Date: 2014-05-05
From: chestnut knob shelter

To: bastian, va
Miles today: 21.9
Weather: clear sky

Left the shelter with amazing views of the farmland in the valley below. The neat thing was that it was a valley surrounded by mountains with lush green fields on the flats in the middle. Thankfully there was a good spring for us to get water only a mile down the trail. We both felt like we didnt have enough to drink the night before. I know i was glad to see the spring. From there we had high hopes of an easy 7miles. From looking at the guide it looked pretty flat for a while where we could make good time. We were wrong, it was really rocky, and short bit real steep ups and downs. I will never assume land will be flat, cuz it isnt. I gotta say the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. It was truly a walk in the woods. The temps neared 90 so we made sure to drink plenty of water. At the end of the day we planned on a stay in Bland, va. It looked like a decent place to resupply. The other direction on rt52 was a 'hostle' run by a guy named trubrit but the guide made it seem like we wouldnt be able to get food there. So i xalled Bubbas shuttle service for a ride to Bland. Bubba couldnt get to his phone right now. So i called a hotel and asked if they had a shuttle, no shuttle but they gave me Bubbas number. Called again, no Bubba. Hot tired and grumpy about being stuck i confer with capt phillips about the brit. The guide says laundry, place to stay and breakfast. I dialed and made capt do tje talking since he speaks british. $7 for the stay and trubrit was on his way to get us. I was pretty excited, sounded great. He picked us up and the first thing he asked was if we needed to pick up beer so we could partu. I said no but was hoping for a food resupply. He did nicely take us to the dollar general to get some resupply food and said he would stop at the gas station also so we could get beer to party with. Niether captain phillips or i have had a beer yet on this trip and to be honest i havent even had a hankering for any. I bought a second gatorade at the gas station. Sooo, on the car ride, which was not long, capt was asking trubrit about being in the british special forces. I thought they would have loads to talk about because capt has a bunch of friends in the special forces. Trubrit danced around all the questions and didnt know anyone capt new. Hmmm suspicious. Trubrit talked up his place, said it was the beat place to stay on tje AT and that he just cared about helping out the hikers, thats why it was cheap. Well upon arriving at his place i noticed he was putting up a log cabin and was excited to look it over. Trubrit teaches people how to build cabins. A closer look revealed my unimpressedness. Let me paint a quick picture. First he has a blue tarp teepee with a fire going inside. My eyes started watering as soon as i went in. He had a generator going with a power strip in the teepee for people to charge up phones and whathaveyou devices. I had to leave as soon as i plugged my phone in. Next to that is the 'kitchen'. A log walled structure with a tarp over it for the roof. Inside was a couple of grills and big jugs for water. He gets the water straight from the creek with no filter, that could make people wonder but he promises its good water. Then next to that is the cabin. He has most of the logs stacked up but needs to put the roof on and chink the space between the logs with mortar. A not bad looking cabin but he will have a lot of trouble in the near future with the logs shrinking, big trouble. Also he has left himself a mess with the roof. Next to that was a little log workshop with yes, a tarp roof. Next to that is the first two courses of yet another log structure that is going to be the hikers bunkhouse. Shouldnt we finish something first? Nah lets keep starting things. So anyway we asked about a shower and laundry as we both like clean clothes and selves. He said we could wash both in the creek. For serious? Yes for serious. So that was what we did. Freeheezing cold water. Like dramatically cold. Like make me cuss nonstop cold. I could not get my whole self in but managed to splash water over the most of me. I was not thrilled. Hung laundry to dry and ate a pizza we had delivered. The pizza was good, really good. A few other people that were there started drinking and people moved into the smoke teepee, on purpose. I tried to be social but between the smoke from the fire and that twenty-something hippies that know everything and their world is like sooo amazingly awesome and epic duuude, i felt the draw of my tent. Then i heard a couple vehicles pull up, in short order the party went into high gear. So obviously trubrit just likes to party with hikers everyday and not really help them. There was singing and guitar playing long into the night. Captain phillips stayed a little longer than me but left when the mew people came and the medical marajuana came out. They ended up partying until 5am. Dont take any of this the wrong way, i love it out here on this crazy adventure im on, the only thing i could have asked for is foresight as good as my hindsight. I would have saved my seven bucks. Tomorrow would be better.