Date: 2017-05-22
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Sarver Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: moderate rain

This morning everyone in the shelter got up and started packing up around 5am and I finally got fed up and rolled out my quilt at 6am. I hit the trail by 7 but the overnight rain had made all the rocks very slippery which made progress slow.Walking through the wet grass which lined the trail got my shoes wetter than if I had just walked through a stream, which was a bit annoying because I had in fact worked very hard not to walk through a stream. Through the trees I could see fog still clinging to the valleys below.Reaching a road I came across some TRAIL MAGIC and enjoyed a granola bar, opting to leave the water bottles there for someone who needed them more. In a campsite just 0.2 up the trail I ran into Overdrive and Panther who I'd learn (at the next shelter, when we chatted) were the angels who provided the magic with some free food they had found at trail days.Up at Wind Rocks, an overlook, I got a great view of the valley formed by the ridge I stood atop and the adjacent one, the fog still rolling along the ground below. I stood up there a bit longer and was joined by Norba, but as he arrived a cloud rolled in and swallowed the view.I stopped for a snack break at the next shelter and chatted with Overdrive and Panther and as we sat there talking it was hard to tell if it was raining or if the trees were just dumping their remaining water on us. Lookout and I headed out and ran into some people we had met at trail days slack packing and then headed up our big hill of the day, a 1700ft up-and-over a ridge.I came to Kelley's Knob, the 2nd one of the trail. This one was much more pleasant than the one in Georgia with it's lack of snow, sleet, or freezing rain. Lookout and took a snack here from atop the towering pillars of rock divided by deep cravaces. From our vantage point we could see down a long valley dotted with fields and farms and the long ridges stretching off into the distance. One of them likely contains dragon's tooth, a trail landmark that I've visited on previous weekend trips I've done that we'll hit tomorrow.At the next shelter Lookout and I sat down to plan for tomorrow. We realized that from where we were staying tonight we would have to either:1) do a 16mi day2) lug enough water for the night up and over the 1500ft mountain that had dragons tooth, which I knew to be quite rocky, 3) do a 25+ mile day to the next water (which runs off a cow pasture and so is not good to drink), 4) go to 4 Pines hostel for the night because they have water We decided on option 4)... it's going to rain tomorrow so it will be nice to be dry for the night anyways and 4 Pines provided some free pulled pork that we enjoyed at trail days, so it seems like they're cool people.On my way through some (non cow pasture) fields down in a valley I picked some clover blossoms to add to dinner tonight. We had learned that they are edible at an edible plants walk/talk we went to at trail days and with them so easy to get it seemed like a good time to try them. Safely tucked away in my hip belt, I hiked on, catching up to Lookout at a famous AT landmark, the Keffer Oak. Over 300 years old, the MASSIVE tree stands over 18ft around and is the largest tree on the southern AT. We grabbed some pictures while admiring it's overwhelming tree-ness before moving on.Our last challenge for the day was a steep 1500ft ascent onto another ridge. The way was steep and our tired legs from the previous 20mi didn't make it any easier, but once onto the ridge the terrain was flat and easy. We noticed some mysterious piles of rocks, maybe 20-30 in total, which sat on the top of the ridge, presumably human-made sometime in the past. We reached the turnoff for camp and headed down. The shelter tonight was 0.4mi off trail, normally farther than we'd prefer to go, but this shelter had the only water on the entire ridge, so we didn't have much of a choice. The shelter itself made up for the walk, it was huge and had a fully covered porch and picnic table. To get to the water source you had to walk past 2 very old chimneys, the associated house having long since fallen down, and a small wooden cabin which still had a few beams visible. In the ground, full of water, was a circular stone cistern... this must've at one time been settled land, perhaps related to the stone piles we had seen earlier.Lookout and I arrived first, but were joined by Norba and Chops, the two Swiss guys, and RocketWreck before the night was over.