Date: 2017-09-12
From: Knot Maul Shelter, VA

To: The Barn Restaurant, Atkins, VA
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

9/12/17, The Barn Restaurant, Atkins, VAMiles hiked: 2190.3, Miles to go: 0.0My final day on the trail was quite epic. The wind gusted all night and the rain arrived around 3:00 AM as the tail end of Hurricane Irma descended upon us. Since I only had 14.6 miles to hike, I slept in until 7:15 AM, allowing it to get light before I drug myself out from under my nice, warm down quilt. Finally, however, my bladder convinced me it was time to get up. After eating breakfast and packing up, it became apparent that the wind and rain weren't going to let up any time soon, so I decided it was time to hike. Dancing Bear was still in his sleeping bag and was contemplating taking a zero day at the shelter to ride out the storm. So, I bade him farewell and good luck and headed out. The wind was gusting and the rain was pelting as I climbed the ridge. There were leaves and branches down everywhere and I had to climb over a couple of downed trees. Actually, though, conditions weren't as bad as what I had expected based on the weather forecast. I just put my head down, turned on Shogun on Audible and kept on trudging. The trail profile was a little steeper than what I had hiked the past couple of days, with three pretty big climbs. Each time I descended from a mountain, I would have to climb over a stile and traverse a pasture. The pastures were usually liberally littered with cow patties and sometimes with cows. The pastures were also much more exposed than the woods. At one point, I came around the hill as I was traversing an open pasture right into a strong headwind, with sheets of rain pelting me. The wind was so strong I had to tighten the drawstring on my hat to keep it from blowing off. I was trudging up a long, steep hill at one point when Dancing Bear came bounding by like it was nothing. It really warmed my heart to be passed just once more by a young Twenty Something like I was standing still.  It was just like the old days. The rain made the trail very muddy and slick.  Just for old time's sake, I decided to slide on the mud and have one last fall on the trail. I missed falling in a very fresh and very oozy cow patty by mere millimeters! As usual, I picked myself up, wiped off as much mud as I could, and resumed walking. My timing was perfect with my Audible book. After listening to Shogun for close to 58 hours over the last several days, I finished the book just two miles shy of reaching the end of my hike. Eventually, I climbed over my last stile, walked under I-81 and approached the Barn Restaurant. As I walked up, Dancing Bear was on the porch, cheering me on. He said that he didn't want me to "summit" at the Barn alone, so he decided to hike through the rain to be there for me. After 2190.3 miles of hiking through rain, sleet, snow, wind, sun, rocks, roots, and mud, my hike was finally at an end. A casual observer probably would have said that the moisture on my cheeks was a result of the pelting rain. Any thru hiker would've known the true source and smiled, knowing that I had now well and truly earned the title of Brave & Fierce Thru Hiker. The End