Sunday April 28, 23.6mi/38.0km

Range View cabin (953.1) to Denton shelter (976.7) (VA)

The day started early and went by quickly! We packed up our makeshift shelter, and we’re hiking by 7:30am. It was a cold-ish start to the morning, but quickly warmed to 60F/16C. The valleys had a cool undercast look.

Up at 3500ft, springtime is just starting…

Down below looks greener.

Looking down into the Shenandoah valley.

The last climb in Shenandoah Park was up Compton mountain, which had these cool volcanic columns. They looked just like the ones in Devils Postpile on the PCT!

And I finally saw a bear! Everyone else had seen one in the park.

Then the path started descending, and getting greener…

And greener…

Just before the road, there was a cooler with trail magic, from a local couple from Front Royal VA!

As the trail approached the road, there were more signs of manmade structures too.

At the trailhead, there was the usual trail information, but also some cute artwork from the local elementary school kids.

I stopped for a break and afternoon snack at a hostel, called the Mountain Home Cabbin. It was a very nice place, recently renovated, and with many kinds of snacks, ice cream, pizza, drinks for hikers to buy. It’s even a B&B too! From there, it was a quick 4 mile hike to the next shelter, which was a huge 10-person building.

I arrived at 7pm, and Turbo, Lightfoot, and Cedar were there. The temperature had already dropped to 50F, it’s a great sleeping night!