Day 14 Mile 118

Saying farewell for now to Front Royal, VA, a great Trail Town with all the gear a hiker needs at the River & Peak Outfitter Shop, including free Snickers for through-hikers with a coupon from the Tourist Info Center. The Center didn’t mention it, but the Outfitters did, and gave us bars anyway.

The Blue Wing Frog is a restaurant name made of words that don’t seem to go together until you savor their phenomenal food, like the massive homemade Reuben we shared (Great tip, Robert!). By homemade I mean home baked rye bread, brined corned beef, pickles cabbage, AND crafted sauces including ketchup, with only 4 or 5 essential ingredients (sugar NOT one of them), plus love.

And the conscious hosts at the Mountain Home Cabbin, Scott “Possible” (SoBo 2012) and Lisa Jenkins, left us feeling like friends, refreshed after a tough hike leading to our arrival. Bonus: FR has book shops and a library we keep hearing about.

We hiked out of FR ten miles to the Manassas Gap shelter and, shortly after arriving, met Lyric and Scott from Wonderland Hiker Refuge (near FR in Linden, VA). Lots in common with these really neat folks – further affirming a great vibe to the area. We’ll be back.

We’re starting the “dreaded roller coaster” section we read isn’t THAT bad. At least the elevation isn’t as dramatic as that we just passed. We’ll see. Hiking on!