Day 36-Dicks Dome Shelter-18.1 Miles

Day 36-Dicks Dome Shelter-18.1 Miles

Today was an interesting day from the start. We woke up from our campsite which was a little ways from the shelter and headed there to make breakfast when we were quickly greeted by some almost naked hikers. We knew this day was coming up, but had forgotten that today was hike naked day on the A.T. So we did what anyone would do in this situation and jumped into our birthday suits. It added a little excitement to the day and it didn't hurt that 2 attractive girls were the ones convincing us to do it. Peer pressure won but we ended up only hiking for about 5 miles like this because we saw a family close up the trail. It spiced up the day though and made for a good story. Not much else happened this day except later this night we would meet Riley and Cade who would become our hiking buddies for a little while.

Birthday suits

I had to push Rocky away from me, he was a little too excited

Our peer pressure group

Snake that was as big as my fist

Thought this was cool

Day 35-Leaving Luray-Tom Floyd Shelter 24.8 Miles

Day 35-Leaving Luray-Tom Floyd Shelter 24.8 Miles

Headed out of Luray today and after only about 1 hour of hitching, we were picked up by a really nice guy who drove us right back to where we left off. We hit the trail with a pretty short day planned, 13.7 miles to the second shelter, but as usual we decided to change our plans so we could do some more night hiking. Both of us enjoyed to night hike and we figured we might as well do it on Skyline drive if we were going to do it. So we ended up having a 24.8 mile day instead of our short 13.7 mile day which led us getting into camp around midnight or so. Still a great day though and perfect weather.

Thumbs up

Found your arm Matt

Epic...view

Epic...view

Tiny snake

Black bear singing in the dead of night

Dinner while there is still light out

Night Hiking

Shenandoah Park Boundary

Giant Rattlesnake

Day 34-Zero Day in Luray

Day 34-Zero Day in Luray

Not too much happened today, we got into Luray yesterday afternoon and decided we had earned ourselves a break here after all the miles we had been knocking down. So we went and saw a movie the night we came in and then relaxed the next day besides heading to the library to update this thing. Not too much to report. Here are a few more pictures of the Shenandoah Valley and before we headed into town.

Pinnacle Campground, where we slept after our 30 mile day

Rocky getting a little burnt while hiking with no shirt on

Another black bear