Date: 2018-06-16
From: Springer Mountain 

To: Mount Katahdin 
Miles today: 86.9
Weather: few clouds

Thank you for visiting my Appalachian Trail thru-hike blog. Please sign the guest book each time you visit.First, I would like to shortly review the the Appalachian Trail for 2018. The AT travels through 14 states, from Georgia to Maine. The distance can vary year to year and most of the time it does. It certainly changes and has over the years. Actually, there is ¢hiker talk¢ that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is considering starting the trail at Amicalola Falls State Park (this is where I started) next year. As of now, it is an approach trail to Springer Mtn, the southern beginning of the AT. It is 8.8miles. For 2018, the AT distance is 2190.7 miles. Counting the approach trail, I will hike 2199.5 miles, if and when I make it to the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine.Now, on to my update on my hike.The weather the past week has been versatile, including thunderstorms, a cold rain all day and night on Monday, cool weather but warming up on my last hiking day, and some sun. Which brings me to a story. A couple weeks or so ago, a man from Pearisburg, VA was doing a section hike when he was caught in a thunderstorm. As he was hiking, according to another hiker near by, a bolt of lightning hit very near to him. Though he was ok, he stuck his trekking poles in the ground and headed back to Pearisburg, abandoning his hike and his poles. I remember passing those. Anyway, a female section hiker which had no trekking poles ended up with them and so happened to me at a shelter I stayed at a few nights ago. She said she would return them if he wanted them back. I don¢t think he will be looking for them.About a week ago, as I was hiking in the morning, I came upon a group of women standing around just beyond a shelter. They were getting ready to start their hike for the day. I spoke to them and like always, asked their trail names and where they were from. They said they were from Louisville and the surrounding area. One of them, Paula Jones, said she was from Scottsburg, IN. Not only that, she teaches at Covenant Christian Academy in Austin! Wow, what a small world. Paula graduated from Scottsburg in 1988. I have several Trail Magic encounters to convey. I will start with the one in the parking lot just after I walked across the James River on a foot bridge. As I was waiting on a pre-arranged ride into Glasgow to eat and re-supply, a man pulls into the parking lot in a truck. He got out and introduced himself- trail name Senator-and that he was going to set up to do Trail Magic for the first time. He asked me to help him set up his canopy so I obliged. Got a coke and rode into town. Came back a few hours later and ate grilled hotdogs and snacks and a something to drink. He also had hamburgers. He even had chairs for the hikers. It was a very good place to set up for there were a lot of hikers. You will see a pic of him in photos.Last Saturday I hiked 18.3 miles, making it to a shelter at 5:30 with 5 minutes to spare before a thunderstorm. The storm lasted about 30 minutes and with 3 hours left before dark, I could have hiked another 1.7 miles to a road and gotten a ride into Buenta Vista. This would have been my first 20 mile day. Nevertheless, I stayed at the shelter and was a little put off with myself that I didn¢t continue on after the storm. I got to the road early the next morning. There was another thru-hiker-Slacker from New Jersey-trying to get a ride when I arrived. I was there 4 minutes when the second vehicle picked us up. It was an older couple that had some time on their hands on a Sunday morning. They took us to the campground in Buenta Vista (9.4 miles) to take a shower. The showers were very clean and had hot water! Then, they took us for breakfast to Lexington, which is a few miles on the other side of Buenta Vista. Lexington is a very historic town. George Washington and Lee College is there, along with VMI, Virginia Military Institute. After that, that took us to Food Lion and Dollar General to re-supply. Then they took us back to the trail so we could continue our hike. All this took 3 hours. What a kind-hearted and generous couple! I could kick myself for not getting a picture of them.So after they dropped us off back at the trailhead, I continued my hike to Grassy Meadows which is just beyond a gap and road with a parking lot. There, under a tree was Trail Magic. The Mother of a thru-hiker came from Michigan to see her daughter and do Trail Magic. Had hotdogs, lunch meat, snacks, drinks, etc despite a thunderstorm just a little bit earlier. You will see the pic in photos. Virginia has been very good to me!The last few days I have hiked with 3 hikers. Nick from Upstate New York, Two Step from Evansville, IN and Wondering Bill from Cincinnati, OH. You will see our pic in photos. Nick and Two Step are thru-hiking. WBill was section hiking. He and 2 of his friends hike 100-150 miles every year. The other two had to drop out during this year¢s section hike do WBill finished without them- 150 miles. WBill is in his 70s I suspect but what a hiker! He is better than me. He and his 2 Friends thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2006. I also think he said there were another who did also. The two that began this year¢s section hike are Mad Dog and Pilgrim.WBill is easy going, likable and very easy to talk with. After we-the four of us-got a ride into Waynesboro Thursday, he and I had lunch at a Chinese Buffet. The restaurant was very clean, service good, food great, and what a variety of food! I was very much impressed with it all. The cost was $8.50 plus a drink if you got one. What a bargain. Anyway, WBill was done with his section hike when we got to Waynesboro. After lunch, we went to Stanimals and he took a shower and got a ride to the next town to catch a bus at 10pm. I will certainly miss hiking with WBill. I gave him my direct link to my blog and he said he would follow me. He said he has never followed anyone before. I hope he does.In Waynesboro there is a list of Trail Angels that will give hikers a ride anywhere in town. Wow, a town with a list of Trail Angels! Awesome! I got rides from them several times. Thank you Trail Angels!So I stayed at Stanimals hostel Thursday and Friday nights. I took a zero day on Friday. It is owned and operated by Adam. He also gives free rides around town, free laundry, and let me say it is by far the best hostel I have stayed in! Very clean, great beds, tv/media room Netflix and computers, snacks and drinks one can purchase, and he runs it on the Honor System. I am glad I stayed there. Enough for now.Thank you for following my Appalachian Trail thru-hike on my blog and thank you for signing the guest book upon each visit!