Day 69, miles today- 22.7, total- 961.3

Pass Mountain Hut to Front Royal Hostel.

I was on trail this morning at 7:15 am. It was in the low 40's and clear. There was only a light breeze unlike the strong winds we had the past two days.

I had 7.4 miles to reach the Elkwallow Wayside. The last Wayside in SNP. I was looking forward to getting a hot meal. I had a egg, ham and cheese on a bagel. It was very good. I also had two cups of coffee. Mess was already there. He was eating at a picnic table outside in the sun. I sat with him. After he left I met Anna and Rick who were out backpacking for a week. They sat at the table with me. They are with a backpacking/ adventure Meetup group from Fredericksburg VA. Anna was the organizer of the trip. She was having a little trouble with her IT-band on her left leg. I showed her the stretch that I used when I had an IT-band problem. Before I left I got a grilled ham and cheese to go. It would taste really good a couple of hours up the trail.

There were many many dayhikers out today. It really changed the feel of backpacking. But, it was nice seeing so many people out enjoying nature like I do. There were quite a few small children also. The trail was pretty narrow so when passing, someone had to step off trail and into the small plants along side. Most of the time I stepped off, especially if there were small children. I wouldn't want a small child getting poison ivy because of me. There was a man and lady that were having trouble finding the parking lot. They showed me their dayhike map and asked if I could show them where we were at. They had taken a wrong turn.

Later a line of 12-15 people were hiking in the opposite direction as me. There was a ranger in uniform with them. I stepped off the trail to let them pass. The ranger stepped off on the side opposite me. When half of the line had passed the ranger asked me if I were an AT thru hiker. When he spoke the line of people stopped. I told him that I was a thru hiker. He asked when I had started, I told him March 19. After that a few people in line asked me the normal questions that thru hikers hear. When I told them I had started in Georgia, one lady said almost in disbelief "you hiked all the way to here". As I hiked away from them I wondered if I was on the rangers list of items to identify for his group.

As in days past there were many overlooks with a beautiful view. I stopped at all of them, some for just a minute. I was doing a fair amount of miles today. I wanted to get to the hostel by early evening. From there I would be able to resupply in Front Royal. The hostel is ran by a guy named Mike. It's in the basement of his house. There was a sign that said to go around back to a rear entrance. It was pretty nice. Mess was there along with three others. The others were section hikers. I hadn't taken a shower or done laundry for seven days, so this was a welcomed stop. After getting clean I ate two tuna salad sandwiches from items in my food bag. There was a small living room area where I sat on a couch, drinking a can of orange pop and watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory. At 9:30 pm we all got in our bunks. In the morning Mike is going to take us the 9 miles into town to resupply.