Date: 2016-06-08
From: Stealth Camp near Rattlesnake Point Overlook

To: Mountain Home Cabbin
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: moderate rain

Day 89About mid-morning I stopped at the Gravel Springs Hut to get water and use the privy. Just after exiting the privy, I heard a loud cracking sound and spun around just in time to see a large tree branch fall on the privy! Had the branch fallen 3 minutes earlier, I would have been trapped inside the privy. Within seconds, my skin would have started to peel off. Within minutes, the putrid privy smell would have caused asphyxia-induced hypoxia. They eventually would have found Fob in a fetal position, moldering away at the bottom of the tank.After removing the branch, I hiked on. Near Little Hogback Mountain and South Marshall Mountain, I saw my second and third (final) SNP bear. I was a little more confident following yesterday's encounter, so I attempted to pose for a selfie with the second bear. However, by the time I got my phone positioned and the angle just right, the bear had scampered off. Thus, I ended up taking the worst bear selfie in history, as there is no bear in it! By the way, some of the selfies I post on my blog appear upside down on some computers. Sorry about that. It looks right side up on my phone. Anyway, the photos in my eventual book will all be right side up."So one day Fob wanted to hike the Aplachin Trail so he did but when he got there he felt a tickle in his backpack so he turned around and saw a bear taking a samwhich so he chased him for awhile and gave up so he saw a deer and tried to get a selfie but the deer hid in the pond and Fob was not happy but he went to get his phone and it fell in and he said why did i do this."   - Aldon L, 5th GraderAt mile 965.5 I exited and said farewell to Shenandoah National Park. It had lived up to its lofty reputation and my memories of the friendly deer, ferocious bears, and delicious blackberry milkshakes will remain with me forever.Not quite ready to give up my week of comfortable backpacking, I decided, after an 18.2 mile day, to stay at the Mountain Home Cabbin (yes, with two b's) near Front Royal. The owners, Scott and Lisa, were extremely helpful and friendly. After he thru-hiked the AT, they bought the abandoned, dilapidated historic property and are renovating and restoring the various structures a piece at a time. The property was once owned by Samuel Gardner, a magistrate and horse and cattle farmer. He owned 3000+ acres and used the hostel where I stayed, which dates to 1847, as slave quarters and later as the tri-county courthouse. Scott and Lisa are still renovating the main house which will one day become an upscale bed and breakfast. He ran me into town to grab a bite and resupply, and she gave me a great tour of the property and historic buildings.We had quite a mix of folks staying at the hostel that night. Four of us were upstairs, including another hiker with a leg injury who will seek treatment in Front Royal. Next to him (in nearby beds) were Matt and Sarah, who are finishing up a 3-week long archaeological dig at the nearby Belle Grove Plantation. They are trying to locate the plantation's slave quarters in support of Matt's doctoral work at Syracuse University. Scott and Lisa were downstairs, since their living quarters in the main house are still being renovated. They were joined by a Fulbright scholar who was on her way to a conference in Washington D.C. She will eventually teach English in Indonesia. Each of these hostel guests are on missions, and had compelling stories, and getting to know them certainly enriched my own AT story.Fob