Date: 2015-05-25
From: Harrison ground spring

To: Robinson gap
Miles today: 22.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke early, efficiently packed up, ate breakfast, said goodbye to our camping buddies and stated hiking at 6:50. It was windy last night. So, there was no moisture on anything. Thank goodness as we won't have to dry anything out today. We had a nice downhill trail for about a mile. Then we did what we normally do in "flat" Virginia, we climbed!! Remember that rumor we said we heard that Virginia is flat? Today provide it again. Virginia is NOT flat! We climbed 660 feet in .8 miles. That meant the trail was really steep. We then had a descent of 725 feet in a mile. Again, a very steep trail. We passed a few weekend hikers struggling with the climb and descent. We must say, we can do these climbs without as much trouble as we had 6 or 7 weeks ago. The steep descent still hurt our knees. Lavender's hips have started to bother her going down the descents.    We stopped at the bottom by a stream to filter water and have a snack. We continued hiking with a relatively level trail. The trail paralleled the James River. Then, we walked on the longest foot bridge on the AT as we crossed the James River. Tradition says we were to jump off the bridge into the river. We ignored this tradition and hiked on. You could certainly tell it was Memorial Day as the area was super busy with families. Any time we see lots of people, we hope for trail magic. But, sadly, there was none today.   We walked on along a stream. You could tell this part of the trail is used for day hikers as it was level and very, very well maintained. We stopped for lunch by the stream. We surpassed our typical tortilla, peanut butter and trail mix for lunch. Instead, we had deer jerky, which was VERY good, sharp cheddar cheese and an apple. It was very good. We took a long break and relaxed as we knew a steep climb was approaching. Today's steep climb was 2200 feet in 3.5 miles. That is an average incline of 12%. Some parts of the trail were steeper than that. We were in and out of the sun which made it extremely hot with no wind and the sun beating down. Of course, we had to clamor over rocks. At the top, the steepest part, almost 3000 feet above sea level, we were walking through a forest of mountain laurel and rhododendron. The fragrance was very nice and almost made us forget how hard we were climbing. We had an absolutely beautiful view of the James River and the surrounding area.    The trail stayed at this elevation for a bit. We were hiking on the edge of a cliff. Lavender tripped and almost went over the end. Thankfully, her hiking pole saved her fall. The jolt hurt her hips; not really what she needed. But, we had to continue on as another climb awaited. We climbed 800 feet in 1.5 miles. We reached the monument to Ottie Cline Powell. This was a little boy who died in the 1800's. He froze to death looking for firewood. His body wasn't discovered until spring because of all the snow. He was only 4 1/2 years old. We took a much needed rest at the bald just past the monument. Then, we started the long descent down the mountain. We dropped almost 1300 feet for the day. Count tripped, almost went over a tree stump. But, his quick reaction and his hiking poles saved him from near disaster. We crossed over the BRP, saw a trash can and threw our rubbish away. We hiked another .5 miles to a brook by Robinson Gap Road. We are camping by the brook on the side of a, hopefully, unused dirt road. We tried to wash off the sweat and dirt as much as we could with the water from the brook. We at least feel a bit cleaner and refreshed to sleep tonight.   Thankfully, our feet are feeling better compared to last week. The new boots were what we needed.