Date: 2016-05-23
From: Front Royal VA (Front Royal Hostel)

To: Dicks Dome Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

5/23/16Before i went to sleep last night i couldn' t find my headlamp... I looked for it for about an hour going through all the pockets in the backpack, pulling everything out and checking them twice. I even unrolled my tent to see if I had rolled it up inside. I finally concluded it was with my cooking pot. As I went to bed I found it tangled up with my compresion bag straps. It is a waterproof bag that has straps and you can tighten the straps to compress the contents to save room in your backpack. K keep sleeping bag and sleeping clothes in mine. I slept well at the hostel and got up around seven. I didn't pay the bill last night so bad to wait around til about nine. My left foot was still a little swollen so I iced it while I was waiting, also ate an apple and cookie for breakfast. I sat and talked with Dr G, Curious George and one of the young ladies that came in last night. She is just hiking 10 more days and then going to a summer job and then starting law school next fall at the University of Kentucky. So today j am going to hike 1.5 miles from the hostel to the last shelter I stayed at to look for my cooking pot and stove. I will then walk the three miles I did yesterday to get back to where I should be starting today. The mile and half go surprisingly quick. As I approach the shelter I see two older gentleman packing up to leave. I asked if they had seen my cooking pot and they said no. I looked at the place I packed my bag and it was not there...as I turned towards the picnic table....there it was sitting underneath it by the leg. What a relief...didn't add all those miles for nothing. I stayed and talked to the gentlemen(section hiker)for a while. One asked if I knew anything about the smart phones....he didn't know how to take pictures. So I showed him and he was appreciative and asked to take a picture of the two of them together...so I did and then he wanted/took my picture. So I am on my way in a good mood with my cooking pot back in my possession. There are a group of five older guys ahead but I slow down because I passed them once before and when I stopped at the shelter they passed me. We came to a road about the same time and they found some trail magic...coke in a cooler. They didn't take any but I had one and they had a truck parked there and gave me a couple of rolls. They were section hiking and out for five days. I have to admit I enjoy chatting with the older folks. So at this point I had walked 4.5 miles and was back to the place I had left off yesterday. But I had ate a lot yesterday and with the coke and rolls...I was ready to go. The sun was actually out today...but evidently as I sat inside the day before we had gotten a lot of rain. The trails were as sloppy, muddy, streams as bad as I had ever seen. I slipped a couple of times but caught myself with my hands. I finally realized the best thing to do was walk right in the middle of the trail no matter how messy it was because the erosion had already taken place and you were stepping onto something solid. My shoes and legs were a mess but I made pretty good time like that. I came to the nicest shelter I think I have seen out here yet. It had a shower, porch, nice bench, and a horseshoe pit with horse shoes. After a quick break I hiked on and caught up with Dr G. He was going g kinda slow so I slowed down a hiked with him for over an hour. He stopped for a break and I kept going for the next shelter. He caught up and we both decided to go another five miles to the next shelter. We made it by six... The shelter was full so we set up tents. I needed to anyway because whenni packed it up two days ago it was raining and still wet. So cleaned up, ate and headed to bed. I did close to 20 mes but only got credit for 15 miles. My foot felt good most of the day but started feeling it the last mile and a half. So hopefully I didn't over do it...tomorrow looks to be a 15 mile day. We will see how it goes. It was a great day for a hike