Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 71, Thursday, 5/26 – I ate the Quality Inn continental breakfast, packed up, and then got a ride from Meghan back to trail. I hiked with Birthday Sandwich, Half Time, and Dogfish today. We entered Shenandoah National Park!

It was some beautiful hiking today. We essentially hiked through clouds all day. I don’t know much about the park, but if there are good views, I wouldn’t know it. There were however mountain laurels that were in bloom all along the trail. The trail today felt like a manicured botanical garden.

We ran into some bizarre trail magic along the way. We walked up on some hikers sitting next to a minivan, and didn’t see the owner of the car. It turns out, it was some folks doing trail maintenance. They left a sign for hikers to grab drinks out of the cooler from the trunk of their car.

Birthday Sandwich, Half Time, and I hiked 20 miles or so to a shelter. I ate dinner there but then decided I wanted to keep hiking. It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so I wanted to make tomorrow easier. Half Time and I hiked 24 miles to a tent-site near the Big Run Loop trail junction (mile 888)