Gravel Spring Hut
I got up early today which wasn't very hard to do. The wind constantly woke me up all night. After went to bed it got even stronger causing my tarp to violently crush down on me or if the wind changed direction a little causing my tarp to balloon and threaten to take off. I am frankly amazed my stakes held though the the night. The wind made me motivated to pack quickly as it was very chilling but very much slowed the packing of my tarp by whiping around and tangling the cords. The day went much mor smoothly once I got going though the wind kept me pretty cold for the first hour. 
For some reason today was the day of southbound section hikers. I saw at least 6 by 10AM. I got to the highway leding to Luray around noon. I needed to go to Luray to collect my mail and forward it to Front Royal. I was orginally going to resupply in Luray but I have pleanty of food to make it to Front Royal and after that I wouldn't need it for a week while at Trail Days. Hitching in was very tou!
gh but finally one of the NPS rangers picked me up and gave me a lift into town. Thank you! In town I first visted Evergreen
Outfitters to get my packages and a replacement spoon for one I had lost. They were very excited to see me as I was their first thru hiking customer ever. They had opened last fall and were trying to build up a reputation and stock for the AT hiker community. They had lots of questions for me. I helped them out best I could. I hope I helped them get into the mind of the thru-hiker. They had three care packages but since I don't want to carry them to Front Royal I took them to the post office to forward. The outfitter gave me a spot to stash my pack while I took care of business. If you take a piority mail package to the post office unopened you can forward it for free. After I was done forwarding my mail I went to get lunch and to check out the Luray Caverans. The lunch was good and then on the way to caverns I realized I had left my camera with my pa!
ck back the outfitters. I decided that I didn't want to go without my
camera and didn't really want to hike the 4 mile road walk to see the caverns so I went back to the offitters to get my pack. It was surprisingly easy to get a ride back to the trail and I was back on the trail.
The next section of trail was pretty nice with easy grades and smooth surface but up and down. Along the way I came across two black rat snakes sunning themselves in the trail. They are hamless snakes and eventually I sacred the off the trail and went on. From one of the information signs I learned the pretty pink flowers I have been seeing are columbine.
My one big disaapointment of the day was getting to shelter. The trail to the shelter crosses a sampy section of trail. There are rocks you hope across to keep your feet dry. Less than 20 yards away from the shelter I slipped on a rock my left foot got soaked in sinky muck and my right leg splattered. Arg!
There are three section hikers in the shelter tonight. They all a very nice.
Tomorrow I will be heading to Front Royal for a long overdue shower and Damascus the next day for Trail Days.
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