Date: 2006-04-28
From: Compton Gap, Skyline Dr, Mile 10.4

To: US 522, Remount Road 
Miles today: 5.6

Compton Gap, Skyline Dr, Mile 10.4 to US 522, Remount Road N 5.6 MilesToday is Friday April 28, 2006. We spent last night down in Front Royal at the Pioneer Motel, we were probably there only customer. It was fine, a nice enough place. We went out to a Mexican restaurant called Jalisco or something like that, and it was very good. We both ate too much. Came back to the motel and Cindy watched her 2 hours of TV shows. Got up this morning at 6:30 and got out at a little after 7:00 AM. Went out and found where the trail crossed hwy 522, dropped off a car and drove back thru town. Stopped at McDonalds for a little breakfast and then came up into the park, and as usual , no ranger there to look at your park pass. Came up to Compton Gap, got ready and on the trail by 8:05. A beautiful trail, like an old road, and flat. We must have been zooming along because the Dickey Ridge trail came along pretty fast. Then at 8:48 we are at the turnoff, yellow blaze leaves us, and we go on down and we are out of the park at 8:52am. And now we are standing at Possum Rest where there is a view. We can hear all these gunshots ahead, where we are going to be hiking. Doesn¢t make you want to hike there, hope everyone knows what he¢s doing. Another beautiful day, cloudy with a few drizzles early. But now, clearing skies, cool temps. Suns out, we are going downhill. We do have one 400 ft mt. to climb before US 522. Enjoying the day before we go home. We got to the Tom Floyd Wayside at 9:25. There are three guys up in the shelter itself, one guy was just telling this long story that went on and on. So Terry and I use the Privy, came in real handy. And then when we're sitting there at the picnic table, the guy turns around real fast, asking us, "are you guys looking for someone named Hunter". And we go, "Yeah". They say,"Well he left here. He wanted to make sure he was down there, so he didn't miss his ride, like an hour ago". So, 9:35 we left there.  And then finally we on come down to a stream and Va 604 at 10:20. And we just spend a couple minutes there putting our warm clothing away because we're going uphill after that. Then, I heard some noise and there was a brown pointer or bird dog. And then I saw the guy and he said, " I didn't want you to be scared, so I told the dog to get in the creek". The dog is lapping up the water. Guy goes up to the road, gets in his car, he tells the dog to run on down the road. And he says that it took him a lot of teaching. The dog takes off down the road and waits for him, so we figured that's how he gets his dog exercise. So then we start up the hill. And you're going along side this fencing, chain link fencing, and it says U.S. Property, no trespassing. And we saw on the map, it said canine training facilities, but we never saw anything. And then these two hikers come through and they just speed on by us. Up on top at 10:40 and the two hikers are finally putting their warm gear away. So we just had a chance to ask them what their names were. And it was Coconut Monkey and Slip and Slide, Yeah, and they're thru hikers. Now we're on our way down, we came out of the woods. There are houses to the right of us and on the left is still the U.S. property but it's all in open fields. And just a beautiful day, the breeze is still blowing, it's still got a little coolness in the air. And everything is really green unlike up on top of the mountains. We come out to Hwy 522 Remount Rd at 11:05. That would be three hours for 5.6 miles. Hunter is waiting for us. We give him a ride to Waynesboro to pick up his car. We are on our way home from our Spring Appalachian Trail trip.