Date: 2018-06-24
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Dick's Dome Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up to Theo jumping on me and giving me love. It's the best way to wake up. We all stumbled down to the lobby around 8:40 to eat the quality inn's continental breakfast. It was legit with eggs and bacon. It was also in the same room as the Thai restaurant. After breakfast we lounged in the room until check out. The room had looked like a tornado went through it.  With mud all over the floor and in the bathtub. We walked down to the street to hitch a ride back to the trail. With 5 of us trying to hitch it was hard to get a ride. Eventually a truck with hay bales in the back gave us a ride. We jumped in the back and zoomed to the trail head. We thanked our drivers and got back on the trail.The plan today was for a 15 mile hike. It didn't seem that difficult. I should have known something was up when I saw the wooden pallets on the trail saving us from the mud mess below.  My socks were clean from the day before but I felt they wouldn't stay that way for long. At one point I was tiptoeing my way around the mud and water on the trail.  The mud spots seemed to go on forever. I was inching along when my foot slipped right into the liquid mud. After that I said fuck it and just stormed through the mud. I was tired of trying to hike around the mud. My socks had reverted to the day before. Virginia is not going out easy. I can't wait to be out of the wettest state on the trail. I arrived at the first shelter to find Kazi, Scissors, and Lit taking a lunch break. Thunder clouds had started dumping rain and I was lucky to have a roof over my head. It poured for a good hour and didn't let up. It slowly lightened and I used the shelter's shower to clean out the mud in my socks. The mud, rocks, and sand make it abrasive on my feet. Cleaning them out helps with less friction.I headed back on the trail. It wasn't long before my socks were muddy again. I wasn't getting away from it. After about 3 miles I saw Rebel and Lit hanging out at a picnic table with a woman named Summer Camp. She had thru hiked the previous year and was giving out food! I gladly accepted all the snacks and drinks. She had hot dogs, chips, chocolate, hummus, carrots, broccoli, and cheese. I ate it all! We talked about her adventures on the trail since she has seen the whole thing. Rebel asked her if there was anything she would change about the trail. She said she would change the fact that the AT is a second class citizen in the whites in New Hampshire. They don't even list the trail as the AT there. You can easily get lost if you don't pay attention. We hung out for about an hour then headed back into the mud.  There were some climbs the way to the shelter.  Half the trail was a climb and the other half was balancing on sticks to make sure your feet didn't get muddy. I started listening to the audiobook "A Stranger in the Woods." It was about the hermit who lived for 27 years in the Maine wilderness. He would sustain himself by stealing food from summer camps and homes. I imagined him living in these woods as I was hiking thru them. I'm sure the winters here didn't compare to the harsh ones in Maine. I eventually arrived Dick's Dome shelter around 8:30 pm. Everyone was already there eating dinner.  I setup in the shelter and ate mashed potatoes and spam for dinner. I used the river nearby to wash out my socks again. Tomorrow the they'll get back to brown.  I had a few blisters on my toes that I needed to pop. I didn't want to pop them earlier since I was trudging through mud. I caught up on my journal from the last few days then called it a night.Tonight Rebel is snoring like a banshee. I might need to roll him over or just kick him.