Day 85 – Gravel Springs Hut to Route 522

“Well, I know Monday morning, I’ll be back on the fence-line,

But it’ll be alright.

‘Cause that pretty little girl says she’s gonna be all mine,

I’m gonna see her next Friday night.” – Chris Ledoux

Up at 6:30. Ate breakfast and packed up. Topped off water and on trail at 8:00.

Slept great without my rain fly. Clear, breezy, 70s going up to high 80s.

Dana is picking us up about 2:30 to go into Front Royal. Will give her an updated ETA around noon.

View at 9:00. Last good view in the Shennies.

Stopped for second breakfast at 9:20. We have 10.5 miles to go.

Stopped for water at 11:30. Texted Dana with our ETA.

Back is killing me today. Undid yesterday’s pack adjustments. Gotta figure this out as it’s impacting my hiking in a big way.

Exited the park around 1:30.

Stopped at Tom Floyd shelter for a break at 1:50. Dana is on her way to meet us at Route 522 at 3:30. We have 3 miles to go.

We arrived at Route 522 at 3:30. Dana got here about 5 minutes before us. Dana greeted us with cold Twix bars, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, and adult beverages. She also brought a set of “loaner clothes” for Overkill. This is awesome as we both need to take EVERYTHING we have to the laundromat after this past week. 

We checked into the Super 8, showered, unpacked, figured out our resupply needs, and went to Walmart. We only need a few things from the store as Dana brought a ton of resupply items in the form of 3 resupply boxes that I skipped in Virginia. We mainly need Permethrin from Wally World to treat our clothes. 

Had a nice group dinner at TGI Fridays (I wanted a steak), then back to the hotel and crashed early. I was exhausted. Guess the week and the heat caught up with me.

Shenandoah was a great 7 days. It was nice to be able to get real food almost every day (other than day 1) at the waysides and camp stores. People watching ranged from fun to hilarious. Oh, those silly civilians out and about with Mother Nature:) It was nice to hang with the extended tramily for most of a week. Not sure how much the group will spread out going forward. Also, a few are making noises about stopping their hikes at Harpers Ferry. We will see who we run into after our much-needed zero.

Shenandoah was also a major milestone both mentally and geographically. We are nearing the halfway mark, but leaving Shenandoah behind us just feels like we have moved on to a new phase in our trek. 

For the next 10 days or so, we will be hiking in my backyard. I know the area and the trail quite well as this is where I  do my day hikes and overnighters. The terrain is pretty easy (relatively flat). Even the Virginia roller coaster is fairly easy compared to what we have already hiked. Once we get within half a day of Harpers Ferry and into MD and southern PA, we hope to knock out a lot of 20+ mile days.

Our plan is to be in Harper’s Ferry in 3 days (2 nights), spend one night, then knock out Maryland in a little over 2 days (2 nights). Dana will meet us near Waynesboro, PA, to drive us to Walmart to resupply and have lunch. Then we will crush PA to Duncannon on the Susquehanna in about 4 days. We have not made concrete plans after Duncannon yet, but we plan to do big miles up to Lehigh, PA.

Technical Notes:

• Pop-Tarts 740
• Turkey sausage 80
• Beef bites:  100
• Mini payday: 100
• Trail mix: 150
• Beef bites: 200
• Crackers with cheese: 350
• Snickers: 250
• Dinner: 2000
• Misc: 500
• Seltzer: 700
• Water liters: 4
• Miles: 13.6
• Time: 8
• Elevation gain: 2207
• Calories consumed:  6400
• Calories burned: 6700