Date: 2008-05-03
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up between 7-7:30a this morning to the sound of Stovie taking a shower. After fully waking up, I brushed my teeth and headed over to the Continental Breakfast. It was pretty awesome, I had: 2 Doughnuts, 3 Yogurts, 1 Banana, 1 fruit cup and 2 bowls of Frosted Flakes (my favorite part)...I have to eat lightly because we'll be hiking today. Then, I decided to check my e-mail and found that some guy named "David" left a positive comment on my trailjournal. Thanks David!! After packing up my stuff, Yeti and I went to the Post Office and then came back to the room to hear Shepherd say, " The Alaska Experiment Episode 2 is on." Then, he filled us in on the little bit that we missed and we were hooked...there was no way we were gonna start hiking without finding what happened. At 11a, however, Tony checked out, gave us trail mix and then took a group photo. After the pics, Shepherd told us that he was gonna stay in Front Royal until his wife comes to visit and then get back on the trail. So, Tony opened the sunroof and Stovie, Yeti and I piled in for our shuttle to the trailhead. After dropping us off, he went and soon brought Toddy Bear and Sharon. When they pulled up, I was eating the trail mix Tony made because it was close to lunch time. Even though he gave me a quart sized ziplock full, I don't think I'll keep it very long because it's so tasty. When Toddy Bear got out of the car, he handed everybody a dbl cheeseburger from McDonalds and handed me a McChicken Sandwich. After eating and saying our goodbyes, we hit the trail. Again, thanks for everything Tony and Sharon, you treated us as if we were your own children!!!So, we were walking near the zoo and man was it humid! Eventually, we reached the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter and I had a "photo finish" 2-sie in the privy. We also saw a group of Boy Scouts at the shelter while we were reading the Applachian Times. We noticed that the Auburn boys had taken a zero day here yesterday, but decided to push on today. After trying to lose/shake free of one Boy Scout, we pressed on. When we got to Manassa Gap, we all began chuckling a bit as we thought about where [loose] Meghann might live and whether or not we should take her up on the offer to let us stay there and shower!!We reached the parking lot and boy was it full. So, we did the only sane thing possible, we took a Pack, shoes, and shirt off snack break before climbing up to the shelter. While taking my boots off, I noticed a wood tick crawling around on my leg...guess I've got to be on the look out for them now, eh?As we were climbing up to the shelter, we passed LOTS of elderly people out who were just enjoying the tons of Trilliums which were blooming alongside the trail (They looked beautiful, by the way). Upon arrival at the Manassas Gap Shelterwe noticed a warning about copperhead snakes being seen around this shelter. As we were getting ready to leave, we noticed a [black] snake coiled in the rafters!! It creeped me out a little bit, but we eventually pushed on toward Dick's Dome. 10 minutes before the side trail to the shelter, we ran into SET couple. They're meeting a friend tomorrow for a day hike and he's bringing them Subway subs! We told them about the thunderstorm that's supposed to move in today because they planned on tenting tonight. As we rolled into camp, we noticed another hiker with their tent pitched in the shelter. When she saw all 4 of us approaching, she quickly pulled it out and set up camp beside the shelter. That's really nice of her, especially since the shelter is small. Her name is Bear Chaser (AT '04) and she did a flip-flop from PA and decided to section from MD->GA this year. We asked how she got her trailname and she told us the interesting story:During her hike in 2004, she was in the Whites and decided to camp in one of the campgrounds one night. Like most people, she hung her food in the tree, but in the middle of the night, a bear had slashed through her tent and she saw it steal her pack. She realized, then, that all of her stuff had just been stolen out from under her that she pursued it. After a 45 minute chase, the bear outran her and she decided to return back to camp, only to realize that another bear had stolen her food bags!!! On a positive note, she did get her stuff back, in shreds, and a neat trailname!!!While we were eating dinner, it began to rain and we moved our eating to inside the shelter. Eventually, the time came for us to begin journaling, when the most amazing thing began to happen...A June bug entered the shelter and began to raise Kane. So, the bug flew by Stovie and he shooed it out. Well, it then decided to come back in and "dive bomb"him. As it was getting back up to fly, Stovie, once again, knocked the bug out of the shelter and yelled some profane things at it. Appearantly, the June Bug didn't learn its lesson and it came back, but this time, Stovie held his "crocs" in the air and taunted it. When it tried to dive bomb again, he killed it, and said, "You see what happens when you mess with me bug? Let that be an example to the rest of you out there!!" No sooner had he said that when an "arsenal" of June Bugs came in and assaulted us, but mainly Stovie. He killed two more and then we realized we were being invaded. We tried turning our headlamps off, but they kept dive bombing and we had to crawl into our bags, even though is was 60 degrees outside. Since it was so hot out, I was only in my liner atop my bag when the mice began to run across me. Not being a big fan of the Fievels, I crawled into my bag and fell like I am about to pass out!! Night