Day 150: Dickey Gap

Start:Campsite on Glade Mountain (AT mi 536.5). Stop: Dickey Gap (AT mi 520.2). Today’s miles: 16.3 miles. Total AT mileage: 1672.9 miles.

I woke up around 7 and got my food bag to eat breakfast in my tent. It seemed even sweeter today, for some reason, to eat my hot oatmeal and sip my coffee all cuddled into my quilt. It wasn’t particularly cold, but it didn’t matter.. I was taking in the ease of it all.

I packed and managed to get ready by 8:05.. late by 5 minutes, but I wasn’t too worried. I was on a mission to get to Dickey Gap by a decent time today, no matter what! My goal was to be in town, clean, resupplied, and full bellied by the time Hannah’s show started. Not to mention the absolute delight of knowing I’d be meeting up with Lizard and Finch in just a few hours!

The sun was coming up through the trees, it was just so serene. I was on the ridge so I could watch the colors of the sky change as the sun rose, but couldn’t capture it on camera with the trees blocking the overall view. As I continued downhill off the mountain, it got darker, almost like the sun hadn’t come up at all. The walking was easy though. Two miles in, I passed the Mount Rogers Visitor Center. It was closed because of the weekend. I followed the trail to the shelter I would have gotten to last night if I had made my miles the day before yesterday, but as nice as it was, I was happy I camped where I did last night and that I shared the cabin with the others the night before. It worked out like it should have.

At the shelter, I passed MashedPotato! I stopped to chat a minute with him.. I was shocked he was ahead of me since I ever saw anyone pass me yesterday, but he told me of a blue blaze they made when getting their resupply, so that made sense. The others had already left for the day, so there was a small possibility of meeting them again if they stopped for lunch or something, but it was unlikely. We said our byes and I kept moving.

At some point I had a pretty decent climb with a view of Pine Valley off in the distance (I only know that from the sign that said so..). It was pretty enough, I paused to snap a picture. From there it was quick downhill trail, smooth and perfect for making up some quick mileage. I eventually went through a field with cows and had to dodge cow patties for a bit before getting back into woods.

I stopped for lunch and water at a shelter around 12:30, but I was irritated because I had been making great timing and had I kept going I’d have made it to the road crossing by 2, and now it would be 2:30. I knew I had to fuel my body to make it there, but I’m so sick of peanut butter tortillas now that one more just seemed like it would be the end of me. I ate it anyway. When I was packing back up MashedPotato appeared to eat his lunch! I lingered chatting with him until close to 1pm and then decided it was time to truck it up the last climb of the day and get down the mountain to the road crossing. I was ready to be with my friends!

The last climb wasn’t bad at all. My app made it look so much more dramatic than it was. I finished the last 4 miles to the road crossing by 2:30 and quickly set to work trying to hitchhike to town. I didn’t have service to call a shuttle, and while I could have used my Garmin Inreach to text, it some times takes a while for things to go through. I decided just to try hitching for about 20-30 minutes, and if I had no luck, then try the texting thing. The 7th or 8th car stopped for me! It had been less than 10 minutes!

Cheri (pronounced like Shurree. Sorry for misspelling here) and John picked me up and drove me the whole 25-30 minutes to the Red Roof Inn in Marion! We talked the whole way, about all types of things. I really believe we meet who we’re intended to meet. This sweet couple was so completely kind to me and I enjoyed being with them. When they dropped me off they even made sure I was at the right motel before driving off! Sometimes the kindness of strangers really does blow my mind, especially with how cruel people can be these days. It’s refreshing to meet genuinely good people.

I all but ran to the motel room and Lizard let me in! We hugged and chatted a bit before I unpacked and got in the shower. Once I was all clean we caught up some more and Finch returned from his resupply, so we caught up, too! Man, I’ve really missed these folks so much! It was getting close to 4, so I left my reunion to walk down to Walmart and resupply myself. I text them when I was done so they could meet me at the Mexican restaurant between Walmart and the motel.

We ended up eating an early dinner on the patio, margaritas included. I was having such a good time! I was in such high spirits! When it was close to 6pm, we hurried to pay the tab so we could get back to the hotel’s WiFi so Lizard could pull up the livestream of Hannah’s band on her phone. Sadly, our tv wasn’t able to stream it for us, so we watched on Lizard’s phone as Hannah and her band mates jammed out. Hannah plays the bass guitar and it was awesome to see her (and her band mates too, really) completely in her element. It was also ridiculously cute to see the way Lizard watched her, too. She definitely has found her person.

After Hannah’s band finished, I packed up some stuff and organized as best I could, and then the three of us watched some tv.. we channel surfed awhile before landing on HBO and enjoying “She’s All That.” It was such a good day! Eventually we all retreated to our separate beds and are close to shutting the lights off to get some sleep. Tomorrow we have a shuttle arranged to take us back to the trailhead at 8am. I’m thrilled it isn’t 7! Here’s to “sleeping in!” Ha! Goodnight y’all!