{"id":697,"date":"2014-06-17T07:46:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T11:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/wordpress-happytrails\/?p=697"},"modified":"2014-06-17T07:46:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T11:46:00","slug":"day-62-mile-962-to-little-hogback-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hnatow.com\/happytrails\/?p=697","title":{"rendered":"Day 62 – mile 962 to Little Hogback Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was a lot more of the same as the other days in the park. The morning trails were quite rocky and tough on the feet. We heard and read some things that most of the tread in the park was smooth, but I’d say that’s only about 50% the case. We had a nice view of Skyline Drive from above at Little Stony Man Cliffs in the morning. <\/p>\n

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The ever present Skyline Drive from Little Stony Man Cliffs <\/p><\/div>\n

We saw two bears today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These guys are smallish and kind of cute and I might try to cuddle one tomorrow. I don’t know, perhaps that is not a good idea. <\/p>\n

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Slightly better picture of a bear in Shenandoah <\/p><\/div>\n

If you want to see bears, come here. That’s 5 we’ve seen in the park in 4 days (plus the one right outside the park). We talked to a thru-hiker at the Wayside today who said he has seen 13 bears in his 4 days in the park. He almost got renamed to “Bear Bait.”
\nWe grabbed some snacks and ice cream at Elkwallow Wayside, our last one. Those things are awesome for snack attacks. It’s a good thing they aren’t everywhere on the trail, as they are tourist priced and suck up a lot of time. <\/p>\n

We made stealth camp near the Little Hogback Mountain views right before the storms of the evening hit us. It’s slowing down as I type this in the tarp. It was pretty hot all day so at least this is a little break. <\/p>\n

Tomorrow we are hiking 15 miles and then heading into Front Royal to resupply and spend the night. This is our last stop in Virginia. Crazy! <\/p>\n

Vital stats :<\/strong>
\nMiles hiked today – 24.6
\nMood – getting antsy to finish up Virginia later this week
\nPhysical state – sore feet from the “smooth” trails of Shenandoah, but fine
\nSmell – disgusting
\nSong stuck in my head – Coming Of Age by Foster The People<\/p>\n

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