| July 02, 2005 |
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Leaving Gravel Springs Hut 7:40am. I
heard a turkey this morning right before I got ready to leave.
I have near 14 miles to hike today. Stayed the night with
TeraPin from Maryland, and Clever from MN. They came in about
8:30 last night.. The thunder storms didn't come until about
9pm. |
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Nice trail this morning, easy hiking
because of the rain made the ground soft. I have some log
steps but easy. Climbing up the Marshall Mt. elevation 2,300ft.
It's very steep, but gradual steep and the trail is easy hiking
which makes a difference. I hit the ridge top of Marshall Mt.
and a bunch of big boulders all around me. Have a great
view and the breeze is really cool and feels really good.
Simon like those cliff top views, the walks to the ends of the
rocks. |
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Crossing the Skyline Drive at 15.9.
The north Marshall Mt trail is very rocky. Lots of rocks in
the trail and on the side. Rock falls. From here I can
some massive rock boulders. They look like they're 50 to 60
feet high. The trail is very narrow and closed in. Looks
like I'm right on top now. Lots of boulder and the wind is
really blowing and feels good. I can see almost nothing, but
the clouds moving up over the mountain tops in the valley below.
It looks like big gray clouds. |
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I've been going hill for the last mile, and
the trail is getting smoother and the woods is more open. |
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Crossing the Skyline again at Hog
Wallow Gap. There have been apple trees for the past mile,
mile and a half. They are old too, they haven't been freshly
planted in the past ten years. They are older than that. |
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I must be going up Compton Peak 2,940 ft..
There's a lot more rocks in the trail and a bit more rugged area.
I just went up some rock steps around the switch back. It's
very steep. I just met a section hiker. I'm
hiking now on a forest service road. |
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As of 12:20pm, I am out of the Shenandoah
National Park. I am on my the Wayside registration
area to register for people crossing the Skyline Drive.. I'm
going to stop at the Wayside Grill and get myself something cold to
drink and get some ice cream and then into Front Royal. I
going down one big boulders of stone. I can't believe it - one
big stone pile for the end with big rock steps one after another.
Rocks, rocks slides, I don't think I'm ever going to get out of
these blooming rocks, They just keep coming. |
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There supposed to be some exotic wild
animals behind this wire fence. I haven't seen any. The
raspberries are ripe and I've picked several handfuls along the
trail. They have a real good taste to them. I'm coming
out by a great big lake. This must be the swimming lake they
were talking about. It look like I'm going to go over a bridge
where the lake come out. It's a huge swamp area full of reefs. |
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Got out on Rt. 522 and started hiking
towards Front Royal and within about 15 minutes I had a ride from a
lady in a pick-up truck who lives on a farm and raises horses and
she took us all the way into town. She showed us around town
and I got a motel room at the Scottish Inn. |
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Swing'n Jane and
Simon |
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