Date: 2014-06-16
To: An excellent day hiking, and a new plan unfolds
Miles today: 0.0

Jim & Molly Denton Shelter to Dicks Dome ShelterWe start our day on the trail at 8 o¢clock sharp. After a brief climb we descend sharply to Manassas Gap, which, at 800 feet above sea level, is the lowest we¢ve been since we started hiking this month. We cross a railroad, then VA 55, and follow a local paved road, Tucker¢s Lane, under I-66 to a a grassy area with many mulberry trees loaded with fruit. There¢s a sturdy picnic table where we stop for snacks, joined by Winkle and Smiley. Suuz shares her half-ounce bottle of glasses cleaner with Winkle--smudge-free glasses are the one luxury Suuz won¢t forgo while hiking. Leaving the picnic area, we cross a wooden footbridge. The water in the stream below smells vaguely like sewer, and it doesn't improve at the next few steam crossings. We're glad we are carrying enough drinking water so we won't need to collect from these fetid water sources.Over the next five miles from Manassas Gap, we climb to 2100 feet before leveling off for a couple of miles. Early in the afternoon, we descend again to Dicks Dome Shelter. Before we cross the footbridge to the shelter we spot a quiet, level tent site near the stream which is the water source for the camp. Close by is another site with a fire ring, but it¢s littered with trash left behind by campers unfamiliar with the Leave No Trace ethic.We cross the bridge to investigate tent sites closer to the shelter and other facilities. The shelter is small, and its geodesic shape only sleeps four comfortably. The pit privy, unlike the composting privies we¢ve used at previous shelters, is pretty gross, and we decide the woods may be a better alternative.There is no spring at this shelter, but it does have bear poles with big hooks to hang our food bags out of reach of hungry bears. We've found bear poles at every shelter we¢ve camped at since starting our hike and bear boxes at the campgrounds, so Suuz has not practiced the art of hanging a bear bag.Finding nothing better for tenting near the shelter, we return to the tent site across the footbridge. While X sets up camp, Suuz hikes upstream, well above the privy, looking for a spot to collect water. At a place where the stream spews over a large rock, she easily fills both 2-liter bags with water which she squeezes through the Sawyer filter back at camp.Using unfiltered water in a collapsible dog bowl and a few drops of Dr. Bonners soap, we take ¢bird baths." This is a nightly habit the Troverts developed on their through hike, and it¢s another luxury Suuz enjoys on the trail. We¢ve arrived early enough to wash our hiking clothes and skivvies with Dr. Bonners in a nylon folding bucket. We hope they¢ll dry overnight on the clothesline strung between trees.Winkle and Smiley arrive later and will tent here tonight. Late in the day, Big Hammer passes our tent site on his way into camp. He sets up his tent near the bear pole across the stream. This is the fewest we¢ve seen so far at a shelter as the bubble of through hikers we camped with earlier in our hike moves northward at a faster pace.We¢ve had an excellent day hiking and have been hatching a plan along the way. After we arrive at the shelter, we text N Trovert, ¢At Dick¢s Dome...10 miles today at 2MPH pace. Call us crazy...thinking of slack packing 20 miles from Bear¢s Den into Harper¢s Ferry Thursday.¢And so the plot thickens...Dr. Suuz and X