Date: 2015-05-15
From: Thunderhill Shelter

To: Campsite at Salt Log Trail 
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: broken clouds

This morning felt a little warmer but was still breezy. However it warmed up quickly once the sun came out and it would have been a fun climb up and descent from Hightower knob last night in the dark at the end of 30 miles had we continued. We hiked 14.6 miles to US 501, first crossing the James River over the longest foot-use-only footbridge on the AT. Someone on the trail said it was 200 ft long. There were some people fishing on the other side. Andreas was waiting for us on a rock at the other side. We had decided in the morning to try to hitch into Glasgow for a shower, laundry and snack resupply if we could get a ride. If not, we would continue on and hike 25 miles to the shelter. It took a few minutes but we actually did get a ride in a pick up truck. Of course I had darted into the bushes for a bio break and then had approached some fisherman about a ride when I saw Andreas and Crafty loading our packs into a truck. So I had to sprint down the trail and across the street to jump in. Glad to know I can still run a little when necessary. The driver was in a hurry and had to punch in for work very soon but had stopped for us. Glasgow is 5.9 miles away from the AT but it seemed a lot further because of the windy uphill climb and then descent. The driver dropped us off at the Grocery express. He told Crafty the smell in town is from the turkey "litter" they use to fertilize the fields. We walked across the street to the hiker pavilion shelter built by Boy Scouts which included outlets and an outdoor shower! Clean we dropped our laundry at the laundromat and ate at Scotto's Restaurant - home to American and Italian cuisine and the only restaurant. I had a salad and eggplant parmigiana sub. I was stuffed! Heavy food after my usual bar and couscous diet. We then retrieved our laundry but it started raining so we waited out the shower before re supplying at the Dollar General. I actually got Nutella, fig newtons and peanut butter crackers.The hitch back to the trail worked out. After standing for several minutes without success, we saw a couple pickup trucks pull into the only fuel station. Andreas walked over while we continued to smile, standing with our thumbs out. He talked a driver into taking us to the trail for $10. He was a really nice, knowledgable guy who told us about the area. He even randomly dug out a can of bug spray and gave it to us. None of us wanted to carry it but he was really nice so we took it but left it at the shelter. We saw two of the German hikers arrive as we pulled into the trailhead. So Andreas kindly asked the driver to take them back and tried to give him more $ but the driver refused. Our first hitch experience ... You feel helpless and self conscious as drivers zoom by you on the side of the road but both drivers who stopped were very nice. We hiked the 1.7 miles to Johns Hollow Shelter where there were several hikers already there including Heisenberg whom we had left lightly snoring in his tent that morning and Mighty Mouse. Lots of flattish sites to camp. Crafty said she still had a lot of energy from our big meal and wanted to keep going. She said it would be exciting. Little did she know .... I wasn't tired and we had only hiked 16.3 miles so we took off again just after 8 pm. We passed Sugar Magnolia, TR and their dog Sullivan. We could still smell turkey litter and wasn't sure if the smell carried that far or if the water from the laundromat was infused with turkey litter. We waited until we couldn't see to turn on our headlamps. It was over a 3 mile climb up to Little Rocky Row and Big Rocky Row where there were indeed big rocks to climb over and what we're probably amazing views. In the dark we could see town lights in the far distance shrouded by clouds and fog. We saw the lit railroad bridge from the river which was also far away now. We continued on and descended passing a random camper and his fire in the dark. Just before 10 pm, we saw a lightand approached a man in the dark. He explained he had run out of water earlier and had left his pack behind a log with a GPS tracker so he could find it later. He had walked all the way to the creek for water and had returned but couldn't find his pack. And then he set his GPS on a log and couldn't find it. It was pitch black in the dark and all he had was a lighter. We shined our headlamps around the area trying to find his pack without any luck. We asked him if he wanted us to call for help or guide him down but he wanted to stay and find his pack in the morning. He asked us to build him a fire and he would be fine. In the dark, we built him a fire ring and gathered a bunch of wood. Unfortunately everything was wet from the rain and could not get anything to work as kindling to get the wood to light. Crafty even bravely used her fuel can to try to dry out the wood a little bit to no avail. An hour later and many failed attempts (I even sacrificed some toilet paper as kindling), it was 11:20 pm and we didn't know what to do anymore. He kept saying he was fine but it was windy and cold on the ridge. I had to put on my rain jacket. He was definitely out of it from dehydration and said he had been nauseous all day. He kept telling us we could go on. We felt bad leaving him and offered to call someone for him or walk him back up to the camper whom we had seen a mile earlier whom he said he knew and called Ken. He refused and said we had set him up with what he needed for a fire and he would eventually get it to start. We didn't want to leave him alone in the dark. Since he didn't want any other help, we gave him some food and moved on. I felt bad about leaving him. I suggested we hike to the 5.7 mile mark Saltlog Gap we had originally targeted and look for a flat spot since it was a trail intersection and we could always set up there. The last mile was Rocky and didn't look very promising but we finally got to the intersection and it was flatter with tall vegetation. We arrived around 12:15 am started up the side trail when out of the dark I heard someone call my real name. I saw someone in a hammock. He said, "It's Semi Colon". I couldn't believe it! Not only had we found another hiker, I had randomly found someone I knew on the trail! He had recognized my hat in the dark! Semi Colon graciously let us sent up our tents on the sidetrack next to him disturbing his sleep. It was a relief to finally lie down. I hope the man finds his pack in the morning.