Date: 2007-06-26
From: Skyland

To: Pass Mtn. Hut
Miles today: 10.7

June 26, Ten Dreamy MilesGot up at 7:30 a.m. today and headed to breakfast at the lodge. It was nice to wake up without an alarm or other unnatural method. Turns out Ronin will have to hike ahead of us today and tomorrow in order to meet a friend in Front Royal tomorrow evening. So, he took off after breakfast and Melk, Young Eagle and I headed back to the cabin and passed out. I think we would have slept all day if we could but I got up at 10:30 and started packing up.We (Young Eagle, Melk and I) didn't start hiking until about 12:45 p.m. - we were definitely living up the reality that we only had to hike ten miles today. Slow going until Front Royal. Rosie actually was walking up to the lodge and she started cracking up when she saw me - she is on the lodge to lodge plan right now too.The hiking was pretty nice and we stopped a few times to take photos for each other. We stopped at the Pinnacle picnic area for a break after about four miles and it started to thunder so we carried on about a half hour later...it never did rain though. We climbed up and over The Pinnacle and then took a break at a day use shelter. Then up and over Marys Rock (pretty cool gigantic rock), which was pretty rocky both ways. Next, we found ourselves taking a rest in Thornton Gap for about a half hour. I think we were just taking breaks now because we could - the glory of a ten mile day. It was there that we decided Melk and Eagle would be called Team Underpants and Melk and I would be called Team November Tango Foxtrot November - no time for nonsense. We had one last climb to the shelter but it was pretty easy as far as climbs go. We arrived around 7 p.m. and are here with Slackpack and New Day and Youngblood, a mom and her son. Google and Sunshine also pulled in around 9:30. Ronin left us the deck of cards too!It was really nice to have time to relax today. The three of us hiked together all day and had a good time doing it. The next two days should be more of the same so I look forward to that. The best news is that, in my Mastery of the Spare Bandana, my achilles and feet made it throughout the day with no pain - wonderful to have the extra arch support.I called Moosejaw to try and figure out where my shoes are but have not heard yet. One can only hope they'll be on my feet soon.It's good to be in my tent again tonight. I forget sometimes how much I like it. I was explaining to the rest of the A-Team today how sometimes I think of that psychological experiment they did decades ago where they put the soft, fuzzy monkey into the cribs of some babies and put nothing in the others and gave them no attention either. The kids with the monkeys and interaction turned out fine. The kids with no interaction were crazy. It reminds me of the trail and why I like being in my sleeping bag so much - sometimes I think we need to touch something soft. No rocks. No tree stumps. No hard ground. Just soft feathery down stands between a sane hiker and a crazy one. - Sound of Sunshine or Google inflating a Thermarest, moths bouncing around between my tent and fly.Post Trail Thoughts:What a funny day. I always liked when Melk, Young Eagle and I would hike near each other - it usually made for more entertaining hiking. It was not bad and sure was nice to meet New Day and Youngblood that night.