Date: 2013-10-28
From: Niday Shelter

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: broken clouds

I got up early and was on the trail by 7:30, arriving at Niday Shelter about a half hour later. I was flat out of water so immediately went to the spring. It was flowing, but barely. Mostly it was a shallow hole with a muddy bottom. I did my best to deepen the pool and remove as much of the muck as I could, then wait for the water to clear again before filtering out of it. Unfortunately, by the time I had filtered up the amount of water I needed for the long dry section over Sinking Creek Mt, my filter had slowed noticeably from the amount of suspended sediment it had sucked up from the bottom of the shallow pool. I probably took 2 weeks of life off my filter, but I needed the water and this was all there was for many miles and one big mountain ahead. The stream a mile above the shelter on the way up the mountain turned out to be dry, and the only other water source on the mountain was about a half mile off the trail and 300 feet down the hillside. So, this mucky little spring seemed to be the best water source around. The trail along the crest of Sinking Creek Mt on the north end was a long series of open rock ledges tilted at about 45 degrees to the left. The trail went right across the middle of these long slabs, winding its way from one to the next for about half a mile. Fortunately the rock was dry and "sticky", so traction on the tilting slabs was very good in spite of their being covered with fallen leaves in many places. But after a while, the slope was a bit hard on the ankles. In spite of the constant side slope, it was a pretty neat trip though because in many places these narrow, tilting rock slabs were all there was to the crest of this tall mountain. If you fell off the rock, you would roll down the side of the mountain. The trip along the crest of this mountain took all morning, and was really a lot of fun. The views from these rock slabs would normally have been excellent, but not today. The skies had gradually become totally overcast and it was very hazy making even the nearest ridges hard to see. It felt humid and looked like rain was coming soon. But, it didn't actually materialize until late in the afternoon. It seems that in this part of Virginia the AT runs along a ridge top for a few miles, then goes straight down the side of the ridge, crosses the valley below, then climbs straight up the side to the top of the next parallel ridge and runs along it for a few more miles. The tops of many of these ridges are rocks tilted up on end at all sorts of weird angles, like plates on the back of a dinosaur. It makes for lots of challenging terrain with regular opportunities for good views. The constant rock hopping also punishes your ankles after a while. It is interesting and challenging terrain. I stopped at the famous huge old Keffer Oak, just as I had done in '07. It is a massive old white oak that is said to be over 300 years old and more than 18 feet around. It still looks to be basically healthy with huge limbs that curve out further than the tree is tall. Most of the bottom limbs on this tree are larger than most of the nearby trees in the forest. What this forest must have looked like 300 years ago would have been something to see! Crossing the Sinking Creek valley with its farmland and hay fields was different from the crest of the rocky ridges I had just descended from, and so was pleasant and equally interesting. At one point I flushed a dozen turkeys from a ground roost along a hedgerow. They all took flight and thundered off into a nearby grove of trees. I was finally able to get more water at a stream just before the Laurel Creek Shelter. The spring at the shelter was dry. Many of the water sources in this area have been dry so I have filled up when and where I can. The rest of the day was spent hurrying over and along another long high ridge, hoping to make War Spur Shelter before dark. As I was coming down a particularly rocky section below Rocky Gap (well named) it began to rain. It had been building all day but had held off much longer than I'd expected. About a third of a mile before the shelter a large animal ran crashing off into a rhododendron thicket. The noise it made crashing through the undergrowth made me certain it was probably a bear, although I never actually saw it. The shelter was a welcome sight when it finally appeared, just as dusk was gathering. As has been the usual case on this trip, the shelter was empty. It began raining hard almost immediately, and rained on and off much of the night. My timing was perfect, yet again, and I appreciated being in a dry shelter on a cold wet night in the woods. The temp when I got up was 28, but it warmed quickly. The high temp I saw today was 52, but most of the day was in the mid 40's. It was overcast and humid most of the day with very little wind.