Date: 2003-05-29
From: VA606 - Trent's Campground

To: Woods' Hole nr Sugar Run
Miles today: 13.9

I was first out of camp this morning, got a ride from the store up to the Trailhead, in time to enjoy a few claps of thunder and the first of many heavy rain showers. I went past the fetchingly named Dismal Falls in the first hour, and reached Wapiti Shelter about mid-afternoon for lunch. No one was here, and as I sat quietly eating and reading the shelter register, I became aware of something moving to my right. It was a female grey deer which, far from being afraid, came gradually closer over the next half hour to about 10 yards and nibbled at tree roots and shoots. We ate lunch together.The others arrived one by one, and then we faced our stiffest climb for at least a week, a 1,300 ft hike up Sugar Run Mt. I set to it with a will, and this climb persuades me that I really am getting stronger. I stopped only to throw on my rain gear as the rain started to pelt down yet again. As I neared the top, the frequent thickets of pink rhododendron, very pretty reddish/yellow azalea, and some mountain laurel merged to become a continuous line until an open platform of rock appeared to my right. Just at this point the rain slackened, a light mist appeared and yet, simultaneously, the sun began to shine through and break it up. I had arrived at an overlook , through an archway of flowers, over the Wilburn Valley. Low cloud formations sat in the valley, which is now richly carpeted by trees in full leaf. In just a few minutes I had walked from a seemingly damp and depressing situation into a very special moment on the Trail.Now at the top, I walked along the ridge lined with the same shrubs but also with pink azalea for the first time. Later 'Chafe Master' raved about these shrubs. It's two tone, the light pink of the five petals on each bloom contrasted by the rich dark pink of the stamen and the back of the petal up to the stem.The last part of the day's walk was much less enjoyable, a two mile struggle along a difficult boulder path in a deepening gloom. I'm beginning to hate boulder paths, and was very footsore as "Chafe" and I limped down to the sanctuary of Woods Hole about 8 pm.Woods Hole Hostel is another AT legend. The main house is a fine old two storey cabin built in 1880 which lay abandoned until discovered by Roy Wood in the 1940's. Its separate bunkhouse was repaired to provide a hostel for about 15 hikers. Roy Wood died many years ago and it has been run ever since by his widow Tillie. I would guess Tillie is in her eighties, and she is helped now by her granddaughter Neville, a very pretty young woman maybe about 20 years old. The Woods spent their winters in Atlanta and came here for the summer months. As a child, Neville came here each each summer to stay with them, but 3-4 years ago decided to live permanently with her gran, and help keep this venture going.The first eight hikers are offered a full breakfast in the house for a token sum. "Chafe" and I were the last to arrive tonight, bringing the total number to 17, so there will be no breakfast for us. No room in the bunkhouse either. Chafe, Two Speeds and I have put our sleeping bags down on the front porch of the main house. It could get cold.