Date: 2015-05-21
From: The Captain's campsite

To: 675.3 campsite, VA
Miles today: 19.7

Update: Hobble has officialy adopted the new name of Safari.*I managed to squeeze in about an hour and a half of sleep after catching up on my journals last night. I would wake to find Moosehead already packed and standing along the creek fishing again. I quickly packed up and figured I'd have a Coke for the trail before leaving. As I was heading in the direction of Captain's back porch, one of his dogs seemed playful so I juked and jived to get him on the mood. After a minute or so of lightly roughhousing I continued for the back porch, but was unable to because the dog kept biting at my gaiters on my ankles making it impossible to walk. I started moving backwards, keeping one hand on the dog as I did so. Seeing that it wasn't working, I began to backpedal as quick as I could. After ~5 seconds, I ran into ankle-high stones surrounding a small flowerbed. I tumbled backwards, rolling out of it like a ninja, expecting the dog to come in for the finish at my moment of weakness. The dog, however, had had enough and proven its point; Moosehead had a good life.At 7:45am Moosehead and I headed for the zip line in order to return to the trail across the creek. Moosehead shouted to Safari, but no response followed so we continued on. We both stalled halfway across the zip line, and would have to help each other. As a light rain began to fall, our plan was to reach Bailey Gap Shelter before 9:00am when the precipitation was expected to reach 75%. However, no longer than 15 minutes after hitting the trail, a steady rain began. We shivered our way past Stony Creek until reaching Bail Gap Shelter where we pulled up with another 5-6 hikers all trying to avoid the hardest of the rain. After an hour of sitting and speaking with other hikers, Moosehead, Safari, and I returned to the trail. The late morning hours would pass by quickly as we talked about the NFL and brewing beer, passing by Twins Rock and Lone Pine Peak in the process. We took our first break at War Spur Shelter. During this time the rain officially stopped for the day and the sun would peek through the overcast skies for the remainder of the afternoon.Waitng just beyond the shelter was John's Creek Mountain, rising ~1,700ft in 2.5 miles, the majority of the climb taking place over the last third. We all threw our music in and were off. We would all comment afterwards that we each felt like we were hitting a wall about halfway up, but then found a reserve of strength that powered us to the top. Not too long after summiting, I rounded a curve cutting through some boulders and found Safari lying on his back at the base of some rocks. He had slipped on a slanted rock still wet from the morning rain and landed on his lower back. He'll be just fine, but might suffer from soreness for a few days. Earlier in the day I came close to having both of my feet fly out from under me on a wet rock, but I was able to catch myself. On the process of flailing my arms, one of my trekking poles came within inches of hitting Safari in the eye as he walked close behind me. Some form of danger, no matter how minor, is always present out here.Continuing on along the ridge past Kelly Knob, we eventually began descending to Laurel Creek Shelter, some ~2 miles away. We finally reached the turnoff for the shelter, but we all decided to continue a few miles farther down the mountain. After a quick rest and with the day beginning to get late, we were back to it trying to cover the distance before it got dark. After passing along Piney Ridge, we exited into a vast pasture resting in the trough between the ridge we had just came down from and the ridge we will climb up tomorrow morning. A few farm homes could be seen dotting the countryside, along with cows on the distance. We stopped for a few moments to grab a few pictures before continuing.After negotiating a footbridge, logs cut in half which provided a flat side to walk on, spanning sinking creek, we finally reached VA 42, our goal for the day. With no camping options near the road, we had to continue up through another pasture for a quarter of a mile before we entered a wood line and found a camping spot that provided a buffer from the strong winds fishing down the ridge. We quickly set up camp, I ate a dinner of pepperoni-topped tuna rolled in tortillas. Camp was then quiet as the toll of the past few days becomes more apparent. I began journaling last night, but fell asleep around 8:30pm; I woke up at 6:15am to finish before we hit the trail around ~7:00am, still ~19 miles to do on order to reach pur rendezvous point at Trout Creek/VA 620 where we'll be picked up by a friend of Moosehead's to enjoy an off day in Blacksburg, VA.Soon after beginning the trail in the morning we'll pass Keffer Oak, the largest oak tree on the southern AT, standing in at over 18' around and over 300 years old. We'll also pass over the Eastern Continental Divide as well as the Audie Murphy Monument, the most decorated WWII soldier. We have until 5:00pm to reach our destination today. Normally this wouldn't be too hard, but the toll of several 20+ mile days has taken a toll. I'll make it, though, because the promise of another zero day is a strong motivator.Here's to owning John's Creek Mountain, waking to the sounds of cows and donkeys echoing through the valley, and being humbled by a dog.