Date: 2014-05-29
From: Punchbowl Shelter - BRP 51.7

To: Lynchburg/Blue Ridge KOA - James River
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke VERY early. I was nervous about packing properly for a slack pack and I didn't want to forget anything important. The idea is to take as little as possible but enough in case you get stuck out in the woods overnight or some emergency comes up. So things like headlamp and emergency kit but no tent or sleeping bag type mentality. Ken arrived promptly and whisked us up to the Blue Ridge Parkway parking area at Mile Marker 51.7. This was just north of Punchbowl Shelter. I was to learn later that Squirrel and Zima had just crossed this point this morning before we arrived. We said our goodbyes and leaned into a mean 1200' climb up Punchbowl Mtn. We didn't make the 0.2 mile trek into the Punchbowl Shelter but we could hear all the hikers at the shelter loudly packing for the day's hike.Though it wasn't raining, it was foggy and drizzly most of the day requiring a raincoat and pack cover. Only Jackson carried a pack with water enough for both dogs. The Trail Name Water Boy was starting to stick as it always seemed this boy was carrying water somewhere. Again, I found the first 6 miles of the day to once again be boring Virginia hiking. Due to the weather, there were NO views, no unique aspects that jumped out at me for those 6 miles. As we were now heading SoBo instead of the normal northern direction, it wasn't uncommon to meet other hikers that we knew. They were always surprised to see us at a point on the trail ahead of them until they understood we were slack packing.And then we arrived at Big Rocky Row, the TOP of the serious decent to the James River, 2300' pretty much straight down!!! And what a hard downward climb it was. By now the fog had lifted and the drizzle dried up and we were into rock scramble mode. Now sometimes when the timing isn't just right, nature requires that you stop moving and take care of business. But we were only 2 miles from John's Hollow Shelter and a nice privy. So I tried to "hold it" and pushed on down, down, down to the shelter. We were now into a deciduous forest setting with little low brush and a high canopy, not many places to just pull up a bush if you know what I mean. And then I could not longer "hold it". I dropped my pack, grabbed by toilet paper, and scrambled off the trail behind the biggest tree I could find. Both puppies, pulled up a seat next to my pack and patiently waited. Oh, I so had my fingers crossed and that no one would come. And then who came hustling up the trail NoBo but Indy himself. He stopped to talk with the dogs asking them where was Canary and then you could hear it in his voice when he realized the situation and quickly moved on. I was so embarrassed!!! :-)The remainder of the trail down to the James River was so fun. It was a nice trail that wandered along a creek headed for the river. There were several bridges and beautiful rock formations. We arrived at the James River Bridge parking lot before our appointed time with Ken and pulled up a seat to soak up the reality of this year's adventure. Ken arrived and was surprised to see us.On route back to the cabin, Ken again proposed a fantastic option for the next day. He could again drop us at the BRP 51.7 but keep the dog's pack and most of my heavy gear. Then he'd meet us at Hwy 60 before we climbed Bald Knob to deliver the gear! Nice!!! We wouldn't have to carry everything for most of tomorrow! So of course I agreed. So once again, we re-packed everything for a different configuration for tomorrow and then used the KOA WiFi to upload all our pictures to Facebook for safe keeping. Tonight we didn't need the A/C though, it was actually hilarious that we needed to turn on the cabin heat. Once again, we got rain overnight, how lucky can a girl get!