Sunday, March 27th, 2016
Start: The Priest Shelter
End: Three Springs Hostel
Miles: 14.3
Today, we woke up at 7am and hit the trail by 7:30am. The weather today was thick fog, windy, and misty rain. It seemed like we were walking through clouds all day.
We climbed up to Spy Rock (3781'), through Porters Field (3517'), past Seeley-Woodworth Shelter (3806'), past Piney River north fork (3482'), over Tar Jacket Ridge (3847'), and down to Hog Camp Gap (3485'). We arrived around 5pm.
Today's miles took a long time; it took much longer than expected because my friend's knee had swollen up yesterday, didn't get better overnight, and started giving them very serious trouble today. It became bad enough they decided they needed to stop hiking and leave the trail.
So we looked through the guidebook and found Three Springs Hostel. We called them from Tar Jacket Ridge and they said they weren't yet open for the season but they could provide shuttle service to the nearest Greyhound bus station in Lynchburg. When we arrived at Hog Camp Gap, it was still raining and we realized we'd need to split up our gear. So we called the hostel and explained the situation. They very kindly and graciously agreed to put us up for the night, shuttle me back to the trail in the morning, and shuttle my friend to Lynchburg in the afternoon. The hostel is beautiful, the food is great, and the hosts are very kind and friendly.
Tomorrow, I'll head out with my rearranged gear (sans tent) back on trail by 8am. I anticipate making Daleville by Thursday afternoon. My friend is going to ship me a 1-person tent for me to pick up there. Until then, I'll be reliant on shelters which will make my mileage a bit odd. But I'm happy to be continuing onward!
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