VA hike #2, day 5

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
Start: Punchbowl Shelter
End: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles: 25.1 (+0.2 for shelter side trail)

I got up at 6am and was out on the trail by 6:45am.

I climbed Punchbowl Mountain (2850') and Bluff Mountain (3372'), past Big Rocky Row (2992'), past Johns Hollow Shelter (1021'), over James River Footbridge (the trail's longest foot-use-only bridge) (678'), past Matts Creek Shelter (848'), climbed Highcock Knob (3064'), down to Petites Gap (2369'), and up to Thunder Hill Shelter (3917').

I was warned by AT Wheeler that Thunder Hill Shelter didn't have any water so I shlepped water from 3 miles away and that was a good plan. The shelter's water source (an old, shallow, open well) has barely an inch of muddy water.

When I arrived at the shelter, four local boys doing a three day section hike were there. They moved to camp up the hill so they wouldn't disturb me. Later, when the stove I had glitched out and wouldn't cook my dinner, they kindly let me borrow one of their stoves.

As I was cooking dinner and the sun was going down, Bearbait, a NOBO thru-hiker from GA who started February 1st, arrived at the shelter. I let him have half a liter of my water when it became evident he had almost no water left.

Tomorrow, I head into town to stay at a motel so I can split my miles better, rather than relying exclusively on shelters.