Date: 2015-07-30
From: Manassas Gap Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I'll be narrowing the gap to Harper's Ferry today. There's less than 40 miles from Manassas Gap Shelter to that destination town. But within those 40 miles lay a few obstacles. One of the biggest was the Roller Coaster, a 13 mile stretch of rock-strewn straight ups and straight downs. My objective today wasn't to traverse that section of the AT. Rather, it was to get smack up against it by landing at Rod Hollow Shelter some 13 miles ahead.Rain had been forecast for today based on a report obtained in Front Royal 24 hours earlier. Normally that would be cause for some concern, but given the hot, humid weather of the previous week, a nice rainy day was welcomed. Might just cool things off.My first objective on the trail was Dick's Dome Shelter some 4.5 miles ahead. There I expected to find Crooked Run, a nice gushing creek I front of the shelter. I'd resupply my partially filled water bottles at that creek.I had a little bit of "up" on the trail today, with a lot more horizontal and "down." This would be the quiet before the storm - a relatively easy day of hiking before hitting the Roller Coaster tomorrow.When I arrived at Dick's Dome Shelter a couple of hours later I found a woman walking the campground. She explained that she was looking for her son - a young man with a disability. She lived with her son and husband just a mile or two away from the shelter over a ridge. Her son often came down to the shelter area on walks.We chatted about the very old shelter and the campground area. She pointed out that a new shelter was being built in the general area of Dick's Dome, but a 100 to 200 yards away. She added that a new privy was also being built. It was then that I smelled the old one. She pointed to it on a hill not to far from the old shelter and the creek. She told me a wet streak was visible on the rocks leading from the privy towards the creek below it. I mentioned it didn't seem a good idea to draw water from the creek since the privy was upstream of the shelter and obviously leaking into it. She agreed. The woman informed me of a spring that was two miles ahead and would be a better water source. I thanked her, donned my backpack and grabbed my trekking poles, then started hiking on to that spring. My water bottles were very low.When I arrived at the spring, it was barely dribbling water from the rocks. A small pool had collected in front of the spring's head. I was lucky. I had a Sawyer mini-filter that required me to fill a small bag with water, then push it thru the filter. Collecting water in a bag from a pool of water is not easy. In fact, it's downright impossible to get much of anything in a bag with a small opening unless the bottom of the bag is below the opening. That can't be done in a pool of water. I pulled out one of the most helpful tools I'd brought in my pack. It was half of a small plastic water bottle, the kind you buy at a gas station already filled with water. I'd cut any empty one in two with a sharp knife before the trip, keeping the funnel end (side with the cap). Made it easy to dip it into the water, fill the funnel (cap still on), then pour the spring water into the water bag. End result, plenty of water for my supply.I arrived at Rod Hollow Shelter about 4:00 pm. Had a canopy cover for the picnic table about 30 ft from the actual shelter. Would be real convenient on a rainy day (which, by the way, didn't happen today). No one else was camped out in or near the shelter. As the evening progressed, no one else hiked in to join me either. I would be solo at this campground this evening.I took my food sack from my backpack and hung it on the bear pole provided at the shelter. A heavy steel pole with a "U" welded to the top was in it's holder on the side of the bear pole. The idea was to put the "U" on the top of the pole thru a loop on the food bag, then lift it up to a hook at the top of the bear pole and put it in place (see photo). With enough colorful food packs up on the bear pole, it started to resemble an Xmas tree of sorts.With my sleeping gear set up in the shelter, water from the campground spring in my water bottles, food in my belly from my freeze-dried dinner, I waited for "hiker midnight" before settling into my sleeping bag. Much harder to stay awake until 9:00 pm after a long day's hike (even though it wasn't a particularly strenuous day) when there is no one else around for company. But, I managed to make it. Going to bed too early just means waking up in the dark at 4:00 or 5:00 am in the morning, then laying there until first light. So, I forced myself to stay up.When the appointed hour did arrive, I gratefully slid into my sleeping bag. And with my food pack hung, I had minimized the possibility of having an uninvited guest prowling around my shelter area during the night - or so I hoped....