Date: 2015-05-16
From: VA 42 at 554.9

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: clear sky

So here I sit in what sounds like pouring rain, but cozy inside my tent.We had decided on a short day already, but when mrs Cherokee said she was going to make French toast casserole and asked what time we wanted to have breakfast, we told her any time that worked for the casserole would work for us. Our loosely defined goal was to start hiking around 11, which would have us leave chez Cherokee at 9:30. The rising sun and singing birds woke me up as if I were in my tent and I got up early and got caught up on Yoda's blog and a few trail journals. It also needs to be said that Yoda had mobilized her aunt, who in turn mobilized Facebook and this morning I had a guest book signature from a reader in Idaho. Idaho was the only state missing from the lineup. So thank you to Yoda, Yoda's aunt Liz and of course to Mr. Wallace Pendleton from Idaho! In the same vein, it should be noted that the Netherlands is now the second country providing readership for Yoda's blog. 5 million steps with Katie if you missed it before. It has more pictures than my journal so now I have blog envy. Back to the hiking! We said our final goodbyes to Cherokee, who has just been the picture of hospitality and generosity and seems to think that we are doing him a favor in the process! It was great to stay at their house again and a huge thank you to him and no less to Sharon for everything they have done for us!Did I say back to hiking? We did eventually start hiking and of course it was uphill right away. We are both carrying too much food (do not shop for resupply when hungry!) and our packs were heavy. And that's after I sent some cool weather stuff home! Of course my pack will be nice and light once I consume some of the food. We stopped for lunch at a lovely camping spot near the stream and were sorely tempted to just stay there. In the end, we cowboyed up and got going, knowing that the nasty climb up to Chestnut Knob would be our final 4.5 miles for the day. Before we got to the start of that though, there was another lovely spot at a stream and we took the opportunity to soak our feet for 15 minutes or so. I think it made the feet happy, they did not give me any trouble today even with the extra weight. It could be the lower mileage too though. The nasty climb was about as expected, though when you know it's bad, it's never as bad as you anticipate. We had to carry extra weight in water the last two miles as there's no reliable source at the shelter. And though the weather looked quite threatening, it held of raining until after we had set up our tent and hammock.It is quiet here, as most hikers are at trail days in Damascus. It is also the nicest shelter I have seen on the trail so far, with four walls and a door. There is a picnic table inside, so we were able to make and eat dinner out of the rain. This is the first time I was tempted to stay inside a shelter, but it has bunks and only a top one was available when we got there. Plus, I had already set up by then anyway. I am quite comfy in my tent, but I do hope the rain stops soon so I can brush my teeth without getting soaked!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?