Date: 2015-05-20
From: Butt Hollow Stealth Camp

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I am sitting in Woods Hole hostel and the jury is still out on whether I'll ever leave. It is a very nice place.Last night got cold! Four days after I sent home my cold weather stuff, I could have used mittens. Ok, maybe not really mittens, but it definitely was chilly. On days where I go into town or another place of civilization, I often don't bother making tea in the morning. This morning most certainly called for hot tea.I started right at 7 again (I can't seem to break that by much) and before I knew it I had reached the shelter 1 mile away. This is the infamous Wapiti shelter, where two hikers were murdered in, I believe, 1984. Google will give you the full story with its follow-up from only a few years ago. It's mind-boggling and fascinating.Just after Wapiti shelter, the big climb of the day started. It wasn't all that impressive in the grand scheme of things, but certainly bigger than anything we've seen in the last few days. We had camped where we did so we didn't have to do this one while it was hot out and at the end of the day, and as I was going up, I was quite happy with our foresight. It was steep and rocky, but fortunately not too long.Around 9am, I came to a view! Climbs are much more palatable if they are capped with a view, and today we got one from the ridge. And it was quite spectacular! I took some pictures, but the sun washed out a lot. Sometimes a picture just doesn't really do it, though Yoda said she may have gotten her best picture from the trip there. Pshaw.We only had a total of 8 miles until the turn for Woods Hole hostel and I had now done more than 4 already. And sure enough, a couple of hours later we got to the road for the .5 mile walk (not credited in the daily mileage, thank you very much) to get there. Way back in Georgia (3 whole states ago, ha!) I mentioned I had decided I was too old for hostels. I haven't changed my mind, but this place is different. It's an old log home discovered by a couple in the 1930s and was run by them as a hostel for many years. They passed away and it is now run by their granddaughter and her husband and they are doing a fabulous job making it work for today's numbers of hikers while keeping the atmosphere one of peace and quiet and porch sitting. They offer communal meals (veggies grown in their garden) and today we had home made bread, salad (salad is pretty much like gold out here) with strawberries and your choice of four different dressings, pizza (veggie and meat lovers) and home made ice cream from the local Amish for dessert. (There are Amish in Virginia. Who knew?). Hikers helped with prep or clean-up (three guesses which group I fell in). Oh, and both Neville and Michael, the couple who run it, are massage therapists. If I were zeroing here tomorrow, I'd book one, but there was no time today.We met some fun new people here today (Skittles and Soda Pop, Overdue) and saw familiar faces of fast hikers who are catching back up to us after Trail Days (Outro, Shimmy). I am glad we stopped here. We are in a shared room for 4, with Outro and Overdue, but the bunk room here is quite nice also.Tomorrow we go into Pearisburg, do our chores and hike out. These last few days have been a bit pokey in terms of mileage and we need to get back on track! But there will be time for a burger, I imagine.Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?