Date: 2017-05-14
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Manassas Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: clear sky

I woke up ready to go this morning. I took another really long, hot shower, finish my food bags and packed up. I bought stuff to have breakfast in the room, but was still hungry. I found a diner about a half mile away and went there for a second breakfast. I had three eggs, bacon, sausage, fried potatoes and toast for just over 5 bucks. Works for me. Lol. I went back to the room and had one more phone call with Mark and finally checked out at 11. Called a taxi for a ride back to the trailhead and he was there in less then 5 minutes. The taxis in Front Royal are awesome. I had the same driver I had on Saturday and I tipped him well this time. On Saturday, I hardly had the cash to pay him, but went to the ATM yesterday. He was a very nice guy.  I met up with Packman and MoonWalker at the trailhead. I had met them at a hut in the Shenandoahs and they were waiting for a shuttle to their car. We talked for awhile and then I headed up the trail.  The trail was very muddy in spots today. In some spots it was a creek running down the middle of the trail. I have to slow down in these spots since I tend to slip and slide a lot. Some places the mud tried to suck the boots right off my feet. I hiked for the first time in shorts and I will need to get some gaters. I kept getting pebbles in my shoes. Not fun. I was definitely hiking thru the long green tunnel for most of the day. I'm not seeing as many wildflowers, but still saw some. The highlight of the day for me was hiking thru a meadow on top of a ridge. There was a bench in the sun up there that was calling my name. It had a nice open view and I took an extended break. I emptied the pebbles from my shoes, had a snack and just soaked up the sun. It was windy, but since the temperature was in the 70, I didn't mind it. What a difference the temperature makes when it comes to liking the wind or not.  It was really the only view of the day.  I walked under I66 and listened to that traffic for a ways. It is always a bit jarring to my senses.  Being a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I saw many day hikers out enjoying the day. Some want to talk and others just go on there way. One guy tried to run me off the trail twice. I was going uphill, so I have the right away. He was not having it and just about plowed me over. Then he hit his turn around point and came back. As soon as I heard him and saw it was him, I just got out of his way. He was not going to pause for one second. Everyone else was very pleasant.  I only saw 3 backpackers while hiking and they were going southbound. I arrived at the shelter kind of early and Debbie was setting up. She is doing a short section and this was her first day. She is going southbound and when I asked her about stealth sites between here and the next shelter, she said she didn't see any. I was thinking of trying to go up to the top of this mountain to try and find a spot, but the wind is blowing pretty hard and would be worse up there. I decided to just stay here. I had dinner with Debbie and more hikers have come in. I'm tenting, so if I wake up and want to get an early start I won't desturb anyone.  I went down to the shelter to say hi to the hikers who came in. They were eating dinner at the picnic table in front. It was only 7:30 and still daylight out, but the mice we're darting everywhere. I've never seen them come out of the shelter and run around by the picnic table while it was still daylight. I'm glad I didn't stay in the shelter. I am feeling good physically. My feet are doing pretty good. They swell up and ache sometimes, but they don't hurt like they did in 2009. I'm happy about that. My big toe that was infected seems to be fine, it goes numb sometimes, but doesn't hurt at all. The rest of my body seems to be doing okay. I tried walking faster during the rain last week and it made my shin hurt. When I went back to my normal gait, it stopped hurting. If I want to walk faster, I have to increase the rotation and not stretch out my stride. I want to avoid shin splints that seem to bother so many if I can. My achilles have been getting tight and I've increased some basic stretches I've been doing and it seems to be helping. Overall, I am pleased with how I'm doing. I am trying to listen to my body which is hard to do sometimes when you know there are miles to be hiked.