Date: 2005-04-27
From: Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Doc's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: light rain

Miles hiked today : 23.422.6 AT miles + 0.8 miles of side trailI woke up this morning at 7:10 a.m. and took my time getting ready. While I was eating breakfast, a section hiker gave me a plain bagel and 1/2 pound of smoked cheese. I ate the bagel along with some pop-tarts I'd purchased in Bland. The package I'd purchased was reduced in price for quick sale, so I didn't have much choice in the flavor. Actually, I had no choice, as there was only one flavor available: Mud 'N' Bugs. No joke! Anyway, after these are gone, I'll be sticking to more standard flavors, regardless of the price (within reason). After breakfast, I was on the trail at 8:15 a.m. My pack felt so heavy that I almost considered going back to the shelter for a little bit.Despite the weight of my pack, I was moving quickly and covered 2.4 miles in 1 hour, arriving at a powerline tower. I took a 5 minute break, then hiked another 4.0 miles to Kimberling Creek, which is spanned by a very bouncy suspension bridge. I had reached the bridge at 10:50 a.m., though I took a 10 minute break before crossing.2.0 miles later, I reached the Dismal Creek Falls sidetrail at 11:50 a.m. It was a 0.6 mile roundtrip sidetrip to the falls, which took me 20 minutes in all. The falls were fairly impressive with a huge volume of water spilling into a large pool over a wide 8-10 foot drop. I spent some time climbing down some rocks to get pictures from the base of the falls before leaving. Dismal Creek got its name because the surrounding soil is too acidic to farm. The creek itself is quite robust and the falls are one of my favorites so far.Back on the trail, I had 5.8 miles to cover to Wapiti Shelter, during which rain lightly sprinkled on me fr close to 30 minutes. I arrived at 2:30 p.m. and took a lunch break until 3:40 p.m.Almost immediately after I left the shelter, the rain began to fall harder, though I stubbornly refused to change from my fleece to my rainjacket. I was also treated to a few minutes of very small hail. I reached a viewpoint at the 2.4 mile mark at 4:55 p.m. and reached Big Horse Gap 2.2 miles later at 6:00 p.m.   By this time, my fleece had mostly dried from the earlier rain, though it looked like it might rain again. I relented and switched to my rainjacket. Sure enough, the rain began to fall, though after 15 minutes the sky cleared up completely.My next checkpoint was 1.6 miles later at Sugar Run Gap, which I reached at 6:40 p.m. There is actually a popular hostel 0.5 mile up Sugar Run Road and I would have gone there, except it doesn't open until May 1st. Apparently, the hostel owners discovered the homestead while doing a study of elk in the 1940s and have had it open to hikers for many years.Beyond Sugar Run Gap, I hiked 1.4 miles to another viewpoint at 7:30 p.m. Neither of the viewpoints today were particularly phenomenal, though they did provide decent views of the valley below. 15 minutes after reaching the latter of the viewpoints, I arrived at Doc's Knob Shelter. My 8.4 mile hike in the evening took me 4 hours, 5 minutes which seemed slow to me, especially after my speed this morning. Perhaps it was the fatigue of having already covered 15.0 miles before lunch combined with all the rocks in the trail during the climb out of Sugar Run Gap.There was room for one more in the shelter, so I laid out my sleeping gear after filtering water and eating a cold dinner. Tomorrow is a 7.8 mile hike into Pearisburg, where I'm looking forward to eating at a Chinese restaurant.Bedtime at 10:00 p.m.