Date: 2014-04-22
From: Campsite at mile 639.7

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 23.6
Weather: light rain

Today started out as a bit of a bummer, despite having a night of deep, restful sleep. No, my disappointment stemmed entirely from the condition of the trail between our campsite and the first shelter of the day, Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. While I never have expected the trail to be a cake walk, this section was unnecessarily difficult due to poor maintenance. The trail was constantly impeded by blow downs, some so big I had to crawl up the side of a nearly 90 degree slope to get around it. Briers and low-hanging branches were constantly catching our limbs and backpacks, scratching and potentially poking holes in our packs. And the trail itself was not well-kept, making it very difficult to stay on the correct path. More than once, we had to turn around because we had followed an incorrect trail to nowhere. We got the impression that the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club ¢ the club responsible for maintaining this section ¢ simply did not care enough to do a good job on this section, and it left us feeling bummed after witnessing the amount of care given to most of the previous sections.After we arrived at Pine Swamp Branch Shelter, however; the day swung in the exact opposite direction. It started with trail magic at the shelter, with brownies, oranges, and soft drinks left behind for thru-hikers. After a long lunch, we continued down the trail alongside a river. There we met two fishermen, and when Hawk inquired about their catch, they offered us three freshly-caught Rainbow Trout. We gladly accepted their offer.We continued a bit further to ¢The Captains¢, a pit stop for hikers to rest and grab some cold drinks. In order to get to Captain¢s, we had to take a zip line over a river. One by one we pulled ourselves across the river and helped ourselves to cold soft drinks. Meanwhile, Hawk cleaned the trout for our dinner later on.After another lengthy break, we slowly climbed up to Bailey Gap Shelter, which had a fire pit and grill where we could cook our fish. Though there were only three fish for the six of us (Birdman, Canadia, Hawk Sea Biscuit, newcomer Mechanic, and myself), we all chipped in and shared pieces of our meals, creating a mix of fish fry and potluck. Though we may have had better food on the trail, I haven¢t been more proud of a meal in a long time.After our fish dinner, we were all energized and ready to hike some more, so we packed up and headed out for nine more miles at approximately 6:00 PM. We quickly arrived at our highest point for the day ¢ Wind Rock (4,100 ft.) ¢ and watched the sunset over the valley below. Thus began our first official night hike, as we donned our headlamps and ventured back into the forest.Night hiking was a fun new experience, allowing us to experience the trail in an entirely new way. Of course, that meant you could only see directly in front of you and you were constantly stubbing your toes, but the weather was cool and I had lengthy conversations with fellow hikers about pop culture, my life as a teacher, and many other topics. By 9:00 PM, we had reached the shelter and laid out our sleeping bags, settling in just before rain began to pour down. Today started out rough, but with a second half as satisfying as that, I can¢t really count this day as anything other than a complete win.