Date: 2003-05-19
From: Matts Creek Shelter

To: Brown Mountain Creek Shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Last night, since we'd gotten to the shelter so late, some of the other hikers didn't know we were there until this morning. One of them, this morning said "Wow, there are two more of them here!" She was surprised we snuck in, I guess. Since we were near a loud creek, and it had rained yesterday, I woke up once and thought "Man, is it really raining hard!!" Then I realized it was just the creek. I was glad, since my pack was hanging on a nail on the outside of the shelter.I didn't feel like getting out of my bag for a while this morning, but had a privy call that forced me to do so. It was well after 7am though, and shortly after, only Hotdog and I were still in the shelter. Since we'd gotten in late, I didn't feel like rushing out, and it was around 9 by the time we finally did.Within a mile north of the shelter, Runner was heading south, and asked if we'd seen two specific hikers. We hadn't, and he told us that in his truck, at a parking lot about a mile up the trail, was a cooler full of cold drinks, and we could help ourselves! Trail Magic! I was looking forward to a cold soda, or cold anything. I can't get enough of a cold something-or-other.The hike was fairly level, following Matts Creek, then the James River. The little, normally trickling, streams were flowing good, and made it difficult to keep my shoes and socks dry. Not that they'd dried overnight anyway. Coming to a bend in the trail, I could hear what sounded like a waterfall from one of these little streams, and wondered how the crossing would be. It was fine, and the waterfall was beautiful! The water dropped from one ledge to another on the rock wall, at one point falling about 10 feet before doing so, making quiet a loud noise. I bet, without all of the recent rain, it's not more than a trickle down those rocks.We came to the crossing of the James River, the James River Foot Bridge, the longest foot-use only bridge on the AT, named in memory of Bill Foot, a 1987 thruhiker and longtime friend of the AT. It was pretty cool. A railroad bridge was near our bridge, and I had remarked earlier that I'd like a train to go across as I was going across my bridge. My lucky day! One did! And the engineer waved and sounded his horn when he saw us. Too cool!We got to the other side, where the parking lot is, and a man greeted us, and asked if we were thruhikers. We said 'yes' and he said "Do you want some cold sodas and candy bars?" More Trail Magic! We accepted his offer and sat down to chat with him. Ken is originally from this area, and now lives in Moore Haven, FL, not far from where I do. I don't know if he's hiked all of the AT, but he sure knows a lot about it. When the sodas were gone, it was time to go. We spent a good half hour resting there though. Thank you, Ken!We moved north. The skies were overcast, but we had no rain. It was a little chilly, but I wore my usual shorts and t-shirt since I warm up nicely (sometimes too nicely) while hiking. We reached Johns Hollow Shelter within 2 miles of the parking lot, and stopped for a break and to read the register. We found out that Lite Shoe had been by earlier this morning, planning on a 21-mile day to the town of Buena Vista, AND that Fly and Smoothie were with her! We weren't far behind, but there was no way we'd be doing 23 to get to the same town! That motivated us though, and we kept moving on.We had some long climbs, going from under 700' at the river to over 3300' at Bluff Mountain, but most of it was gradual, and had level or downhill breaks. We stopped for lunch at an overlook and the sun was trying to fight it's way through the olouds and fog. After lunch, I saw more and more blue sky, which helped me stay warm at breaks, and warmed my spirits too. I like sunshine.When we got to Punchbowl Shelter, almost 13 miles from were we started the day, it was around 4pm. We both felt okay and decided to keep going, maybe 4 miles farther to a camping area, or even farther than that if we were doing good. Apparently we were doing good enough because we ended up going to Brown Mountain Creek Shelter, 8.8mi north of Punchbowl. We had streams to cross, and larger creeks, one of which caused us to ponder the crossing for about 20 minutes, walking the bank looking for an easier way. Next time, I think I'll just plow through the water. My feet had been wet all day, why be worried about that? We had to go through slick orange mud, uphill of course, which slowed us down even more. Finally we came to a gradual uphill which I knew continued to the shelter. It was a nice walk though, following Brown Mountain Creek the whole way. The trail was muddy and wet in places, but I didn't really care.We got to the shelter around 8:30, and it looked fairly full, so we decided to pitch our tents. I wanted to get mine out anyway, since I packed it wet Sunday morning. I checked the register, and Fly and Smoothie had been there for a break. Greg, at the shelter, said it was about an hour before we arrived. I asked about Mountain Break and April Showers and he said they were back at Punchbowl Shelter, the one we'd passed right by! Darn! Oh well, maybe we'll see them in Waynesboro.We're camped right next to the creek, so I get to hear the water all night long again. Hopefully I don't mistake it for rain in the middle of the night again.I felt pretty good today. I'm a little sore, muscle-wise, but nothing too bad. My feet are sore, as usual, and on the back of one heel, the skin is getting rubbed off a little bit, probably from the new shoes. My lower leg is doing pretty good. I keep that foot, ankle and leg wrapped, and so far I haven't had any more trouble with it, and I've had some good, long, steep downhills too. I'm happy it's coming along. I wish my feet and legs had a few days where everything felt good, but until then, I'll just keep doing what I can. I've gotten this far, and that is a wonderful thing!