Date: 2018-05-03
From: Gravel springs hut

To: Front royal
Miles today: 13.5

Thurs Day 80 5/29 I woke up to the sounds of the late arrival packing up. It was 4 a.m. I am up immediately. Up because I wanted to be on the trail by 5. I wanted to be finished and in Front Royal by noon at least. I would get in earlier, but I didn't think I'd be able to check in earlier. I was on the trail by 5 a.m. I drink 2 leaders of water. My first water replenishment would be six and a half miles in. It was a beautiful morning. I had some great views as the sun was rising. Just like Papa Bear had said my phone started chirping on a western facing summit. I took a break. I was 4 miles in so I had a little snack. I try to eat every 2 hours or so. Lets me keep putting fuel into the tank. I'll be taking a break for lunch and is only looking like a 6-6 and a half hour day. Now I've been hiking at a rate of between two and two and a half miles per hour. I'm really not, I don't want to even push three three and a half or 4 miles an hour anymore. I think that's some of what over stressed my knee. It felt great when I was cranking out the miles and flying over the trail but not at the price of my knee. It was great watching the Sun start to come across the mountain behind me and illuminate the mountain in front of me. It was a good morning for nice views. It really helps when the sun shines in terms of improving the visibility. The first couple weeks it rained everyday never saw the sun. Then in March five major snow storms not a lot of sun. Here we are on the verge of May the sun is starting to shine. Again it was a fine day of hiking. I estimated my arrival time at Front Royal to be 11:30 a.m. At the six and a half mile mark I came to the spring where I planned to get water. As I approached the water I realized there was an adult black bear rooting through the rocks in the stream and eating something from under the rocks. There were two Cubs on the far side of the ravine on the opposite side. So the mama bear was between myself and the Cubs. She behaved much differently then the last time I saw a Mama Bear. In this situation she was directly between myself and her Cubs. The Cubs were higher up on the valley. I was no threat at all. She glanced at me but then went back to turning over rocks and eating something for the next 20 minutes. I took a lot of pictures. I drank a liter and a half of nice Cold Spring Water, after she moseyed up the Mountainside. I ate my very last bar. I would get into Front Royal caring no food at all. That's how it's supposed to work. When I reached the edge of Shenandoah National Park there was a fellow trying to self register. He said he hiked the AT two years ago, the whole trail with his mother. He said today his base pack weight was three and a half pounds period. With four days of food it was 11 and a half pounds. He's traveling light. People laugh when I say I'm trying to get my pack weight down. Every ounce every gram is important. As I left the park boundary it was a very steep decline trail. It was another 3 MI out to Route 522. It was really warming up. I could see that at the lower elevations the green ground cover was coming into full leaf. The trees were also leafing out and providing some shade on the trail which was much appreciated. The last half a mile of the 13 and a half miles did seem to dry a little bit. I was hot and tired. The temperature was projected into the 90s and unprotected by any leaf canopy it was incredibly hot on the trail. On Sunday and Monday there was Ice at the summit on the trail. Here it was Thursday in the 90s. Very tough for the body to adapt or aclimatetise. It was 10 minutes of hitchhiking in direct sun before somebody picked me up and drove me into town. I checked in, got in my room and took a shower. I was only carrying one pair of pants so I looked in the hiker box and found a woman's hiking top. It made for a very nice skirt so I could do my laundry. Did I say I was very hot and tired. After 5 days of hiking I was ready for a break. I don't know whether it's the Heat or the 970 miles. I seem a little more tired these days. I had made it to Rt. 522, the road into Front Royal at 11:34. Around 5, I ventured out into the streets. It was melting hot. I took a walk down Main Street. Lot of nice old structures on Main Street. I had eaten dinner in a Thai restaur nk±ant. I stopped and had some kind of cheese sandwich in a coffee shop and then I stopped and had some other kind of sandwich and a bowl of mac and cheese. I topped that off with two scoops of ice cream on the way back to the hotel. There were some really nice wood work to be seen. I took pictures of tables in the coffee shop. FINALLY FRONT ROYAL