Day 21 of AT in VA NOBO

Thornton Gap/US 211
(944.7) to Gravel Springs Hut (959.0)
Total Miles: 14.3

Decided to sleep in a bit this am after late night. Michigan lost 🙁, but there were some other really good games nonetheless.
Said goodbye to Wayne when he dropped me off at Thornton Gap (see pic). He gave me the names Bill and Goldilocks, a shuttling couple who lives up trail between Front Royal and Winchester, in case I have a need and Uber doesn’t work.
Halfway through the day, I came across a Minnesota family of 3 going in the opposite direction. The 23 yr old Son lives and works in Baltimore at Northrop Grumman. Parents came down to visit him and are touring/hiking around SNP for a few days. They were very intrigued by the whole AT thing, so we talked for 20 mins.
Got to the very nice Gravel Springs Hut around 5:30pm. Two single moms Holly & Mallory (combined trail name Hallory) were already there with tents set up, as well as Flicker, a 60 yr old guy who is section in preparation for a thru hike next year. Mikey, a long weekend hiker from Ocean City MD learning all about longer distance hiking came in a few minutes later. Lots of fun discussion and laughs with this group as we had dinner. At 7:30pm, in rolled three young, loud in a good way, thru hikers who are attempting the calendar year triple crown (AT, CDT & PCT trails all in the same yr). We talked about the hiker Chia, who I met and hung out with 2 weeks ago in Daleville, who is the first thru hiker up the trail and is doing 30-35 mile days. These three started around the same time as Chia but are now going 5-7 miles per day slower than him. The three got up at 5am the next morning, made a lot of ruckus, and then headed north. I for one will be following them on Instagram. Not!もっと詳しく