Date: 2014-05-08
From: Harrison Ground Spring Campsite

To: Johns Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Day 57-May 8, Harrison Ground Spring Campsite to Johns Hollow Shelter, 13.1 miles. Today was all about trail angels! Our plan for the day was to hike 11.4 to VA 501, hitch a ride the 6 miles into town, do our resupply, eat lunch, hitch back to the trail and hike the 2 miles to this shelter. Our hike this morning was lovely, with lots of downhill. We also saw our first rhododendrons in bloom and are they spectacular! Can hardly wait to see more! Nine miles into our morning hike we stopped at the Matts Creek Shelter for a snack and privy break. Our friend, Twizzler was there and a young woman section hiker we didn't know. We were talking to Twizzler about our plans to hitch a ride to town when this woman says her car is parked at 501 and she would be glad to take us into town! WOW! So we hiked out with her (Sabrina) and learned she is a nursing student at a college in Richmond and was out for a 3 day hike. To get to her car we had to cross the James River and to do that we walked across the longest foot-use-only bridge on the AT (625 feet). A plaque by the bridge memorialized a guy by the name of Bill Foot who was a thru-hiker and then spent considerable time seeing that this bridge was built. Sabrina took us right to the Dollar General where we planned to buy our food for the next 3 days. Before she left we were able to tell her about the free showers that are in the town park and she quickly wanted the directions to those! After spending $32 at the Dollar General we went to the only restaurant in town, Scotto's for a big, tasty lunch. While we were eating one of the waiters asked us if we were NOBO'a (north-bound hikers). When we said yes, he wanted to know how we planned to get back to the trail. We told him we would hitch. That's when he told us that a local Trail Angel was eating lunch at the restaurant and we should go talk to him. So I dropped my cheeseburger and went and introduced myself to Ken. He said just to let him know when we were ready to go back and he'd be waiting for us in the parking lot! Can you believe how lucky we were today??!! We finished our lunch, did one more quick errand and then loaded up in Ken's car. Ken told us he lives in a travel trailer at the local KOA Campground from April to October and he shuttles hikers and canoers to where ever they want to go! At no charge! He lives in Florida the rest of the year and is retired from some job in a high-rise building in NYC. The only thing he asked of us is that we sign his hiker log book! With pleasure! So what we thought might take 4 hours to accomplish, took less than 2 and we were back on the trail. We only had to hike 2 mile to get to a nice shelter with good camping, right next to a stream. We've spent the afternoon soaking our feet, taking a bandana bath in the creek and taking to other hikers-a fairly restful day. If we didn't have plans to meet our Trail Jeannie on Sunday, we probably would have hiked farther, but I'm glad we didn't because there is a big climb right out of this shelter and I'd rather do it first thing in the cool of the morning after a good night's sleep. We finally caught up with some hikers I had emailed with through Trail Journals before we left. Her trail name is Knitter and we discussed knitting and hiking. It was good to finally meet her and her husband. It was a hot day, 86 degrees, with more of the same for tomorrow. The rain is supposed to move in on Saturday with some cooler temps to go along with the rain. All is well.