Day 70, miles today- 14.5, total- 975.8

Front Royal Hostel to Manassas Gap Shelter.

At around 8:15 am Mike took three of us at the hostel into Front Royal to resupply. He dropped me off at the Food Lion. After picking up enough food for the next three days or so I went next door to the Front Royal Dinner to eat breakfast. Mike was to pick me up at 9:30. I had a waffle, two eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice and coffee. I then went to the pick up location. Mike showed up within five minutes. Once back at the Hostel, I went through my food, discarding all of the cardboard packaging. There's no need carrying extra weight. I left the Hostel at 11:15. I had a 0.5 mile uphill hike to get back to the AT.

At 11:30 am I was back on the AT. Within ten minutes I was leaving the northern end of the Shenandoah National Park.

Four miles later at US 522 I received trail magic. Sunkist, a 2012 thru hiker was there with her mother. They had a table with a variety of food items. There were bananas, apples, home made brownies and blueberry muffins, several types of Little Debbie snacks, and soft drinks. I took a break there and talked to Sunkist about her hike.

I took a short break at the Jim & Molly Denton Shelter. It has a porch, chairs, covered picnic table and even a solar shower. Pretty cool shelter. While I was there I met Beth and David. They were day hiking through that area. They stopped to check out the shelter. They have both been involved with Scouting with their son and daughter. David went to Philmont with his son's troop. I went to Philmont went I was in scouts about 40 years ago. It's an area in New Mexico where scouts go to backpack. I believe I stayed out for ten days when I went. Beth has gone backpacking with her daughter.

A few miles later at a road crossing there was more trail magic.  There was a cooler full of drinks, apples, oranges, and some hard candy. In was put there by two past thru hikers. They had a sign asking for people to sign their cooler. I took a break there for several minutes. After a few minutes Beth and David stopped by. They took a break there also. Before they left they offered me a baggie full of beef jerky. My third trail magic, all in one day. Pretty sweet.

About a mile later I caught up with Beth and David, who had left the cooler before me. I walked with them for a short distance.

I passed a long section of a rock wall near the top of a ridge deep in the woods. Who, when, or why it was built I don't know. I know it was a lot of hard work for someone.

When I got to the Manassas Gap Shelter there were four guys there. They are all section hikers. Three were related. A father and son from Texas and the dad's brother from Florida. The other guy is from Virginia. They were all good guys. We sat around the campfire for a couple hours, talking about a variety of subjects.