Date: 2008-06-17
From: Front Royal, Virginia

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up thinking that maybe it was just a bad dream. No such luck ¢ our camera and photos are gone. We pack up all our gear, shower and leave that hell hole. We don¢t even get Brad¢s test results. We just want to get out of this damned town! We check out two pawn shops in town but neither has our camera. We go back and talk to the hotel manager and he says he¢ll try to help us out and find out what happened. He gives us a free night on our bill. Woop-de-doo. We then head to Circuit City and get a new camera. It¢s not the exact same, it¢s a model up, but we don¢t have to buy new batteries cause they¢re compatible. (It¢s the Panasonic/Lumix TZ5). We drop off our rental car and the guy there brings us back to the Trail. After talking with him we find out he is a good friend of Aaron¢s (Shout). What a small world. Oh! Sunbeam had called to check in earlier today. She was leaving Harpers Ferry today with the rest of the Snack Packers. So, they¢ll be about 4-5 days ahead¢¦The weather is perfect for hiking - sunny, breezy and mild temps. I am so, so grateful to finally be hiking again. I feel pretty good for not having hiked in awhile. I am ready to go! The terrain is so mellow that¢s it¢s impossible to not feel good! The incline is so subtle you can barely tell. We hike the 5ish miles to the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter and it is the most beautiful one we have seen yet. It has a separate ¢pavilion¢ where there is a picnic table and large fire pit under cover. The shelter itself is clean. It has a porch with built in seats and even an Adirondack type bench. The water is close. A privy. Even a shower! This would be the perfect place to zero in the woods. If only we had known! We have to move on; we can¢t do only 5miles after spending 5 days in town.It is a walk in the park today. I love being out here! We pass a bunch of blackberries scattered on the Trail and that gets us hunting for them. We find a few and they are absolutely delicious! We can see they have been picked nearly clean. In other spots the bushes are full, full, full of green, unripe berries. In a couple of weeks when they turn it is going to be the most delicious spot on the whole Trail! We come to another area where the blackberry vines have totally taken over a tree so it appears as though it is actually a blackberry tree. They hang above us and unfortunately do to our height we aren¢t able to get that many. But what we do get is great! Blackberries are Brad¢s favorite. We move on to Manassas Gap shelter and meet Wildflowers from NJ. Judging by how he hikes, we probably won¢t ever see him again. We decide to stay here. It¢s around 8pm; we didn¢t start till around 3pm though. We stay in the shelter. For the first time in I can¢t remember how long, we hang our food by the bear rope. Brad is successful after only three attempts. We eat dinner. It is actually kind of cold, and of course it would be ¢ I sent home my heavier long sleeved shirt today!Brad is reading while I write. I am going to keep saying a prayer that we get our photos back. I don¢t even care about the camera. I just want our photos. Please!