May 22

Triple trail magic

Man, I got a late start.  Last one to leave the shelter.  10:30am.  Not good for trying to catch up.  Made it about 4 miles past the shelter to some great views at Wind Rock.  As soon as I stepped up onto the escarpment to take in the views, the rain started up again.  Put on my pack cover.  Took off my shirt, and just wore my rain jacket, unzipped.  The rain really cooled the temperature down.  I had a really great time walking along the ridge for the next few miles, in the rain.  Downpour rather.  I saw a wall of grey coming toward me, and just laughed.  At one point I saw some wild azaleas, one pink, one yellow, and one orange.  Coming down off the ridge, I came across a hollow log next to the trail that had something red in it that caught my eye.  It was a small cooler filled with Little Debbie snacks.  I grabbed a Nutty Bar.  Behind the cooler was a handle of bourbon too.  Nice!  Standing in the rain, but still in good spirits, I scored some free calories from that trail magic.  I took a lunch break a War Spur shelter, and had a good laugh at a cartoon drawing that Apache had left in the register.  Later that afternoon, I was climbing the long slog up Johns Creek Mountain, and I came across 2 bins full of more trail magic.  I scored an orange, an oatmeal cream pie, a soda, and a beer.  Outstanding!  More fuel to get me to Laurel Creek shelter.  It was still raining and I was soaked, so I decided to push on to try to get to the next shelter 6 miles away.  I started out with Chunder and Yoko, and we met a hiker named Dah Wah He.  A former thru-hiker, he said a friend of his was picking him up at the next road crossing that was only 2 miles away, and that we could go in with them to get showers, do laundry, and eat.  That sounded like a much better plan.  We got picked up by his buddy, also a former thru-hiker, Blue Eyes, who took us back to his house near Newport, Va.  Another hiker, Wanderer, from the UK, was there with us too.  Our hosts fixed us up, and got us all cleaned up and dried out.  Awesome!

Hiking through pastures near Newport, Va