Sunday Call - 6/26

We heard from Ryan Sunday afternoon.  He is out of Shenandoah National park and was near Front Royal, VA at an outfitter resupplying.  They only plan on staying off the trial long enough to get some supplies and find some  kind of low cost, high calories, high volume lunch.  He has hiked almost 30 miles each over the past two days.  He was glad to be out of the park and be able to camp where they choose again.  The park requires hikers to stay in designated camping areas at park shelters.  Shenandoah was celebrating their 75 anniversary and tourist traffic was greater than normal.  Many of the shelters were clogged with day and section hikers making accommodations tight for thruhikers.

Over the length of the Appalachian trail there are shelters averaging every 10-15 miles.  Shelters run the range of 4 sided barn-like structures to 3 sided lean-to’s.  Ryan has avoided sleeping in shelters as much as possible but often camps at the shelter locations.  He says it is much more comfortable in his 1 man tent and sleeping pad.  Snoring is a common problem as well as the general odor of 4-8 hikers that haven’t bathed for weeks.  Most often the shelters are overrun with mice which can eat through your pack and provisions.  He’s commented more than once about how much he likes having the tent.  He considers the tent and a book to be his best luxuries.  The benefit far outweighs the weight.

The hikers Ryan has been with over the past few weeks are Chimp from Knoxville, Achilles from Charlotte and Kipper.  Ryan has had his drop packages sent to Front Royal forwarded to Harpers Ferry.  The assault on Shenandoah will carry into Harpers Ferry where they plan a down day and celebration of half way point.  Chimp has some relatives in the area that have volunteered to pick the four hikers up at Harpers and take them home for the night for a shower and meal.

He was right at 970 miles yesterday.