Date: 2007-06-02
From: U.S. 50, Ashby Gap

To: Bears Den Hostel
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I remember just a short time ago I was wishing for warmer weather. Well, we have it now! The sweat just pours out of our pores it is so hot and humid. And it is only going to get worse. Our hydration packs worked great today. It is wonderful to be able to take a drink of water at any time. Symbol was going to hike today but his stomach was not feeling too well this morning. He drove us to the trail and we were hiking by about 6:45. We thought we had started the roller coaster and a few miles up the trail we came to the sign that said we were entering the "roller coaster." Then we really started going up and down, and up and down, etc, etc, etc.   The elevations are less than 2000 feet so they are not as high as what we have been doing. There were still no views, there were lots of rocks, lots of poison ivy, lots of overhanging vines and branches, and very wet rocks, roots, and trail because of a rain storm that came through this part last night. Where we were in Front Royal there was no rain. The Bears Den Hostel is a wonderful place to stop, take a wonderfully hot shower with a real wash cloth and towel, do laundry (again), eat (frozen Tombstone pizza, soda, and Ben and Jery's ice cream), relax, and sleep in a real bed with sheets, pillow, and blanket (if needed). When we got here early this afternoon we met Mary Sue, a volunteer here and she asked us if we were Dorothy and Toto. When we said yes she said Queen Diva, who manages the hostel, has been waiting for us. I don't know why exactly. Amoeba was here a short while back and was hoping we would be here when she was here. She told Queen Diva we were coming. It seems that she knows more about what happened to me in 2005 when I was taken off the mountain north of Palmerton, PA than I do. Circuit Rider had told her how I was acting and saying so I am anxious to talk to her because I have no recollection at all of what I was doing other than that I was looking for Toto and he was not even with me at the time. I am sleeping in the female dorm room and Toto is in the male dorm room. They are upstairs on the first floor. The "co-ed dorm" bunks are downstairs in the basement and it probably would be stuffier, noisier, and smellier down there and not as easy to rest. There is a TV down there and a computer that hasn't worked since we've been here. Someone said that the storm last night knocked out the server.Toto is eating pizza now. With the price of the hiker special ($25) you get a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, pizza, and a soda. We bought 1 special because we had already gone to a restaurant and eaten but Toto can always eat. But I got the ice cream (chocolate mint cookie) and he got the soda and pizza. He bought a pint of ice cream and I ended up eating almost half of it. The restaurant where we ate, the Horse Shoe Curve, is a bar/restaurant. They had 2 dogs inside and one of them sat beside Toto and waited to be fed. Toto fed him an onion ring or two. Well, we are hiking out early in the morning. We're hiking all the way to Harpers Ferry. A friend that lives in Virginia about an hour away is meeting us and we are going out to eat. Also, he is driving us back here to pick up the van. We are hoping to stay at the hostel in Harpers Ferry. Well, it is getting late and we are going to get up very early in the morning, so I will call it a night. Life is Great!Dorothy & Toto