Date: 2018-06-22
From: Byrd's Nest #3 Hut

To: Tom Floyd Wayside
Miles today: 28.0

I woke up last night to my finger in pain. I turned on my headlamp to find it bleeding. Apparently a mouse thought my finger was food and bit it. Luckily it wasn't that deep. A few hours later we woke up to a grunting noise. It sounded like a bear right outside the shelter. When we turned on our headlamps it was actually a huge buck eating plants. We went back to bed. In the morning it was still raining and the weather forecast said it wasn't stopping. I slowly got up and started packing up. I ate a poptart for breakfast. I didn't want to put my wet clothes back on but I did anyways. It was so cold that I put my fleece on under my rain jacket. When leaving the shelter a huge gust of wind hit me. It was freezing.The trail was a combination of slick rocks and mud. It continued to rain without stop. Parts of the trail turned into small streams that seem to stretch for a quarter mile. There were no views either since the clouds were dense. My shining light was another wayside about 11 miles away. I pushed on as I could feel my feet turn to mush as they got soaked. Around 2 pm we rolled into the elk wallow wayside. Rebel Yell was there eating a chili dog. At the wayside I bought a grilled chicken sandwich and fries and hung outside with Rebel. A few people stopped by and asked about how our thru hike was going. Some had even considered doing it but either had to many responsibilities or debt. About 30 minutes later Melody showed up and also got food at the wayside. She said she had been thinking about cheese fries for the last two hours. I think I've gotten to the point where food is my main motivator. After lunch we all headed out. We were aiming for the shelter about 7 miles away but Rebel and I were planning on getting as close to Front Royal as possible.  I pushed onto the next shelter to find that it was full and most of the tenting places were taken. I filled my water bottle knowing that I would be stealth camping somewhere between this shelter and the Tom Floyd shelter. I got my water and continued on. The rain hadn't stopped either. At the next gap a woman in her car got my attention and asked if I wanted trail magic. I couldn't turn her down even though it was 6:30 and would be dark soon. She fed me chocolate milk, chocolate muffins, cheez it's, and pop tarts. I chugged a Gatorade as well. She was slack packing her son Bo who had started May 6th. He had been averaging 30 mile days. I couldn't think of doing consistent 30s but he was on a deadline for school in August.  I thanked her for the food and headed out. The sky started to darken and the trail was still a mud mess. I kept hiking without a headlamp as far as I could. Around 9 pm I had to use it. The rain was coming down harder and the light from the headlamp could only show 10 feet ahead of me. I kept my eyes on the white blazes to make sure I didn't get lost. The trail kept getting worse with more mud and water. I came to Compton gap and it took me 10 minutes to find the continuation of the trail. It was an old fire access road that was barely marked with white blazes. I was walking along and my foot suddenly sunk up to my knee cap in water and mud. I thought my sandals were going to come off in it. It seemed that I also lost the blazes but after another quarter mile I finally saw one. I passed sign that said I was leaving the Shenandoahs park. Finally! After the sign jagged steep wet rocks appeared on the trail. It was the park's way of kicking me out. After another mile I came to the Tom Floyd Wayside. It wasn't a wayside but a leaky shelter. I saw that Rebel Yell and another hiker were sleeping in there already. The hiker made some room for me on a non dripped spot. I didn't want to make dinner since it was almost 11 pm. I had done Rebel's birthday challenge were you hike your age in miles. We had done 28 today. I ate a Snickers bar, got into dry clothes, then curled into my sleeping bag. It was a long 13 hour hike day and I felt it.Tonight I'm crashing hard.