Start: Bear Garden Hostel (AT mi 558.5). Stop: Campsite on Glade Mountain (AT mi 536.5). Today’s miles: 22 miles. Total AT mileage: 1656.6 miles.
My bunk wasn’t the softest mattress in the world. Actually, it really sucked. But I made due, and every time I rolled over I was scared I was waking up LongShot in the bunk under me-I imagined him feeling like he was on a small boat at sea, that thing felt rickety and moving didn’t help.
I got up at 6:45, LongShot was the only other person awake.. thankfully the man made coffee and shared with me. He claims my moving didn’t wake him, but I think he’s lying.. neither one of us apparently slept well. Oh well, easier to get a move on then. I quickly packed up, once I tiptoed around Sunshine to grab my stuff from the living room. I attempted to be quiet while packing-LongShot just went for it.. haha. Whoops. A few minutes later, in slow increments, Sunshine was up, then MashedPotato, then Smash. Zebra was the only one I didn’t say bye to this morning. Good for her for being able to get some good sleep!
I had a microwaveable breakfast sandwich with my coffee and then promptly started the short road walk back to the hostel’s bunkhouse. Bert was there, LongShot and I paid her for our stays and all of our food and goodies. When we went in to settle up, to my complete surprise, Cactus and Bones were there!! They did big miles yesterday to catch up, and got to the bunk house late. I wish we would have had service down at the cabin so we would have known! I’d have walked up there to see them last night!
I said my byes and hit the trail at 8:10. Yikes. So much for early.. Lord. But thankfully, the trail this morning made for my favorite day of hiking in Virginia! I saw so many deer leaping away from me (these deer are used to being hunted, unlike the deer in the Shenandoah National Park.. these deer do not sit still for pictures, sadly for me), I saw a bunny that did let me get a picture, I saw cows in the distance, farm after farm, pasture after pasture.. it was stunning! The trail would weave through a pasture then out through a gate, then into the woods with the leaves showering the trail with all the different shades of autumn. Man. I was loving it.
I didn’t see a bear, but I’m certain I heard one crashing about down below the ridge I was walking up. I tried to search for him (knowing he’d be way below and probably a safe distance to spot him and get a picture), but had no luck. LongShot passed me in one of the fields and told me about a bear he saw yesterday.. that he literally woke the bear up from a nap on the side of the trail! He said the bear woke up a little dazed and looked around, then lazily sauntered off away from him, though never actually seeing LongShot-just hearing him.. because he was behind a tree. How cool!
There was some wooded climbing involved today-but as always in the great state of Virginia, climbing here just means hiking uphill, not the physically hand over hand climbing of New Hampshire and Maine. Every single time I go to mentally complain about a “climb” here, I cut myself off mid thought and remember the challenges of those crazy states I’ve already conquered. Surprisingly, that turns into motivation and I truck up those mountains with a new lease on life. It also helped that today was cooler than it has been, so even though I was doused in sweat, head to toe, the wind was refreshing and the air was crisp. I was happy.
After a long downhill, and hours of not seeing a soul besides LongShot when he passed me and an older gentleman having a rest break sitting practically in the middle of the trail (I asked if he was ok, he said he was sitting to check his phone.. uh, okie dokie.. lol), I came to an intersection along a highway. Like a legit highway with exits and tractor trailers barreling by. When I went to turn left onto the road to go under the overpass, Bones caught up to me! That girl is fast, and she’s with the Army Warrior Expedition! I swear, I’m forever impressed with the people I get to meet. Everyone has different stories, and I find every single one so damn fascinating.
We walked to the corner together, one side had a gas station and a Mexican restaurant, the other had a restaurant that just said “home cooking, BBQ, Open!” So, she waited at the Mexican place for Cactus to catch up, I went to BBQ. And man I’m happy I did! I got a pulled pork sandwich with Coleslaw on top, smoked Mac and cheese, and a baked potato loaded with sour cream and cheese. I asked for baked beans but they didn’t have any. The owner also gave me his own special “sweet water” to drink, it’s a combo of fresh squeezed lemons and oranges with local honey. It was delicious!
I ate my food like a lunatic, barely coming up for air. They checked on me a couple times, the owner and his wife, and every time I had a slap full mouth of food and couldn’t speak. They got a kick out of that! Once I finished, I loaded up my pack on my back and headed down the road. I was thankful when the trail went back into the woods away from all the cars and trucks. It wasn’t busy per say-but it was too much compared to the emptiness in the woods.
The trail went by more grassy fields, but slowly continued up a mountain instead of through the fields themselves. Which was totally fine by me, because there were switchbacks. When I made it to the shelter, half way up the mountain, I was grateful I had decided to push forward. It was very dark and dank there already, with the sun on the other side of the mountain, and there were rocks absolutely everywhere. I’d have had to sleep in the shelter more than likely, because there wasn’t much to call a campsite. I did fill up 3 liters of water here though, from a pipe sticking out of the stream.. luckily it was still flowing pretty well, so it didn’t take too long.
Once I filtered 2 liters and packed the third (in the new liter bag I got back in Daleville), I continued uphill. The rocks were starting to get on my nerves, but I had also already hiked over 18 miles at this point, so my feet were sore. Speaking of feet-I’m loving the cushion in my new shoes! They’re almost perfectly broken in too! At the top of the mountain, I could hardly make out the sign saying this was the summit of Glade Mountain, elevation 4—something. The trail went across the top through some grassy areas with trees all around, but not so dense that I couldn’t see the sun shining through. It was gorgeous.
I almost stopped to camp at the first site I saw, because it really was beautiful up there, but when I looked at the app, I realized I’d be pushing my luck getting to town at a decent hour (and to watch Hannah’s band play). So, I pushed on. I went down hill a while, then back up a steep rocky section, then back downhill.. it was somewhere between this valley and the start of the next incline that I spotted the next campsite. It sucked. It was already dark here, the little spot was right on the trail basically. So, that answered that question-onward!
As I climbed what was hopefully my last climb of the day, I was praying the next campsite area was a nice one, so I wouldn’t regret skipping the first one I came across. I was walking up on a ridge line with the sun cascading down through the trees ahead of me when I spotted the site, just before 6pm. It was down a little makeshift trail to the left in an almost grassy area. The sites were flat and it was beautiful! I was thrilled! I quickly set my tent up, unpacked, threw my bear line, and then sat down to decide what to eat for dinner.
At the time, I wasn’t hungry in the slightest. The idea of instant mashed potatoes had me wanting to gag, and since I was still mostly full from lunch, I just ate a honey bun instead of cooking dinner. I drank a good bit of water with electrolytes.. and then hung my food bag. I walked back over to my tent and then changed into my warm clothes.. used the bathroom, and got inside my tent. I’ve literally gotten out twice to pee now, thanks electrolytes, and my stomach just made its first protest about skipping dinner. Ugh.
I’m too tired to walk over there in the dark to fish down my food-so it’ll have to wait until breakfast.. which is kind of a good thing! Maybe I’ll get hungry enough to actually get my butt up earlier so I can leave earlier and catch a ride to town to meet Lizard! Ha, we’ll see.
For now, it looks like I’ll have to go pee again and then snuggle up in my quilt to get some shut eye. Sweet dreams, y’all.