Date: 2007-06-28
From: Gravel Spring Hut

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: broken clouds

June 28, Out of Shenandoah National Park!We made it out of the Shenandoahs! A loud belting out at the feeling of freedom could be heard at the park boundary this afternoon from Young Eagle. It was a feeling of relief to be out of the clutches of the park and a cheer for being a few steps closer to exiting Virginia. I know I was relieved to be out of the park so my expectations would no longer be so high...the three foot flat golf cart path that I was told about just never found itself under my feet.The day started early. We left camp at 7:30 a.m. so we could try and get to town at a reasonable time. A few things did develop even before then though...I told Young Eagle that, from now on, I would be calling him Youngle so I didn't have to say his full name. Then I was reminded of Carl Jung and told him that when he becomes a scientist he should go by Dr. Youngle. Well, Youngle couldn't leave that alone. He came up with a full name - Dr. Youngle Spelunkerstein. Oh man. It probably doesn't sound as funny at home in the real world but we are pretty easily entertained these days - lots of fun with that name all day long. Melk would later be nicknamed Pat Melk-a-tar. She's a heartbreaker.Anyway, the hiking went on. The morning was really very easy and I was lost in thought throughout most of the hike. Dr. Youngle Spelunkerstein and I arrived at Compton Peak at 10:15 a.m. and decided to take a rest, we were over halfway to town. We waited for Melk and had a snack. It was a good break.A little while later, we got motivated again and started our trek to town. The day went by pretty quickly after that - the three of us hiked together for the rest of the day and had discussions on pop culture. Favorite movies, favorite books, favorite TV shows. Young Eagle gives me a very hard time because I never know what he's talking about because most of the things that come out of his mouth are movie quotes and I tend not to have ever seen the movie (Dukes, I told him this reminded me of you). But the talking made the miles melt away...and really made me want to watch Forrest Gump.We stopped at Tom Floyd Wayside which is actually a shelter, not a wayside, about three miles before the road crossing. I changed the duct tape on my feet and we rested a bit. The shelter was pretty neat and had a deck out front.A little over an hour later at 2 p.m., we were standing at the road crossing chatting with a group of men who then offered us a ride in the bed of their truck. Less than half an hour later, we met Ronin at our seedy dive motel room.We had a late lunch at Spelunker's (pretty good Philly cheesesteak) and then did laundry and resupply. I'm on a temporary break from bagels for breakfast - don't want to overdo it. Shortly after was dinner. I am beat. So beat.Our next stop? Harpers Ferry, WV! The psychological halfway point of the trail.Oh, one last thing... at the cabin at Skyland, I slept with one of those cheesy fake velvet blankets. It was glorious and soft. I told my Average friends that I wish the trail was paved with such fake velvet blankets. They all agreed. The next night, I had a dream...we were all bobsledding down the trail. The velvet blanket was our bobsled. But, we weren't exactly bobsledding, we were doing rowboat bobsledding - using our arms to pull us up and down the mountains on our velvet blanket. I expected to wake up with very sore arms. One of our goals in Harpers Ferry is to kidnap a cheesy velvet blanket for a few hours to take photos of the rowboat bobsled on the trail.- Sound of Wimbledon on TV, the AC in the motel room, Youngle talking about the scoring system in tennis, cars outside. Post Trail Thoughts:I think I covered everything I remember from this day. The only thing missing is Young Eagle making a big deal about making it to "Compton" Gap and that it was really, very hot that day.