Date: 2016-06-02
From: Laurel Creek

To: Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: broken clouds

I slept in today and didn't get up until 7:30. Wohooo!! The tent dried through the night except for the part under my pad but overall it was mostly dry. I got up packed up and pushed off around 8 after eating a cold breakfast. The morning climb wasn't too bad it followed a bunch of switchbacks and I was at the top in no time. The trail than followed the side of the ridge for 6 miles. It stayed fairly level and was fantastic to walk. You could see out over the valley. Today was the day of the caterpillar. 90% of the trees including white pine were defoliated. The trail was littered with bits of leaf debris. It was like this all 18.8 miles with some areas worse than others. With the lack of leaves there were some fantastic views. The sound of light rain could be heard along the whole trail. At first I was confused as it was sunny out than I realized it was caterpillar poop. Ick!!!! After 6 miles the trail followed a dirt road for a mile to route 52. I had decided to go into the town of Bland to charge my phone and to pick up the resupply I needed. I started hiking hoping I would be able to hitch a ride. No such luck. I walked the 3 miles and saw the sign entering Bastian. Oh shit I went the wrong way. I thought Bland was west and it was easy. Jordan pulled over as he must of seen the look of distain on my face and asked if I needed a ride. I said I went the wrong way and really wanted to go to Bland. He said I'm going that way I'll take you. He had a 1952 Ford pick up. He was refurbishing it. It was his grandads. It's neat in the south you see much older cars in the north they get rotted out so fast with the salt. He dropped me off at the Sunoco station and they had a pizza/deli and seating inside. I ordered a cheeseburger combo and sat at a booth that had a plug up charge my phone. It didn't work so I went to a different one, that didn't work either. After the third plug I gave up. I guess they had the circuit breaker off so Thru hikers don't sit there all day taking up valuable seating. I ate my meal and walked up the street to Dollar general. After some moving of carts out front I found a plug. Success!! I went inside to purchase my resupply and then came back out and drank and ate while my phone charged. I was there for about an hour when a thunderstorm rolled through. I sat and watched. A nice lady named Susan Bowers came to the store, her license plate said "hiker" On her way out we chatted a bit about where I lived and what my trail name was and when I started. She felt bad as she had an appointment to go to or she would of driven me back to the trail. I said no worries. She left and apparently got on the phone and called the cavalry. A woman named Nami showed up and said I can give you a ride, Susan called me but I have to stop at the library first. I was like sure and thank you. While I was loading my bag another woman pulled in and was like oh Nami you got him good bye y'all. I felt like a celebrity. Nami took me back to the trail. We talked about plants and I told her I saw yellow lady slippers yesterday. She was really excited. She dropped me off and I thanked her and started walking. The trail followed 52 for a bit than followed a side road crossing over I-77 on a bridge. Then the trail dashed back into the woods and climbed sharply. There was another storm coming so I pushed to get up to the ridge line as fast as I could. The trail was slippery as it was I could only imagine what it would be like in pouring rain and I didn't want to find out. I made it to the side trail for the shelter which was .3 off trail. I ran down as the rain started to pour down. I made it to the shelter only slightly wet. Bear finder was there and we chatted while I waited for the rain to stop. She was finishing up her thru hike that she started last year. For school reasons she did Pennsylvania to Maine and then Pennsylvania to Virginia. This year she started at Springer and is 16 miles from finishing. Her parents are going to be at VA 606 doing trail magic waiting for her to get there. So in the morning there should be trail magic. Wohooooo. The rain let up and I continued on. The trail followed a ridge with ups and downs but nice ones. Not like the stretch from Chestnut knob but the trail looks similar in the guidebook. I guess you never know. I came to a dirt road and bumped into waste management. This was my 5th encounter with him and I keep forgetting to mention him. He is 70 and is section hiking north using his jeep and a moped. He hikes south but leaps forward with the vehicle he comes to at a road crossing. Then he drives that vehicle north to the next road and walks south to get to his vehicle and does it again. His jeep has a bike hitch he can put the moped on if need be. It's a smart way to do it. He gave me a bunch of water and I said I'll see you tomorrow I'm sure. I walked a bit and bumped into spam and her boyfriend camping. I said hi. I walked another 3 miles and hit the 600 mile mark. So exciting. At this point it was getting dark so I threw on my head lamp for the last 3 miles to Jenny knob shelter. When I arrived at 9:30 the guys in the shelter were still up and there was room for me. Yay!! I knew there were big storms coming and didn't want to pack up a wet tent in the morning. I crashed almost instantly.