Date: 2014-04-23
From: VA 606

To: Docs Knob Shelter
Miles today: 17.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Slept quite well aside from being awoken at some point by a tree falling. I packed pretty much everything up and headed back over to the tent to check on breakfast. There were a surprising number of faces there given the amount of beer consumed and the time at which people crashed. There was, however, no evidence of breakfast.Thinking I had some time I headed down to the stream for a wash. It was pretty damn cold and my feet were numb before I had even started lathering up. The biggest problem was not the chill though but rather the mud at the bottom. My feet kept sinking in and getting stuck making it hard to stay upright. Shortly thereafter that effort failed as well and I went all in. After regaining my breath from the initial shock it was a lot more comfortable and I had washed and shampooed. Dressing in the now-dry creek washed clothing I felt pretty good about my first entirely town-free laundry and washing. Can't say the quality of either the bath or laundry was comparable, but I'm hoping to narrow the gap.Upon reaching the big tent I found breakfast entirely gone. Apparently it had been out when I first went up and I had just missed it. A little dejected I finished packing the last few things and jumped in on the shuttle back up to VA 606.Still needing full I violated my unofficial rule of not taking any water trail longer than 0.2 miles if there was an alternative not too far ahead in order to check out Dismal Falls. The name was quite misleading and it was actually a beautiful spot. Had I known about it I would probably have pushed on last night in order to camp there. The falls weren't particularly high but they were certainly flowing hard into a perfect turquoise swimming hole. I would also have skipped the bath this morning in order to jump in there, but I wasn't about to take two ice baths in one morning so I stuck with just making oatmeal.Trix had passed on but I ran into Rabbit, Bean Dip, Mum, and Midnight Sparkle on my way back up to the AT as they too were headed down for a mid morning meal. The rest of the morning was a brisk solitary hike until I caught up with Trix sprawled back, pack still on, next to a small pond in a clearing. We went another five minutes to the next shelter for an extended lunch and then parted ways again as she deliberated taking a nap there or not.Hoping to have news from Virginia Tech I made a run for Woods Hole Hostel to check email. There I found Flipper, Goat, Grasshopper, Low Gear, Heiko, and Dinosaur. I caught up with Flipper and Goat while waiting for the computer and was very tempted to just stay there for the night. The grounds are beautiful and the bunkhouse was a pretty sweet two-level affair with a nice open-air common space on the first floor.Not finding the email I was hoping for I said my goodbyes and headed back up towards the trail. There I ran into Violet and Santa (quite a bit younger than the gent I had been expecting to run into) and was told Trix and Rabbit were just ahead. I ran up the rest of the driveway, caught them just as they were headed into the woods, and with the news that Flipper was at Woods Hole turned them right back around.As nice as Woods Hole was, I didn't want to spend the money I knew I would on meals and snacks there and opted to keep going to the next shelter. Upon arrival it was empty which was a first for me: reaching a shelter after 6pm to find it unoccupied. I set up my tent and cooked with a little music to keep me company. It was a little strange having my first evening entirely to myself but I filled in the gap conversation usually occupied with a lot of writing. Hoping to reach town early the next day I headed to bed just before 10.