Day 84-I Really Need to Sleep More

June 10-13.4 miles-Gravel Springs Hit to Front Royal, Virginia-AT mile 972.1

So, after the bear business last night, I continued to stay up on the second level of the hut. Dusty and Sure Foot moved back down because they were too hot. I had a breeze  coming up under the eaves, so I was okay. I watched No Rush (who is a hammock sleeper) go over to the bear box, and put some stuff on top. Then he sits on top of the bear box. As I was watching him (most curious as to what he was doing), I saw some flashes of light. Oooo...fireflies! I continued to watch No Rush and the fireflies. No Rush proceeded to pull out his quilt, and wrap it around himself. Then, he lays down on top of the bear box. No Rush is not a small guy (in fact, he’s quite large). Really Dude? You are going to sleep on top of the bear box? Well, pretty soon he got up and walked over to the picnic table. There, he laid down and slept. In the morning, I asked him why. He said the bear was circling around the area, and he didn’t want to sleep in his hammock. So, sleeping on a picnic table where we had all just cooked and eaten our dinner was a better idea???

Because it was going to be pretty hot today (and we were going to town), we wanted to get an early start. For me that means getting up, at the earliest, at 5:00. Well, as usual, Dusty was up at the pre-pre-butt crack of dawn. I woke up to hearing everyone rustling around. I thought, “ Oh, it must be about 5:00.”  Since I had to pee anyway, I got up. After peeing, I went to the bear box and got my pack and food bag. I brought it back to the hut, where Dusty proceeded to tell me it was 4:20, and did I really want to get up. I said, “Oh hell no!”, and went back to bed. But, it was too late. There was no getting back to sleep. I told Dusty I would be sleep walking today. 

I was on the trail at 5:57. Everyone else had already left. I saw no signs of the bear as I left the hut. There was a climb right away, but it was pretty easy. The temp wasn’t too bad, and there was a bit of a breeze. 

Check out the cloud

Trail into the sun

Foggy in this spot. 

There were a couple more crossings of Skyline Drive before the final section of the Park. Along the last section, I met a group of older hikers out for a day hike. We had a nice conversation. Not long after, I came to the end of Shenandoah NP. 




I was greeted by this, just out of the park. 

Yeah, I came down that!

By now, I had just a couple of miles to go, but I was very sleepy. I walking, but it was like the lights were on, but nobody was home. Soooo tired...

Finally, I got to the road. Of course, Dusty and Sure Foot had been there for hours (okay, maybe not hours, but I’m sure a good long time). 




The shuttle picked us up and took us to the Baymont Hotel in Front Royal. We’ve done all our town chores, and now it’s time for me to go to sleep. The shuttle is picking us up at 8:00, so I’m not getting up until 6:45!



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