Bolden Hollow to Manassas Gap – 16.3 miles
Sunday, June 16th 2019
I awoke today having slept for almost twelve hours and feeling much better. Knowing that the Roller Coaster would be behind us in a few minutes was quite a relief! I had survived! This was still a difficult day for me and the idea of actually not finishing today and splitting the next 16 miles up over two day was discussed, but ultimately we decided to muscle through. We paused briefly at the southern end of the Roller Coaster to celebrate and then continued on to Rod Hollow Shelter to stop for breakfast. The miles today weren’t “easy” but they were definitely not as challenging as those of the previous day. We crossed Ashby Gap and and climbed 900ft over 2.5 miles to the top of Sky Meadows State Park where we encountered many groups of day hikers. I was still very tired but I tried to keep my complaints to a minimum. We arrived Dicks Dome Shelter with 7 miles to go and mentioned the idea of stopping there for the night but we decided against it. It didn’t appear the rest of the miles would be too difficult. We reached the intersection of Tico Tower Trail, which at 2102ft was the highest point on our hike, and still there were no views to appreciate. I felt a bit disappointed that Jeff’s first outing with me was not more representative of the spectacular views more common on other sections of the trail. From here it was just about 1400ft down over the course of 4.5 miles to our end point. We passed Manassas Gap Shelter and this was the last I saw of Jeff until I arrived back at the car to find him waiting patiently for me. I felt pretty bad for not living up to my expectations for this hike. I’d done a lot of whining and I give him a lot of credit for putting up with me. I know we’ll hike together again soon and I’m looking forward to redeeming myself!
Wherever I May Roam 