Date: 2017-05-26
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 23.7
Weather: overcast clouds

People were up at 5 and on the trail at 6. I got up at 610 and was on the trail at 630. I grabbed my bear bag, which I had had to hang a fair way up the trail back to the AT, on my way out of camp and stuffed it into my backpack. I walked 0.8 miles until I hit a Blue Ridge Parkway overlook and then found a nice spot and dug out my food for breakfast. The sun had risen some time ago by the time I reached the overlook as the last hints of color were fading from the sky, but sunbeams shot down at valley floor from between the clouds. I had my packets of oatmeal and had a nutter butter for a couple extra calories, a complete hiker breakfast. Tattoo showed up, having left camp a few minutes after me, and we chatted for a bit about the futility of trying to capture views with a camera and how most of them would likely not be that interesting pictures or be indistinguishable from the hundreds of other views on the AT by the time we finished. Only time will tell how valuable these pictures will be to me and my hike, so I snapped a few pictures before I left... can't help it.Throughout the morning the clouds made threats... of what I'm not exactly sure, because it didn't feel like rain, but they were rather gray in some areas. Passing my first shelter of the day I stopped for a snack at an vista which looked back at the agriculture which dotted the flat land west of our mountains.The trail headed down Cove Mt and into a deep gap cut by a river. I probably should've stopped and took a dip, which would've relieved the day's heat and gone a long way towards cleaning off the accumulated sweat, but I had many miles to go yet today (not a good excuse... I know).Heading up my next mountain I met a woman doing trail maintenance, I'd estimate in her 60s or 70s, hiking up the same hill as I with a saw at least 5ft long and various other woods tools. She was headed to clear a blowdown which had been reported and warned me of a larger blowdown further up the trail that she wasn't equipped to deal with today. I soon moved past her, but am very grateful for the work that she and others do to keep the trail open and easily passable for hikers. Blowdowns are not usually too difficult to bypass/climb over but it breaks the rhythm of hiking and too many can really slow progress.Next I headed down that same mountain I had just climbed along the boundary of national forest lands, the single red blaze indicating that I was looking out into private land. I came to the blowdown she has warned me about, a massive tree resting a few feet above the trail too low to slide under but also too high to easily jump over. It had come down recently because the hikers had not established a definitive way around, though it was obvious a few had been tried. The tree was situated on a slope that made going around it difficult, so I ended up climbing the hill a bit until I could haul myself up onto the tree and jump down to the other side.The trail wound down into a narrow valley between the looming hills, covered with towering trees. The valley was no more than 100ft across, just enough room for a stream and the trail before the land sloped steeply uphill. I passed through a couple valley junctions where a couple such valleys met and which had a bit more available land and usually a campsite or two.I stopped at a really nice shelter for lunch... the river ran by just a little ways from the shelter, the shelter itself had a loft with additional sleeping space and a window, and a deck and picnic table. So deep in the valley, the shelter and surrounding area felt very isolated and safe from the outside world and most of what mother nature might throw at it.Finishing my lunch I started my challenge for the day, 4 hills which totalled over 3000ft of elevation gain. The day was sunny and warm, but the hills were summited in time. Though the AT never crossed or intersected it, it was easy to tell how close I was to the BRP by how many day hikers were out on a particular section of trail.A quick break at a shelter, some more uphill, lots of tall grass and switchbacks, and I emerged onto the summit of apple orchard mountain, which I shared with a FAA radar installation housed within it's large white sphere atop a tower. I wanted to camp there for the great views, but decided against it because there were no signs of others having camped here, because it was fairly windy this afternoon, and because it would add 2mi to tomorrow which was already looking tight. After taking in the views for a few minutes I headed down, passing through the guillotine, a narrow rock passage with a large boulder wedged in overhead which might drop at any second and remove a hapless hiker's head. Ok, not really, it was pretty secure.I made it to the shelter at 5, having taken 10hr to do my 23.7mi today. I'm trying not to push the pace past 2.5mi/hr because it's while hiking fast that my knees and feet tend to start to hurt, but it does make for a long day. After touching base with friends about plans for tomorrow I headed to bed.