Date: 2023-05-07
From: Bailey Gap Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 27.2

I awoke to a warm morning around 6:30. I still left at 8, and saw some of the people who camped under the Stony Creek Bridge pass by me as I wrapped up breaking camp. One of them was Plunger, who made the waffles for breakfast yesterday. We introduced ourselves, and I headed out a while after him.The elevation profile showed that the first few miles of the day were more or less flat, but that was misleading. The trail meandered up and down, requiring sidehilling and with a slew of rocks on what would otherwise be a footpath. I think I tripped a couple times.Around 9:30, I reached VA 613 - about 4 miles. To my great pleasure I saw I big trail magic table set up! With the lack of it in VA so far, I was especially grateful that it was there. A couple from South Carolina who planned to hike the Virginia triple crown, Boost and Cloud Kicker, brought chicken, pinto beans, flour tortillas, and fixins for tacos. There were also boxes of Kind and fruit bars, and tangerines, and water. There were coolers with pop, Gatorade, and beer. They even had homemade brownies, guacamole, salsa, and chips! It was a such a morale boost compared to the BelVita bar I was going to have. Other hikers congregated there. I met F*** It, a Frenchman, who had camped under the bridge, and ran into Pink Flops again, who I saw at the Angel's Rest hostel, as well as Squirrel, Plunger, and others. I ate and drank my fill, and enjoyed the conversation.I didn't really want to leave, but I finally did a bit past 10 with Plunger. The rocky terrain had given way to a gentle rolling terrain on a footpath. We hiked together for the better part of an hour. I learned that he is from Utah, and is a truck driver but also does tourism gigs. He has loved in Juneau and kayakers between islands there, including one with the greatest population density of brown bears. He has been to every state except for Maine and Rhode Island, which he will be rectifying in the next few months. I mentioned my trip backpacking the Uinta Highline Trail last summer and plans to revisit Vernal, see the Flaming Gorge reservoir, and Dinosaur National Monument. He had been to all of the latter three, and gave me some recommendations.After a while we split up, but leapfrogged a bit with him. I met Rice Bag while passing through the War Spur Shelter at noon to get water and also ran into Plunger again.Eventually I made it to the first climb at VA 632 around 12:30. To my pleasant surprise, it started to shower around 1. I enjoyed climbing while being cooled off. It was a long climb, and there was some lightning as I was ascending. Around 1:30, I was on the ridge. The showers turned briefly to rain, prompting me to put on my rain jacket. As soon as I did, the precipitation and lightning stopped. I continued to walk in it nonetheless. I went to the viewpoint at Kelly Knob. There was no view to see in the fog, but I saw a couple buzzards hanging out on the rocks.Then I descended to a pasture. As I did, the sky cleared up and the sun came out. The walk through the pasture was beautiful. It was so pleasant, and even dry, that I took my second extended break there, around 3:30. Plunger and F*** It passed me. I continued through more of the pastures.Once they ended, I passed over Sinking Creek, and by Keffer Oak, a tree that is more than 300 years old, the second oldest tree on the AT. The second big climb for the day came up. I ascended Sinking Creek Mountain and hiked along the ridge for a while. I passed by a power line view and what looked like stone mounds for burials. I ran into Plunger again, and we more or less walked together to the Sarver Hollow Shelter junction, getting there around 6. Plunger, who had an extra mile and had to hike up that 1100 foot climb first thing in the morning, was done for the day. I wanted to continue on, and had no desire to walk half a mile downhill to get water. Plunger and I bade farewell.The terrain was rocky and slanted for the first hour or so past the junction, and also quite scenic. There were many views of a long-spanding mountain across a valley that I enjoyed. After I reached the Eastern Continental Divide around 7:15, the trail moved downward pretty directly. I reached the Niday Shelter area around 8:30, had dinner, and retired after a couple chores.