Date: 2023-05-12
From: Tent site at mile 942.3

To: Tent Site at mile 963.7
Miles today: 21.4

May 12 Hiking day 62 Ending Elevation 2644 feetToday would have been my stepfather¢s birthday, I m not sure which one but he would have been over 90. I always remember it because I ruined his birthday when I was 10 years old when my appendix ruptured and I almost died. I¢m quite sure he always remembered that birthday too!We had a good day, hiked a bit farther than we planned. We wanted to take advantage of the good weather and get as close to Front Royal today so we wouldn¢t have to walk so far in the predicted rain tomorrow. The problem was that we had trouble locating a stealth tent site so we kept walking until we did.This morning, we were motivated to get to the final Wayside Camp Store and Grill 10.7 miles away in time for lunch, and we did. Kerry and I had hamburgers again and Felix got his hot dog (hold the relish) with mayo. We also bought more dog food since we were completely out! We bought sandwiches for dinner, and in celebration of our final night in Shenandoah, Kerry bought a beer to share to go with them. We had lots of other stuff too, doing our part to keep the park concessions profitable.At Thornton Gap, I read a park info-panel that confirmed what I thought: many of the trails were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s. The reason I thought this was because some of the rock work on retaining walls is truly amazing. They also did a lot of work on erosion control on the Skyline Road that runs the length of this narrow park.On those same panels I read about different animals in the park including the Timber Rattlesnake, which maybe what I saw earlier in the week. But today, I almost stepped on another black snake which struck a position to strike and rattled its tail at me. It had a light multi-colored underbelly and I have no idea what it was. Kerry got some great photos so we will have to investigate.Later, we met another volunteer, Don Terry, from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club with a bucket of paint re-blazing the trees. Earlier we had seen some greenery painted in neon blue/green; apparently an invasive non-native called, ¢garlic mustard¢ that has thrived particularly well this year. The eradication poison was quite strong smelling where freshly sprayed, and thankfully, that gave way fairly quickly to the scent of the heavenly azaleas that proliferateOn the info-panel, I also read that air quality is a problem and concern in the park: on a clear day one used to be able to see 115 miles. Now, one is lucky to see 26 miles distant and 15 is more common. The haze we see does seem to have increased as we have walked further north and got closer to the urban areas of north Virginia and Washington DC.The only AT hiker we saw today was City Dog again, who walked by our campsite. He in a hurry because he has to go home to Massachusetts for a few days.Felix got de-ticked and brushed and is trying to sleep with us rustling all around him. Last night he had some active dreams, probably chasing those white-tailed animals that drive him so crazy. In his sleep he was making happy doggy yipping sounds. Hopefully tonight he¢ll have more mellow dreams! Time to join him.