4/24/00
Day 33
War Spur Shelter
353.6 miles

I wish I could manage to write this on a daily basis, 'cuz trying to recap the details after a few days leads to boring summaries.  My first 3 days out of Troutville I did about 16 miles each day, which meant I arrived later and more beat than usual.  Today it was only 12 miles to this shelter, but a light rain was falling most of the time so it seemed longer.  When I got here there were over a dozen young kids hanging out inside, but it turns out they have a huge tarp set up so they won't be sleeping in the shelter.

The day I left Troutville was supposed to be rainy, but had lots and lots of sun.  I got good views from a very long ridge walk, and then climbed up to the Tinker Cliffs, which had a number of rock ledges offering views of the farms in the valley below.  Spent the night in the Campbell shelter just below McAfee Knob.  The rain never came, and the next morning the view from the knob was outstanding, despite the overcast.  The trail eventually climbed up to something called "The Dragon's Tooth."  This is the first time I had to scramble up slabs of rock and climb up a few metal rungs.  The "tooth" was a huge pointed rock set up on its side and it was possible to climb up on top and take a break.

Yesterday was another long day of climbing up to a ridge and then dropping down and crossing a valley, only to climb up to another ridge.  The maps usually have a "profile" view that gives you a cross-section showing the ups and downs.  When I started this trip the profiles had little pointy ups and downs.  But recently the profiles have started to look like the edge of a sandwich with huge bites taken out of it.  Level for a bit along the ridgelines, then dipping down in big "U"-shaped curves to cross the valley to the next ridge over.  I think this is because the Trail is working its way Westward, moving from one parallel ridge to another, and crossing the valleys between.