢s .2 miles off trail, and we don¢t have time for many bonus miles today. Besides, the trail goes right over Little Stony Man which is supposed to have similar views.I¢m going downhill for a little while when I see a sign for a view. It claims it¢s only 100 yards away. It was one of the longest 100 yards I¢ve experienced. The view was ok, but it was fun to see where people were getting on to climb Little Stony Man. SC and I meet up at Byrds Nest #3 Hut to sign the hut register, and make plans to meet up again at Mary¢s Rock. It¢s only .1 miles off trail and comments on Guthook promise good views. By the time I get up there, I¢m already dragging. It¢s hard for me to find the motivation to get up and press on to the next hut. But eventually I do get up and start hiking again. SC leaves before me, and I tell her I¢ll see her at the hut. I have 3 miles to cover and most of it is downhill. I figure it will take me about 90 minutes. I¢ll get to the hut about sunset. But there were rocks coming downhill, lots of rocks. I kept seeing the road I was supposed to be crossing and it still looked so far away. I walked for what seemed like forever before getting to a parking lot, and it was there that I saw my 5th bear. It wasn¢t a scary encounter, but it did remind me that I was in bear country.I look at Guthook, and I¢m discouraged to see that I still have 1.2 miles to go and they¢re all uphill. It¢s now dark, so I put on my headlamp. I¢m tapping my trekking poles on every rock I can find and on each other, trying to warn any potential bears about my presence. Finally, I see the shelter!  I¢m just about there and I see something moving in brush. I let out a shriek. SC hears me. ¢Are you okay?¢ she asks.¢Yeah, it was just a rabbit.¢ It was actually the 3rd one of the day, and besides the ones at Holy Family Hostel, the only ones I had seen on the trail.Anyway, this was the 3rd day in a row I had come into camp after dark. I need to quit doing this. SC and I had talked about it last night. While a lot of hikers like to night hike, we talked about the downsides: in the dark everything looks like a bear, you can¢t enjoy the scenery because you can¢t see the scenery, and the hassle of setting up in the dark.