Date: 2016-02-27
From: Cove Mtn. Shelter

To: Fullhardt Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I resolved to do 20 miles today, despite how slow I feel I've been going.It's another night with clear sky, & the moon is coming up late; so I can still make use of it. I got up at 3:30 and still didn't get going till 5:00. I was trying to pack in the dark because both flashlights were running low & I didn't want to disturb the other shelter occupants.There was a little cloudiness, but I did have some use of the moon coming down the mountain, and by the time I got down to the first road and the spring, it was light enough that I didn't need any additional light.From there on it felt like I was making very good time, and I guess I was. There were a lot of ups and downs but nothing real major. The Trail criss-crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway repeatedly in this section. It is now open to traffic [wasn't last week]. At one crossing, I learned from the signs that this is a major flyway for hawks, but I didn't see any -- wrong season.Being a Saturday, I was really surprised to find out how few people I met compared to last Saturday. I met a runner going up and back fairly early in the morning, then a lone overnight camper. Later I met a group of 3 campers with a dog, and that was it! No day-hikers at all compared to so many last Saturday. I was amazed. It was such a nice hiking day: 45 degrees in the afternoon. It had been cold in the morning, and the water in my water bottles was still getting icicles during the walk. But by afternoon it was really nice.Well, I made very good time -- it felt like I was getting my trail legs back. There were lots of ups and downs, but nothing major.I had supper at Wilson Creek shelter and then went on the last 6 miles to Fullhardt Knob shelter. Three years ago, I did these six miles as a kind of add-on to my day. I had had supper at Fullhardt Knob and figured I could do another 3 hours [made me feel like a "real" thru-hiker], and it took 2 hours & 35 minutes to do that 6 miles. This time it also took a little less than 3 hours, even though it was a bit more uphill this time.It really amazed me this time thru how secluded some of these hollows are. Without the Trail, it would have been easy to get lost in all the twists & turns. People living back up in these hills must have felt very isolated. They couldn't easily go climbing over the seven or eight hundred-foot canyon walls any time they felt like it; so their only contact with others would have been going way down stream. And this is only a few miles from the Roanoke area! When I got to Fullhardt Knob, it was just getting to be dusk and I got set up pretty quickly as it started to cool off fast. It's a fairly exposed place to the wind. So it was another cold night, but not one where anything frozeThis is a very interesting shelter -- no water supply, except water from the roof is funneled into a cistern, which leads to a place just over the ridge. I didn't take any, since I was going into town. They must run out fairly often when it's dry. Also, it's the only shelter I've seen with town lights on three sides, like it's on a wooded peninsula sticking out into an urban area..