Day: October 21, 2020

Today I finally crossed the James River. But to get there there was a lot of climbing and there were a lot of rocks involved. I know it’s probably not more than the normal amount of rocks for the Appalachian Trail but my feet were sore today and they noticed every single one of them.

I got up about 6:20 and didn’t get on trail until a little after 7:00. I wanted to get out a little earlier than that to make up for the short day yesterday but it’s still in early enough start to need the headlight for 15 minutes. A couple that camped with me probably got out 15 or 20 minutes after I did.

As is the norm for most shelters, the morning started with a climb. I was close to the Blue Ridge Parkway all day but didn’t get near enough to see it very often and didn’t get down to any of their overlooks. The first major climb of the day was to get up to the top of Apple Orchard Mountain. I don’t know why they call it that because there are no apple trees, but there is an FAA tower at the top of it that looks like a giant golf ball that hums. There was someone camped out in a tent in the grass right near the tower when 30 ft away there was a great spot nestled in some trees away from the wind.

There were quite a few rocks all around the peak of Apple Orchard Mountain. They weren’t terrible and there were not miles of it but I’ve had a crack on my big toe on the right foot that’s been bleeding for a few days and each rock seemed to find the exact spot that the toe didn’t want to be touched. Not only that, there were little rocks hidden by the leaves that I kept stepping on, and when they’re very pointy they cause serious pain when you step on them with all your weight. That’s been the only problem I’ve had recently -making sure my feet stay healthy and not sore all the time.

Later in the morning I did come to an overlook that had a father and daughter talking to their wife/mom on the telephone. We chatted a bit about the trail and my experiences and he asked if I needed any food. I was tempted to say yes but I said no. But honestly a Coca-Cola would have been really good about then. Luckily this overlook was close enough to a parking area and the parking area did have a garbage can so I was able to get rid of some trash that I had been carrying. That’s one of the good parts about the Blue Ridge Parkway – there’s lots of garbage cans as well as lots of good views.

Thunderhead Mountain was the next one to climb and it had about the same amount of rocks near the top. If the entire mountain were all rocks it would be unbearable but luckily it’s usually only the top 100 or 200 ft. And for a 1500 ft climb that’s not too bad. But it does slow you down.

There were no opportunities to sneak off trail today to find some place to grab something to eat, but that’s okay, I’m coming up to the James River and if I need food badly enough I can just hit Glasgow. I had estimated that I should hit the river at about 5:30.

The climb up to the last ridge before the river was graded really well and followed the contours of the mountain. Once it started to descend it got a little bit steeper but it wasn’t too bad. I knew that the trail would descend down to the river pretty quickly but then follow the river for about a mile to get to the footbridge to cross it. Since the graded trail was pretty nice I actually got to the river just a little after 5:00. Walking along the river went pretty quickly but there were a few little rocky areas that slowed me down a little bit.

The footbridge is built on piers that look like it probably used to be a railroad bridge but this is a brand new bridge designed specifically for foot traffic only and it’s about a thousand feet long. I noticed they had signs on the bridge saying “no jumping” but I remember 10 years ago seeing video of bunch of people jumping off the bridge into the water. The water is dark enough you can’t really tell how deep it is so there’s no way I would jump off of it. It’s at least 20 ft above the water.

Crossing the road and beginning the ascent of the other side was pretty uneventful. There was a shelter not too far up the trail that I would hit probably before 6:00 and I would have to decide whether or not to stay there or try to push on a little further. I made better time than I expected and actually got there a little bit before 6:00. 

I looked at the map and from the shelter the trail climbed really steeply. Probably more steeply than anything I had encountered today. The ridgeline was over 2 mi away and would take probably an hour and a half to climb. That would put me well after dark getting to the top and judging by the contours it didn’t look like there would be any camping either on the way up or maybe possibly at the top. Some of these peaks lately have had rhododendron or mountain laurel on the top and those are horrible for hammock camping. 

I had gone a pretty good distance today and the next road leading into Buena Vista which is my next plan stop is 20 miles away. If I get up a little early I should be able to get to the road in good time. That will give me the option to either go into town if I can get a shuttle or a hitch or keep going a little bit further. There’s no official camping or shelter within 5 mi of the other side of the road but the contours look a lot more friendly than the mountain I’m currently on.

I’ve been taking a tally of the food that I have left and I think that I can make it all the way to Waynesboro on the food that I have with me but I will be down to the last bits of food if I push that far. If I have a good day tomorrow I will probably try to push forward. But if I’m struggling I may go ahead and go into town. Today was pretty hot and I am getting pretty stinky. Since I had extra time at the shelter I went ahead and took a sponge bath that was a little more in depth than the usual nightly routine. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Since it has only been 10 years since I’ve hiked the section there were a lot of things that looked very familiar to me. And a lot of coincidences that I didn’t realize until after they happened.

I got up at what I thought was an early time but ended up getting on trail just after 7:00. I had to use the headlamp for about 15 minutes even though the sun was not quite officially risen but was making the sky a beautiful orange color all around me. I was still near the parkway and the trees around the park were pretty thin so even though I didn’t get unobstructed views of the sunrise seeing it through the silhouette of the trees was still a neat experience.

It was close to an hour before the trail actually snaked back on to the parkway which surprised me since the night before it had been every 15 minutes. I never got a good unobstructed view of the sunrise but I did get some unobstructed views of the James River Valley below on the other side. The river produces enough moisture that the entire valley was under cast in fog. It was easy to tell where the river flowed to the valley just by looking at where the fog was. I will be crossing that river in a few days.

After the trail left the parkway it seemed to do a lot more climbing and descending. It seems I’m back in a stretch which is basically just hiking up and down mountains instead of following a road. I know I’m never far from it but I’m not exactly following the parkway anymore and I rarely actually see it.

I came across the shelter just after 10:30 in the morning so I decided to go ahead and stop and have first lunch Even though it was a little early it was important to have a shelter for this lunch because I planned to eat my salad. Fixing a salad on the trail requires a picnic table because you have to slip open the top and bottom of the bag and then slice open the seam and fold out the plastic to make a large place setting to mix and eat the salad. This was a kale salad with lemon vinaigrette and asiago cheese. It was easy to mix up without spilling any and it was quite delicious. I’m kind of sad that it’s the first salad on the trail and probably the last for a while.

After the trail left the shelter it went down to Jennings Creek. I remember the name but more importantly I remember that it has a great swimming hole. When I was here 10 years ago it was in June and it was a great place to swim. It October it’s not exactly the first thing I want to do.

There was a campground that had a sign at the intersection that listed all the food they had for sale and their telephone number for a ride from the trailhead to the campground. I looked at the comments on the Guthook app and they said that the shuttle wasn’t running but they would open the grill and cook great hamburgers and milkshakes. Even though I still had tons of food it’s really hard to pass up a cheeseburger and a milkshake. I contemplated doing the road walk and then walking past the campground to rejoin the AT a few miles further but it would mean missing the next shelter which I had planned to stop at to have my normal lunch.

I decided to just stick to the trail and do the next climb which was actually a lot harder than I was expecting. When I finally got to the shelter near 2:00 I was excited and happy that I had not taken the detour to get the cheeseburger. This was one of the most memorable shelters on the AT. It’s a two-story shelter but looks like it’s a three-story shelter because it has all these sub levels. It was built in 1992 and just has the most interesting design. I didn’t stay there in 2010 and I wouldn’t stay there this year either but I would love to come back just to sleep in that shelter.

I headed on and the rest of the day was more climbing and descending. I’m already missing the parkway. I was due to hit the next shelter out about 5:30 and then there was another shelter after that 5 mi further that I would love to be able to hit. But the climbs to the next shelter were tougher than I thought and I didn’t get to there until a little after six. There was a southbound couple that had just gotten there a few minutes earlier who were resting in the shelter and I needed water because I was almost out. By the time I got my water and got back to the shelter it was close to 6:15 and I only had another 30 minutes of good hiking light and there was no way I was making another 5 mi so I decided to stay at the shelter.

When I walked behind the shelter to check out the privy I recognized the campsites and then realized this was the shelter where back in 2010 a hiker named Sandstone had hiked out a salad kit and prepared it exactly as I had done at this very picnic table. In the 10 years since I had seen him do it I’ve never done it myself and I thought it was neat that the very day I do decide to do it was the same day I hit the shelter where I learned how to do it. Spooky.

I prepared dinner and had a nice chat with a couple who was southbounding. We talked a lot about the AT and also the PCT.  They decided to pitch their tent and I decided to stay in the shelter so now I’m curled up in my sleeping bag on a hard floor. It’s starting to get pretty chilly but I have extra layers in case I get cold. Since I didn’t get as far as I wanted to today I’m hoping to get out early tomorrow and have a good day. Maybe the climbs will mellow out again.