Date: 2016-05-31
From: Stealth Campsite by VA 617

To: Stealth Campsite on Chestnut Knob
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: few clouds

After I wrote lasts night blog from my tent I started to fall asleep when I heard a roar in the distance. It was rain. Normally this is no big deal but it came down hard and fast that a river formed and basically a pond started to form where I was tenting and two others. I jumped out of the tent and pulled the stakes out and tried dragging the tent to higher ground and trying to keep my stuff dry. The other two hikers did the same as the water was rising on all four sides of the tent. It wasn't quite dark yet and a car driving by must of saw the commotion in the field and either felt bad or had it happen to them once stopped and yelled do you want a place to stay. The three of us were like heck yea. We threw all of our gear and tents back into our bags and piled into the mini van and drove back to Marion. The other two hikers were treadless and I think she said her name was waterfall but it wasn't the same one I met before. We crashed in their family room and were able to take a shower. We dried our gear on their covered patio. We were so thankful. In the morning we got driven back on their way to work. Back on trail the first view I had was this massive field in the morning sun. I took a few pictures. Today there looked to be a lot of climbs. When I got to the end of the field I had my very first fence stile to go over. The best way to describe these is like a wide ladder. It usually is over a barbed wire fence and allows hikers to walk up over and back down the fence while keeping cattle in. They are a rather ingenious idea but if they are not built correctly or are at a crazy angle they can be challenging to get over. My first climb of the day was Guillion Mt. which was relatively a smooth trail with a moderate pitch. Second was Walker Mt which was very steep and rocky. At this point it was hot our so the climbing went slow as I didn't want to overheat. Coming down this section the trail goes into another field with more stiles. In all I had to go up snd over 12 of them today. I only almost killed myself on one when coming down my pack caught a step and was snagged almost causing me to dive off the stile.   At the bottom of the field was VA 610 where I sat on the side of the road and ate my lunch. The trail went back into a field on the other side of the road and climbed up through a bunch of cows. After about a mile the trail went back into the woods and 2 more stiles later it flattened out and descended again to VA 742 where the trail crosses a bridge. I stopped to filter water and rest. The trail then darted back into the woods climbing again arriving at another field. This time the trail went through the field ascending but with nice views all around. After a mile the trail went back into the woods climbing again steeply up to the summit of Brushy Mt. After the summit there was 1 mile to go before I reached Knot Maul Branch Shelter. I rested, filled out the log books and ate a snack. I was going to filter water but someone had scratched in the group spring dry. So instead of checking to see if it really was I figured I'd walk the .4 miles down trail to the next water source. The day was hot which I enjoyed but a lot of water needed to be drunk so a lot of water filtering needed to happen. After descending there was the climb up Lynn Camp Mt which was unforgiving and steep. It was slow going with the heat but finally I made it and started back down the other side. The trail descended and came across a US forestry road. I sat down and had a snack as my energy level was nil. As I was sitting I heard thunder in the distance. I had no cell signal to check radar so I put on my rain cover and gaiters. I boogied up the hill to try snd make the shelter which was only 4 miles away. The climb was steep and I quickly was running out of energy. The storm still seemed far away and I wasn't even sure if it was headed towards or away from my location. I was crawling up the chestnut knob when I was finally able to get radar. Two big storms were headed my way. I decided to not try to make the shelter. I don't mind walking in the rain but was afraid I'd get there rye shelter will be full and I'd be stuck putting my tent up in the rain. I decided the next available spot to camp I'm doing it. Of coarse there was no available place to camp for a mile. Finally about 2 miles from the shelter I see a fire ring.   I quickly get my tent out throw it up. Throw all of my gear in and it downpours. Phew!! Just in the nic of time. The batch of rain over me is going to last for hours. I'm glad I'm dry. Sleep time for me.