Date: 2017-06-05
From: Byrd's Nest #3 Hut

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 27.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Lookout was up particularly early this morning, coming back to the shelter all packed up at 6am. As soon as the lights went out last night the party had started... Mice everywhere. In the rafters, running up and down the walls, rifling though our backpacks. Most people leave all of their backpack pockets open overnight so that a mouse doesn't have to chew their way in should they wish to check it out (they're going to get in either way, might as well make it the way that leaves your pack in one piece), but we could still hear them climbing around inside them. At about 11pm Lookout had had enough and went and setup his tent out behind the shelter (and saw GrayEagle's bear).I should've done the same... I didn't sleep very well with all the activity going on. At one point a clumsy mouse squeeled, waking up at least half the shelter, as it fell off a ledge and then scampered off. Thankfully in their thourogh search the mice didn't find anything useful in my pack and hadn't chewed anything, but it was still nerve-wracking listening to them all night. Shelters are quickly becoming not worth it to sleep in.We hit the trail early and followed the trail down into Thornton Gap and filled up on water at the visitors center. The water tasted terrible, so after the uphill out of the gap we traded in out at the first spring we ran into for some better tasting water. As we hiked it started raining gently, but the trees kept most of it off of us as we hiked. We were pushing the pace a bit, planning to get to the wayside before the real rain started and hang out there for a couple hours to eat, charge electronics, and be out of the rain and then just finish the last 6mi up to the next shelter later in the afternoon.We did make it to the wayside without getting wet (well, at least not by rain), but were a little disappointed to find that this wayside was smaller than the others, didn't have any indoor seating, didn't serve milkshakes (I think AWOL should have a warning in the book), didn't have a view, and had no cell service and no wifi. Those combination of factors nixed our plans to hang out there for long, so we got some breakfast and ate it pretty quickly. Even with only a couple minute break we had still gotten pretty cold, so with no shelter except the bathrooms available, we got ready to move again.It figures, we hike fast enough to beat the rain, and then we hike back out into it. Before we headed out we wanted to call ahead to the hostel, since they tend to fill up when it rains, but the lack of cell service left us with only one option... Pay phone! It took us a couple tries to get it working (it wasn't clear if the money needed to go in first, or if you dial first, or how much money it needed, and how long that gave you, and when that time started...), but we got through and made our reservation.We took the afternoon slower than the morning. It rained for the first couple hours and so we ducked into a shelter after the first 6mi and took a break out of the rain. I napped for about an hour before we got moving again and thankfully the rain let up not too long after. The sun tried, but didn't quite succeed in, coming out as we hiked, but all the overlooks were fogged in as we passed them. The afternoon was supposed to be mostly downhill, according to AWOL, but it didn't feel like it as the miles added up.As we were nearing the end, just 1.2mi from where we'd get off trail to go to the hostel, Lookout dubbed me the Crusher of Dreams after I corrected his "1.2 to go!" to "1.7, including the 0.5 to the hostel". We arrived, claimed a bunk, showered, and got a ride down into town to PaveMint, a gastropub with a great selection of beer and delicious food where we had dinner. We chatted for a while with a guy who overheard us talking about the trail and is a hiker himself, before heading over to the grocery store for a bit of resupply to make it to Harper's Ferry. I crashed pretty much as soon as we got back to the hostel, tired from the lack of sleep last night and the long day.