Date: 2018-06-06
From: Bluff Mountain

To: Bald Knob
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: clear sky

We had another lovely morning with both weather and terrain. I went 10.5 miles before I stopped to wait for Cole to catch up. I carry dinner in my backpack, he carries lunch. Sometimes hunger is a motivating factoring in deciding to stop, if Cole is taking a while to catch up to me. We had lunch at Brown Mountain Creek Shelter and were excited that we only had a few miles left before reaching our mileage goal. The next shelter was .6 of a mile off the trail. I sure didn¢t want to do 1.2 miles just to get to and from a shelter. The problem was, the next water source was at the shelter. I filled up my water bottles and headed out from Brown Mountain Creek Shelter before Cole. About two miles up the trail I crossed a road and was going by a parking lot when a guy shouted, ¢Would you like a drink?¢¢Sure¢ I replied and headed over to his car where he and his buddy had a cooler strapped to a carrier on the back bumper.¢Beer or soda?¢¢Soda please.¢An outsider would probably be shocked by how trusting thru hikers are of strangers offering them drinks, food, rides, and sometimes even a place to stay. These strangers, or trail angels as we call them, are often past thru hikers who have allready experienced what we were going through and know how much a cold beverage at just the right time could really make a hiker¢s day. Such was the case with these two. They had received help during their hike and wanted to give it back in return. They said that I was the first person to pass by and were thinking about trying to find a spot with more hiker traffic. I told them that my son would soon be coming up behind me. We talked for a bit longer as I finished my soda and then gave them the empty can. Then I headed back up the trail. Straight UP the trail. Um....hello Virginia! Switchbacks! Have you heard of them??I tired quickly and after about a mile and a half I stopped to rest. Another hiker passed me as I sat. I greeted him and asked him if he had received a drink from the trail magic. He said that he had seen a can of Sprite sitting on the ground by the trail, but because he had just resupplied, he had left it for the next person. From this reply I surmised that the trail angels had moved on to try a new location and had left behind a Sprite for Cole since I had told them he was coming up behind me. I was glad the hiker had left it.Not long after that I heard the clack-pause-clack of a single poled trekker and knew that it was Cole.¢Did you get your Sprite?¢ I asked him when he came within hearing distance.He stopped dead cold.¢That was for me?¢ He asked, wide eyed.¢Yes that was for you. Didn¢t you drink it?¢¢There was only one there and I didn¢t know if I should. I even picked it up and smelled it.¢¢You smelled it?¢¢Yes, but I decided that I shouldn¢t take it. It was for me?¢I explained about the guys with cooler. Cole wanted to drop his pack and go back for the pop, but I wouldn¢t let him. It would have been a three mile return trip.We continued slowly up the steep incline together. Every so often Cole would kick himself again and mutter, ¢I should have taken the Sprite!¢Up we climbed some more. My ¢Mountain Goat¢ seemed just as exhausted as I was, but steep inclines like this rarely offered any kind of flat surface for camping on so we kept moving forward.Finally we reached the summit of Bald Knob, and just as the guide book promised, it was not Bald. However, just past the top there was one camping spot. Dropping my bag I declared ¢Wooohooo, we made it home for the night.¢ to which Cole replied, ¢I should have drunk the sprite.¢We ate a cold dinner to conserve our water and at least one of us fell asleep dreaming of cold soda.