Date: 2016-09-21
From: Home

To: James River Bridge / Hot Springs
Miles today: 25.8
Weather: few clouds

I am writing this entry from my sisters house in North Carolina. I have spent the last two days finishing two sections of the trail that I had to skip over earlier in the year. I left my house Monday in my car and headed for Glasgow Virginia. It was about a nine hour drive from my home in Massachussetts. I arrived in the town of Glasgow around 7:00pm. I pulled into the free in town shelter. I was excited to be there. There were two other hikers there. Viper and a hiker whose name I do not want to share. Both seemed nice as I arrived. Viper and I talked quite a bit and the other hiker got a ride to a bar and left. This shelter was unique in that it had a shower with hot water and it had electricity. It was pretty nice as far as shelters go. It was a nice night so I set up my tent. After eating my dinner and chatting some more with Viper I turned in and went to sleep in my tent. All was well until the other hiker returned and I was awoke by him and his drunkenness. At 10:30pm. He woke me up as he was very loud as he stoked the fire and was talking loudly on his phone. He was threatening and belligerent to who ever he was talking to. He apparently had an altercation at the bar and was going on about it and how he had to pull a knife out. He proceeded to be loud for the next few hours. He was clearly a bad person as he continued to curse and threaten who who ever he was talking to. I finally got up around 12:30am and moved my tent far away from the shelter. He continued his rant until after 2:00am. I thought about packing up and getting out of there because the whole thing made me extremely uncomfortable. This guy was psychotic. In the end I just stayed and finally got back to sleep. I only managed about three hours of sleep. I met my shuttle driver at the James River Bridge parking area at 7:00am. It was barely getting light. He drove me up the parkway to Petite Gap where I was to hike about ten miles back to my car. This is the area I had a bad night with some problem bears. I ended up with another group of four who called themselves Team Blue. It was a crazy night that ended with two parkway patrol officers shooting at the bear. The next morning I skipped this ten mile section because I was not comfortable hiking through it as the patrol vehicles were parked at the trail head. So I have returned to hike it. When I got dropped off it was a bit eire. It was foggy, dark, and wet. After a few minutes and some deep breaths I headed into the woods. The hike started with a climb which I was glad for because it got lighter fairly quickly. It did not take long for me to shake off the little bit of nervousness I had. I had forgotten how nice the trails were down south. There are very few rocks or rocky sections compared to the north. It was easy going on my feet. Hard packed dirt trail, what a relief! It was very nice. The hike ended up being very nice and brought back a lot of good memories. The mountains and trails down here are beautiful. I crossed over the James River and made it back to my car at about noon. Now I only had one fifteen mile section left in Hot Springs. I got in my car and headed south on I81. It was a nice ride except I was a little sleepy and had to stop several times to wake myself up. I liked seeing all the signs along the way of the trail towns I had hiked through over the past six months. I arrived in Hot Springs around 5:00pm. I checked into the Laughing Heart Hostel, which is where I stayed in April. I like this hostel and it was probably my favorite one. I had my own room with a twin bed and an air conditioner. I met a group of five who were flip floppers. They were headed south and only had a few hundred miles left on there hike. They were a very nice group of hikers. I turned in very early as I was very tired. I slept great and for about ten hours. I was up and at the outfitters at 7:00am for my shuttle up to Allen Gap. From there I would hike back to Hot Springs where my car was. It was a little harder and longer hike then the day before, but I was excited to get started. I had several good climbs in the morning, but just like in Virginia the trails were so level with no rocks or rocky areas. I loved it. I made very good time as I hiked to the first shelter. I took a break there. It is weird being down here with hardly any other hikers around. It was crazy in the spring with tons of hikers everywhere. I continued to hike towards town when I came to a fire tower. There are a lot of fire towers along the trail and this was to be my last one. I went up as I have for all of them and spent some time looking at the mountains in the distance. It was nice and relaxing. After the fire tower I soon entered the area that was affected by the wild fires. The wild fires were the reason myself and others had to skip this section of the trail. It was closed for ten days. I was pleasantly surprised by how the forest had already started to recover from the devastation. A lot of trees where sprouting new growth and the forest floor had a lot of green undergrowth. It was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. The worst part for me hiking through these areas was the bugs. For some reason they were really bad through the fire areas. I took my final break on a bridge which had a nice breeze and a shady area on it and it was bugless. I am going to miss taking breaks in the forest. They are so peaceful and comfortable. After my break I hiked the last few miles into Hot Springs. The hike down into town was really nice as it featured the French Broad River which went through town. As I made my way halfway across the bridge over the river I had officially hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. All 2189.1 completed. It was a great feeling as I had finished what I had set out to accomplish. I slowly walked back to town and my car. I went back to the hostel and got congratulations from Greg who was the nice young man running to hostel. I took a shower and then set out on the four in a half hour ride to my sisters in Holly Springs NC. I arrived at 8:00pm and it was nice to be here. I was greeted by Leslie, Doug, Jordan, and Abby. We all chatted and ate dinner. The evening was topped off as I sat down on the couch and turned the Red Sox game on ESPN. The Sox were losing 1-0. With in five minutes of me turning it on the Red Sox had taken the lead 5-1 and went on to win there seventh game in a row. A perfect ending to a perfect day. So my adventure is now officially over and what an adventure it has been. I may or may not enter a post journal entry. Now it is time for me to start getting re acclimated into society and "real" life. I have to go back to work, which in a lot of ways I am looking forward to. I have no idea how this adventure will change my perspective on my life. I need to let it all sink in and I am sure in time I will have those answers. In the meantime I am footlocker and I am signing out. God Bless....