Date: 2017-09-26
From: Uncle Johnny's Hostel

To: Campsite South of Street Gap
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: light rain

Over the course of the day yesterday, several more people showed up at Uncle Johnny's Hostel. This was sort of a mini reunion. Four of the people there were hikers I had met before. This included: Sauce, whom I had met north of Damascus and had seen again at the Boots Off Hostel.Vanilla Thunder (Stewart), whom I had met on Tinker Cliffs south of Roanoke and with whom I had hiked for a couple of weeks along with Mount Lippy. I had not seen him since just north of Damascus.Mike, whom I mentioned in yesterday's journal entry, but I did not know until dinnertime that his trail name was Big Foot. As soon as he told me that, I confirmed that he was in fact the same hiker I had met as I was starting to climb Bear Mountain, NY in late April. It had been a hard few days for him and at that time was very discouraged. He said that he had thought several times about the things I said to him that day, and he decided he would try again after taking some time off and lightening his load. Ben, whom I had met a couple of times, and Moonlight I had last seen south of Dragon's Tooth somewhere. He had taken vacation from the trail to visit a friend in Roanoke. He now hoped to finish the trail by the 10th of October, hiking 25 to 30 miles a day.Rock Spider, whom I had not met before. He was from Israel, and he got his trail name for the way hiked rocks in Pennsylvania, after he began his flip-flop hike at Harpers Ferry heading north.I got up this morning just before 6 am, dressed, packed, microwaved a Jimmy Dean Breakfast I had purchased from the hostel last night, and ate that. Filled a couple water bottles. Said "See you!" at the trail to two other hikers who had not left for the day yet. Started hiking south at shortly after 7 am.Today's hike began with a climb from the hostel elevation at 1700 Feet to 3200 ft. I took several pictures from nice view points. Throughout the day it would then be down, up, down, up and so forth, with at least three more thousand foot climbs to come. I completed the first climb by about 8 a.m. Then on the way down and up to the No Business Knob shelter, I met two hikers from France. They asked about resupply options north of them. I told them about Erwin and Uncle Johnny's. Their trail names were Jecca (after some emperor of Indonesia) and Pigeon Woods (because he likes pigeons and he is in the woods). (Picture)I arrived at the No Business shelter at about 9:45 a.m. I stopped for a snack and break and was back on the trail about 10 a.m. I don't remember exactly when it was, but for the first time on my hike I actually saw an owl. It was perched on a branch near the trail and flew away when it heard me coming. I crossed a couple of roads, passed lots of water sources, and climbed up High Rocks Mountain. Then of course I climbed down the other side. There I passed a campsite called Whistling Gap, and crossed another road and began the climb up Little Bald Mountain. About 1 p.m. when I was about a mile from the top, I came to a spring and realized this was probably my last chance to get water before reaching the top of Little Bald, where I planned to eat lunch. So I stopped and got water. I had to improvise using the tube from my filter kit to create a Pipe Spring. (Picture)Sometime around 1:45 p.m., I crossed the actual summit of Little Bald Mountain and didn't notice it. Apparently the actual bald spot is so little that it's possible to completely miss it, like I did. So I stopped maybe a quarter mile down the southern slope, & I had lunch sitting on a log just off the trail. After lunch, I continued hiking for about a mile and came to the Big Bald Mountain shelter. I was disappointed that the shelter had no log book, but I was impressed that it had a bear cable system, a privy, and a nice water source. I took a picture of the bear cable system, & I filled all my water bottles and treated each. I then took a break. Ben caught up, got water and continued on. Sauce caught up and went to get water. Sometime after 3 p.m. I continued down the trail to the south.I wasn't sure where to stop for the night. Flip had recommended, when I talked with him about it at the Boots Off Hostel, that I should definitely consider staying on Big Bald Mountain. He described it is one of the most beautiful spots on the trail. However, it was less than a mile and a half from the shelter to Big Bald mountain. I would be there before 4 p.m. so, I was considering hiking further, to a campsite with a view another 4.7 miles beyond the mountain. When I reached the summit of Big Bald, I took a break and took some pictures. Then, I met and spoke with a day hiker who had come up from the south with her dog. I did not get her name. She confirmed that there was camping space further down the trail. Then Ben and Sauce showed up, and we decided to all hike together, further south. When we got to the view spot past Street Gap, Ben decided to keep going (27+ miles for the day for him). Sauce set up her tent in the open field, and I set up my tarp about 100 yards further up the trail, in the woods. I was hoping the overhead cover would reduce the dew accumulation on my tarp. I hung a bear bag line, then I took water and my food bag and joined Sauce in the field, and we talked while we made our dinners and watched the sunset. (Pictures)  Then we hung our food bags on my bear line. Then I went to bed. 22.7 miles