Date: 2017-06-12
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: Laurel Creek, VA 
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

Day 41Monday, June 12, 2017 Chestnut Knob Shelter (566.5) to Laurel Creek, VA (582.3)Miles: 15.8 miles in 7.5 hours with one break2017 AT trip miles: 582.3Total AT miles to date: 1871.8Weather: Hot and humid, 70s, 80s?Dinner: Ham and Peas with Pasta, BeerHikers: Cindy Lou Who, Wild Spirit, Lee, General Hendricks, Tobacco and Alley and three others at the HostelWildlife: DeerI slept great last night. Also took a benadryl because the gnats and mosquitoes were pretty active the last few miles, and while I was setting up the tent my ankles and ear became irresistible. The view at this shelter was killer. I'm glad I pushed on. There are so little views during most hours of the day. We had a fantastic sunset that I didn¢t have the energy to take a picture of last night and apparently a equally great sunrise that I didn't check out. Slept in until 7 a.m. Over our individual breakfasts, there was talk of a new hostel 15.8 miles ahead that wasn't in my 2015 guidebook. Interesting. Most of us who had camped together were also interested in this option. I might want to do this. It was hot yesterday, but even hotter today. Stopped at a shelter at mile 10.5 to get water and eat lunch and caught up with Cindy Lou, who had just met a Scottish couple offering a  ride into town to the hostel, another 5 miles-plus up trail. So she would head ahead of the rest of us, if we weren't able to call ahead. There were now at least three, maybe five people behind me who decided by now that yes, this hostel indeed sounded like a good idea. Now the problem was that no one had been able to make a call. Cell coverage was sketchy to non-existent. At 4 p.m. I hit the gravel road, one of five pick-up points¢assuming the hostel knew to pick us up¢and no Cindy Lou Who. No cell service. Period. About 45 minutes later General Hendricks arrives with another hiker not from last night. Then Wild Spirit/Thing (I still don't know her name for certain.) Then Lee. Then Tobacco and Ali. We weren't sure we we going to a hostel or not. Only three cars passed by in the hour and a half I spent by the bridge. Worse case scenario¢there was a stream-side campsite. I was okay either way. But Cindy Lou Who? Was she sending a shuttle? Did she make it? At 5:30, a big white truck arrived¢with Cindy Lou and the hostel owner. She was just as afraid no one was going to be there waiting. Now six of us were heading to the hostel which ended up being a half hour away. This hostel is a ranch house. The owner just opened this year and it is, um, a work in progress. Also, he is into metal rock. Not in the house, but in the truck and by the firepit. Still¢it doesn't take much to make me happy when there is a shower. We stopped at a grocery store en route and I was able to pick up the cold beer I had been fantasizing about all day. This is i part  due to the audio book I've been listening to the past two days¢Upton Sinclair¢s ¢The Jungle.¢ There is way more in that book beside food safety and midwifery, which is what I remembered from high school. Also, the protagonist was visiting saloons and drinking beer in today's installments¢so that got me thinking. I did purchase fruit and yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.Tomorrow the plan is to slack 20 miles. The trail has again been comparatively good, albeit hot and viewless.