4/19/00
Day 28
Fullhardt Knob Shelter
289.1 miles

Well, this will have to just be a quick update.  I thought I'd get this letter started earlier, but 3 Northbounders showed up and they were pretty talkative and funny, and that's the way it goes just about every evening.  I rarely have a shelter to myself.  When other people are around the desire/obligation to be sociable usually competes with writing until it gets dark.  Then it gets too cold to keep hands and arms outside the sleeping bag, so writing stops.  Today became a pretty warm day, so the chill this evening isn't too bad.

Most shelters are down in a gully to take advantage of a spring or a creek as a water source.  This one is unique in that it collects rainwater from the roof into a cistern, so it sits right up on top of a peak.  I can see a broad arc of lights shining in the valley below.  And when the moon first appeared on the horizon it was a muddy red.  The skies were finally clear today so the stars are starting to come out, though the rising moon will make them pale.

I think when I wrote you from Buena Vista I probably mentioned that the forecast for the next several days did not look good.  I changed my plans a bit and decided to carry 6 days of food instead of 5, and set my next resupply stop a further 20 miles away.

The first day out of Buena Vista was overcast and drizzling, but it was a nice change as the trail dropped down and followed a creek and then slipped around Pedlar Lake.  You don't see much water when you are hiking along the ridge tops.  The shelter that night at Punchbowl Mountain was unique as well, as it was situated beside a small pond.  No one else arrived that night and I spent the evening, as dusk came on, listening to the frogs making crescendoes of sounds that reminded me of Gamelan music.

The next night at Matt's Creek Shelter, I shared the place with an older guy, "Grandpa Enicks."  He was putting in VERY high mile days, passing people who started at Springer much earlier than him.  He had a small radio and we listened to Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," which suited my mood and the surroundings just fine.

The next day involved a lot of climbing for me and the sun unexpectedly came out to ensure I'd work up a sweat.  By the time I was finishing my dinner at the Thunder Hill shelter the rains had begun, and true to its name, thunderstorms rolled through all night.

As I was waiting for one to blow by the next morning, Mad Max and her dog Casey showed up.  They had camped out a few miles back.  I first met them at the crowded Paul C. Wolfe Shelter south of Rockfish Gap, and as she keeps a pace quite similar to mine, I had expected to bump into her again.

We had a relatively short day through the wind and mist to Bryant Ridge Shelter.  The guidebook describes it as an "architectural marvel," and it is quite elaborate as shelters go, but they could stand to patch a few leaks in the roof.  We found out about these as it began to rain steadily soon after we arrived.  11 people there that night, but roomy enough to handle it.

The next day the rain had let up a bit and was only falling lightly when I left that morning.  Things gradually cleared so that there were some views near the end of the day as the trail followed the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Mad Max and I set up at Bobblet's Gap Shelter, had early diners, and had retreated into our sleeping bags when a couple of Northbounders arrived, and then later another two, which filled up the shelter.

This morning was yet another cold scramble to get fed, packed up, and moving.  The sky showed signs, though, of an odd yet familiar color (blue?), and a bright yellowish light eventually struck the trees on the ridge above.  Although the mists blew about on a chilly morning wind, the skies eventually cleared and we had fine views to east and west.  By afternoon it seemed downright hot, and it was sweaty work climbing up here to Fullhardt Knob.

Tomorrow will be an easy 5 miles downhill to the I-81 interchange near Troutville.  I'm looking forward to all the usual town things:  food, hot water, soap.

My left foot hasn't gotten any worse, so I'm thinking of bumping up my daily mileage a tad as I continue South.  This means I'll probably leave Mad Max and Casey behind, because she plans to arrive in Damascus by Trail Days, and I want to be a week South of Damascus by then.