Date: 2018-03-15
From: Beartree Gap Trail

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I am back on the trail in earnest, having gotten a shuttle ride back to Beartree Gap Trail from hostel owner Chuck right after breakfast. I must say that my stay at Woodchuck Hostel was very pleasant, the owner is easy going and very accommodating. Thank you Chuck for making my stay at your hostel a pleasant one.I am hiking alone, which is not atypical - even when the Four Horsemen were together we often hiked at our own pace and were scattered along the trail. However at the end of the day we would see each other at our agreed upon destination. There was comfort in that arrangement knowing that I would be with good friends for the evening. On the other hand I now have a bit more flexibility in that when arriving at a shelter/camping area I may decide to push on - especially with Daylight Savings Time and progressively longer days ahead of me. I do like arriving at my final selected camping spot with enough daylight left so that I am not setting up camp in the dark, but to stop hiking as early as 2 PM seems like such a waste of remaining daylight. We are burning daylight was my mantra. However I need to be cautious and not out-hike my body if that makes any sense. Regularly pushing out 20 to 25 miles, which I feel capable of at this point (depending on the terrain and trail conditions of course) may not be in my best interests in view of the weight loss I have experienced. Having lost 22 lbs. in the first 4 weeks of my hike, I¢ve become very conscious of calories in vs. calories burned. Lots of deep snow today at the higher elevations. Kudos and thanks to the folks (Capt. Blackbeard, The Ghost and others that are ahead of me) that broke out the trail yesterday, it helped me tremendously. If we had this much snow on the trail in the Adirondacks,  by DEC regs we would be required to be in snowshoes. Of course nobody that I know hiking the AT is equipped with snowshoes here in the south, because Mother Nature......WE WERE NOT EXPECTING 2 FEET OF SNOW IN MID MARCH....!!  Enough already with the Nor¢easters.Thanks to the McCoy family of Glouster, Ohio for the very nice trail magic you left at the Elk Garden parking lot. I had a powerade and one of the goodie bags, they really hit the spot. I arrived at Thomas Knob Shelter around 5:30, and there waiting for me was a pony. A very friendly little guy, he followed me around as I looked for a spot to pitch my tent and then eventually wandered away when he realized I wasn¢t going to feed him. After dropping my pack I then backtracked the 0.2 miles to the side trail for Mt. Rogers, and after another 0.5 miles up that trail I was on the summit of Mt. Rogers the highest mountain in VA at 5,729 ft. I am in my new tent as opposed to the shelter, as apparently a spotted skunk has taken up residence in the shelter. The odor was quite noticeable, and as I am fragrant enough after hiking all day I elected to tent it instead. There are 3 section hikers staying in the shelter, I wished them well. All in all it was a great day today. Generally clear skies and in the 30s. The sky was a deep dark blue, I don¢t think I¢ve ever seen such a blue sky. On occasion the wind would kick up and blow the snow from the trees making the forest look a little foreboding, it reminded me of Fangorn Forest as seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. It is very windy/gusty tonite here at elevation 5,413 ft. I pitched the tent in a somewhat sheltered spot amongst some pine trees, but the wind still makes the tent walls shake, rattle and roll. So far she is holding. My boots are completely soaked from trodding  around in deep wet snow, so undoubtedly I¢ll be putting on frozen boots in the AM. Something to look forward to, I had the same situation that nite on Roan Mt. when temps dipped down into the single digits. The forecast for tonite is the 20s, which isn¢t bad. I am safe, warm and dry in my tent tonite. Goodnite!