Date: 2014-04-30
From: Chatfield Shelter

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 26.9
Weather: moderate rain

Up early and packed and out of the shelter area at 7:15. Hoping to get some sense as to where Mike is since I have been out of text contact with him for last couple of days.A couple of miles after leaving the shelter, I came out of the woods to see the Lindamood School, a one room schoolhouse (see photos) which also happened to have trail magic inside. Drank a coke, ate some Ho-hos, grabbed needed tissue paper, and just took it all in. Quiet and picturesque scene in southwest Virginia. Absolutely perfect.After staying and enjoying as long as I could, I picked up and made my way to Atkins. Stopped to eat breakfast at The Barn (Western Omelette, extra bacon on the side, 5 or 6 cups of coffee), charging my phone and making conversation with the waitress and others who had wandered in (Buzz, Tandem, Neo). Met Left Turn and had an interesting conversation about her attempt to give a trail name to Mike (my first confirmation that Mike had been at the The Barn the previous day), her blog site and her other perspectives on our fellow travelers.Stayed probably too long at The Barn since I knew today might be the day to catch up with my friends. So, after grabbing high calorie treats at the Shell station, I pushed on through some really nice horse country and farms. What I also remember about that time was all the bird sounds, a horse neighing off in the distance, crickets, frogs, and, wind blowing through the fields as I filed by. On I pressed, recharging my water and growing a bit frustrated that another Sawyer water bag had popped a hole which could potentially contaminate the water I was filtering. Made it work with a little duct tape but not happy that my 2nd bag in a month has broken.I stopped by Knot Maul Branch Shelter and saw a note by Mike in the shelter log that he had been there a few hours before and would try and make the next shelter. I had my goal. But it was already 6 p.m. and the shelter was 9 miles away. Another challenging night run with a 2000' climb from 2333' to 4410' to get to the Chestnut Knob shelter. Ran into a guy named Dan who was going to do the same and we overlapped a bit before the distance between us became too great. Sun went down quickly and I was in the trees. Light rain and then a downpour...which kept coming. Headlamp on, light bouncing off my hood, glasses fogging up, looking down for each step but then anxiously looking up for that familiar white blaze to make sure some how in this storm, I had not wandered off path which would not be a good thing. The familiar narrow dirt line snaked up and I just kept moving to stay warm and make my destination. At the open area on top, the fog engulfed me completely. Behind me I saw Dan's headlamp approaching and, for the last 2.5 miles we slogged up, seeing about 25' maximum, our heads pointed down to stay on the AT and then regularly casting the light from our headlamp into the fog to see a white blaze. We stayed in step those last few miles, my worry now becoming that with the thick pea soup fog we might just walk right past the shelter and not even know it.At 9:45 p.m., I heard what I thought was a voice up ahead. We almost ran into a guy who was on his cell phone outside the door of the shelter. I heard Dan say "Thank goodness!" (my thoughts exactly) and the guy on the phone say, "hold on a second" and, after looking at us for a couple of seconds saying, "you guys must have gotten rained on." Shelter is packed and we both wanted to tent camp so we found a couple of spots, set up our tents in the wind and now light rain, ate some calories and after changing into dry clothes and being thankful for a warm sleeping bag and a dry tent, went to sleep. An interesting finish to an interesting day.