Date: 2013-06-17
From: Bland, VA

To: Stream-side Campsite just past Jenny Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: scattered clouds

My phone alarm which is the sound of dogs barking, woke us at 6:00 am. Bandit helped me finished off the last of our Gatorade and cold cereal for breakfast. I took one more precious shower and started putting our final gear in my pack and Bandit's. After dressing in hiking attire and lashing up my hiking boots, we walked several items down to the office and dropped them into the hiker box. Several of the unused cleaning supplies I'd bought in case Bandit got sick I handed to the motel cleaning staff. On the return trip to our room, we stopped and said our goodbyes to Itchy and his Marine buddy who were sitting outside their room enjoying coffee and the morning sun. Back at our room, anything else that wasn't coming with us was tossed in the trash. Hoisting my pack on, grabbing Bandit's pack and my trekking poles, we left behind our two day infirmary and headed out to meet Bubba and our ride out of this town!We climbed up into the cab of Bubba's truck and headed through town back to the trailhead. After being dropped off, there was 0.8of a mile of road walking including a bridge crossing over I-77 before the trail re-entered the woods. We met a hiker named Grinder on our re-entry. There was very little discussion as Grinder was busy with something from his pack and I was in a hurry to get back to hiking. Wow it felt good to finally be back on the trail. There was a good 500' climb up to Helveys Mill Shelter. It was 0.3 of a mile off the AT so we opted not to go check it out and moved on. The next 7 miles were a wonderful gentle up and down, at least as gentle as the AT could possibly be. We saw two bucks behind a blow down that didn't run away. We all just stood staring at each other thorough the downed branches. When we finally climbed through, the bucks ran a short distance away and watched us pass unconcerned. We walked with Grinder for a few of those miles. He was an older thru hiker and as is not uncommon, he was pretty full of himself wanting to only talk of himself. But it was nice to have the company. He was in much better hiking form than we so eventually out walked us and disappeared. Before the next shelter, Bandit scared up another buck but this time he was tempted to run after it. Sorry Bandit, that would be bad form!We arrived at Jenny Knob Shelter early, 3:00 pm. Grinder was there taking a nap. He was leaning toward spending the night as he'd had a long day the day before. I struggled with what to do at the shelter. I'd hoped to make it all the way to Trent's Grocery Store and camp there, but that was another 6.5 miles with one good climb in there. Wasn't sure we could make it before dark. But I hated to quit so early and the water source at this shelter was terrible. A young hiker named Hot Bucket came in and struggled with what to do too. Bandit and I eventually moved on and I never saw Hot Bucket again. Today was his first day of his section hike.Finally, after an hour of map analysis, I decided to only go as far as the next campsite because it was sick Bandit's first day back on trail. No need to beat ourselves up the first day back out on the trail. While going threw this mental process, it dawned on me that this was probably a better philosophy to have, to slow down and enjoy the trail rather than trying so hard to cram in miles. Over the next few days I was to really enjoy this new approach taking many more pictures and appreciating the many wondrous beautiful aspects of the trail that you miss when pushing for miles. We were at the campsite alone for the night. There was a fantastic spring water source here. This was officially mile 600.0 on the AT. Grinder came cruising past around 6:00 pm. Staying still wasn't working for him. He was to be the last person I was to see on the trail for a long stretch.