Date: 2018-07-22
From: Skyland Parking 

To: U.S. route 522
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Last night it got really cold! Not only that, it also rained all night long. Hugs and I stayed at the lodge as late as possible before making a dash for our tents. A family was sitting beside us. The dad used to hike and he knew I had no warm clothing, so he went to their camp and brought me an old pair of his sweatpants. What an awesome Trail Angel!   I woke up well rested. Hugs woke up in a pool of water. It came up from the ground into the bottom of her tent. We both packed up heavy wet gear and walked a mile to the Wayside for breakfast. Our full packs feel fuller with wet things inside.  After breakfast we started hitchhiking our way north to our starting point. It was 20+ miles or so. The fog was thick. Cars couldn¢t see us until it was too late to stop. We did watch a mama deer and fawn come across the road and hop over some weeds into a field of grass.  That fawn was so cute mimicking it¢s mama! We walked back to the Wayside to see if we could just get a ride, but no luck. There was a family there with a big van, but I didn¢t approach them. The young son, probably 8 or 9 years old, was throwing a royal sized fit about hiking! Causing a huge scene screaming at his parents that he¢s NOT hiking, he hates hiking blah blah blah. I didn¢t see it, but Hugs saw the dad finally manage the situation.  We walked back to the road...thumbs up. The fog briefly lifted and a car stopped for us. It was too small, and too full to hold us and our big packs. They apologized and moved on. Then here comes the van...THE van. It stopped. The kid still had tears running down his cheeks, but was polite. They took us about a fourth of the way to where we needed to go. We weren¢t without a ride long before Cindy(Pez) and Susan stopped. Pez is a hiker, if you couldn¢t guess. She works at REI in Jersey. We had great conversations with both of them. They dropped us off with not many miles left to go, and some plastic for Hugs to put under her tent.  Up next was Hank & Ben. They are father and son. Ben told stories of how he used to be like the little boy in the van, but now he¢s the one calling his dad to go hiking. Hank and Ben dropped us off at our starting point. We were excited because today we will arrive in Front Royal Virginia. After 5 nights in my tent, my body is aching. My left hip/low back has been out of place for well over a week. This comes from carrying a heavy pack and pounding out miles. On a zero to 10 pain scale I would say I¢m at a 7 most of the time.  Thank goodness the terrain is pretty good here. There were a few rock scrambles, but all things in moderation. Moderate or not, the rocks still shoot pain through my feet like nobody¢s business! There was one tree down that was so big we had to drop pack to get over it.  Eventually we hiked along a fence line to the road that goes to Front Royal. We hitchhiked the 3 miles into town. A very lovely lady picked us up and brought us to our hotel. We had so many Trail Angels today!  I cannot express enough how grateful I am for those who help us, complete strangers, expecting nothing in return.  Papa Big Swig has gifted us a hotel stay. We decided to stay another night too and slack pack the start of the roller coaster. Getting ready for that ride.  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?