Date: 2014-05-04
From: Bryant Ridge Shelter

To: Glasgow, VA
Miles today: 24.8

Chef and I woke up before anyone else at the shelter. My first order of business was to make sure the black snake hadn't decided to cuddle up for warmth during the night. It hadn't. Having taken care of that we went about packing up and cooking breakfast as quietly as possible as the other hikers woke one by one.The day started with a big climb and we were both glad to be starting that before it got too warm. After reaching the first summit of the day I descended down the other side to the shelter. Coming up to it I noticed someone's cook setup and food spread across the picnic table. Curious as to who was that close ahead of us I got closer to find Moose sprawled out in the shelter still fast asleep. He awoke as I got closer and we toasted to a small reunion with breakfast beverages. He had planned on pressing on to the next shelter but instead had passed out early with his setup still all out. Fortunately the bears had kept their distance, unlike previous nights according to the shelter log.Chef arrived shortly thereafter and the three of us set off for a leapfrogged sunny morning up and over the next mountain, down under The Guillotine, and across the Blue Ride Parkway. We stopped for lunch a bit after noon, discovered the fountain of youth in a hypothetical-alligator-ridden grungy spring, and discovered the importance of maintaining 700 pounds of pure fantasy. Many trail memes / inside jokes were born that lunch.From there we had a ~15 mile push to catch up with The Herd. The afternoon was excellent with sunny weather and a light breeze and we cruised through the miles. We met a group of hikers from the Natural Bridge trail maintenance club, whose section we are in, and stopped to chat for a bit even getting a little geography lesson and viewpoint breakdown.Coming down into Petite's Gap we began fantasizing about some trail magic waiting for us. This has become a fixture on every approach to a vehicle accessible waypoint and is usually just fruitless a mental exercise. But lo! Waiting for us at the gap was the Mabry family with cold filtered water, cold apple cider, and fresh produce! We gladly hung out there for a while talking with them and absolutely enjoying their gifts.Eventually needing to push on we left the gap for our last real climb of the day over Highcock Knob. After the mornings ascents it wasn't too bad at all and before long we were cruising down the other side. Moose and I began to pull ahead a bit, anxious to finish up the day. We ran into ridge runner Regina, who informed us that The Herd was spending the night in Glasgow. Knowing they had hot food and free hot showers there as well we were sold on hitching in. That proved a little harder than expected but we finally got a ride in just before dusk made that prospect impossible.Approaching the hiker shelter in town we ran into Gentle Spirit, who I had not seen in quite a while. So long in fact that Moose was almost able to get away with introducing me as Crank, some guy he had just met that day, before Trix and Violet blew my cover. We had just missed the restaurant, but with hot dogs a plenty we enjoyed an evening of chess matches, inflatable solar lights (Moose's latest addition to the bag of fun), and, of course, good company.Not wanting to set up my tent I had my first true cowboy camp of the trip sleeping on the picnic table bench. While not quite as comfortable as the neighbor's lawn Moose accidentally cowboyed on, it was still great to have nothing between the stars and myself. I'm still working up to trusting the weather not change and the bugs not to get too adventurous.