Appalachian Trail (day 44) - Tom Floyd Shelter to Whiskey Hollow Shelter / mile 987

"Our Tex Mex chicken burger is like a happy meal for adults" Waitress at the Mill Restaurant

Town day is always a good day.

In the morning I've had just few miles left before reaching the road leading to Front Royal and I only had to wait 10 minutes until someone stopped and gave me a 3 mile ride to town. Unfortunately I didn't remember my drivers name but he was a local guy, his family was forced to leave Shenandoah's region when government was creating the national park.

Once in town I've resupplied in Martin's supermarket, then I had a walk to the outfitters located in the city centre. I had to wait for a while before they opened. They had a super cool place in here called Basecamp, it was located at the back of the shop and AT thru hikers could get their laundry done and have a shower for free! It was a perfect option for me as I was planning to leave the town in the afternoon and keep on hiking.

I've got an access to the Basecamp and an hour later I was all clean and shiny. I've went back to the outfitters and got myself a new pair of Topo shoes at a 50% discount, they weren't exactly what I was looking for but paying 75$ for shoes that I will have to replace in few hundred miles was a good deal.

After that I had an amazing pecan and cinnamon roll at the bakery next door and went to the Mill Restaurant where I had a very decent spicy chicken burger with milk (I loved the fact that they had milk on the menu so I had one). Chatty, the lady working at the outfitters told me that once I'm done I can come back to the shop and someone will give me a ride back to trail, and that's exactly what happened. 

Just past midday I was back on the trail, clean, fed, resupplied and in my new, blue, comfy shoes. To make things even better there was a cooler of trail magic set up few miles later with sodas and snacks. Front Royal really went above and beyond to make my short stay here pleasant and memorable, thank you!

I didn't hike too far as there was not enough time before it started to get dark. I still did a decent progress considering it was a town day. I've met a "Ridge Runner" along the way. Lightfoot was maintaining the trail between Front Royal and Harper's Ferry, checking up on hikers and making sure the shelters were clean and in good condition. He thru hiked AT three years ago and got this job for the season, contract was ending in September. Apparently there was more people like him ahead on the trail.

I've stayed for the night at the Whiskey Hollow Shelter which Lightfoot has only visited yesterday, it was a new, two levelled hut with a front porch, privy and bear hangs. I've actually opted to stay inside the shelter for the night, there was 3 other hikers staying here with me, two section hikers from Leeds in UK and an American thru hiker, I didn't get to know them better as it was getting late.

Tomorrow I'll be going through a section of the trail called a "rollercoaster" which a lot of hikers does not like, it doesn't look bad on the elevation profile but AT taught me a lesson in this regard before so I'll better hold my judgment until I'm on the other side of it.