Fall AT section hike, day #16

Sunday, October 9th 2016
Start: Chestnut Knob Shelter
End: US 52/0 Days Inn
Miles: 22.0

During the night, the rain stopped but the wind kept howling by in excess of 30 MPH and the temperature was ~40 degrees without windchill factoring in. I managed to ignore any bathroom needs until around 5:30am. I then huddled in my sleeping bag until around 6:45am when I got up for good. For the first time ever on this trip, I wore my hat, gloves, and jacket out of the shelter when I started out around 7:45am. I needed them for the first hour or so, until the sun started to warm things up.

I made good time and hit my halfway point around 11:45am. I then managed to make my final destination for the day by 4pm. Today's high was around 58-62 and very windy so I didn't really want to stop moving for long. Tomorrow should be warmer.

I hiked down from Chestnut Knob Shelter (4393'), down to Walker Gap (3520'), up Garden Mountain (3869'), across VA 623 (3867'), down to Jenkins Shelter (2400'), past Laurel Creek/VA 615 (2450'), up to Trail Boss Trail intersection (3099'), down to powerlines (2721'), and then up the US 52 (3088').

Originally, I was planning on hiking 18 miles tomorrow and then slackpacking back to Pearisburg the day after, a 26 mile hike. However, the fellow here at the hostel offered to slackpack me tomorrow to the final road crossing before the trail enters the woods for a long while. From there, I'll hike out into the woods and either tent or stay at the next shelter. It will let me split some of those miles, making the last day's miles more manageable.

Fall AT section hike, day #15

Saturday, October 8, 2016
Start: VA 610/Appalachian Dreamer hostel
End: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles: 14.0

So last night, the 3 guys who came in late stayed up late. They were banging around until midnight. They also didn't turn out the peripheral lights when they went to bed. So I got up at midnight after tossing and turning since 10pm to turn off the lights and finally get some solid sleep. I woke up around 6am and was out of bed by 6:30am with breakfast served at 7am. Lumbermack gave us a scrumptious breakfast and he had me back to the trail by 8am at my request. I was hoping to avoid as much of the rain as I could. It continued to rain yesterday and all through the night. It was drizzling this morning and raining off and on all day (mostly on).

For an explicitly religious hostel, there was no proselytizing; he just prayed before we shared dinner together and had tracts lying around. He also required me to provide him with photo ID, of which he made a copy. I had to sign a Hold Harmless agreement as well as sign a document stating I'd follow all the rules he laid out. Unsurprisingly, it was very legalistic. Otherwise, it was like any other excellent hostel. I'd stay there again; the food was excellent and the facilities, very nice.

So my original plan was to stay at Chestnut Knob Shelter tonight though I did overshoot my tenting destination last night so I could go to the hostel. I got here by 2pm. However, the next shelter is over 10 miles away and it's still raining. It's supposed to stop soon and be quite nice for the next week. So I made the decision to chill here for the rest of the day, rather than push daylight to the next shelter in the rain and wet. Also, if I pushed to the next shelter, it would put my miles out of sync with the two hostels I'm hoping to stay at on Sunday and Monday nights.

The next three days to Pearisburg look relatively light in terms of elevation gain and I'd just as soon do them in nice weather so I can enjoy them. The only thing I'm not looking forward to - I saw a crew of what I presume to be Boy Scouts headed for this shelter. I desperately hope they decide to camp out somewhere not here because there won't be space for them here. And in my experience, Boy Scouts stay up late, get up early, and walk around like herds of moose while flinging their garbage everywhere. All of my expose has been on the Appalachian Trail and they've disrupted my sleep enough for me to have a very poor regard for them.

Today, I started from VA 610 (2700'), went down to VA 42 (2536'), climbed Brushy Mountain (3200'), went down to Lynn Camp Creek (2400'), climbed Lynn Camp Mountain (3035'), went down to Lick Creek (2268'), and then started climbing. I went up Chestnut Ridge (3780'), passed by the pond (3896') (where I managed to soak my shoes getting water), and then on up to Chestnut Knob Shelter (4393').