Saturday April 27, 23.4mi/37.7km
Rock Spring Shelter (929.7) to Range view cabin (953.1) (VA)
I woke up to a shelter full of people, apparently a couple more hikers arrived in the middle of the night. I left at 7:30am, and it was cold enough for gloves and a hat. The trail stayed on the edge of a steep ridge, so I had some views today.
After 4 miles, I got to the wayside cafe that served a breakfast buffet. My stomach was feeling a bit off, so I skipped it and had some cookies at a picnic table. There was a sign nearby, presumably for animals. But it also works for hikers!
The trail resumed from the picnic area in a confusing way. Blue AND white blaze?
After a few miles, the trail entered a more touristy part of the park. There were heaps of both views and tourists.
Apparently the Appalachian trail is only 2000 miles long? Haha!
At the next picnic area, someone had left a fork in the road… at a fork in the road! That had to be on purpose…
For two miles, the trail was packed full of people. Must be a weekend. Fortunately, the last 5 miles of the day was almost empty.
Flowers!
I think there was a bear here, though..
I stopped for dinner at the Elkwallow wayside Cafe, and Lightfoot was already there. Cedar showed up at dinner too, and we had salads and milkshakes and burgers. The last half mile to camp was a slog, with a full stomach. We made it to our planned camp spot, but there was a group of boy scouts there. They told us about a nearby locked cabin, and we camped on the porch to escape the rain forecast for tonight. Perfect!
The trail was easy, and the deer plentiful.
There was a trail junction called Cow Camp Gap, but it was disappointing as there were no cows.
When I got to Cole mountain the views were even better, since it was a Bald mountain. When I was here in 2012, it was a foggy afternoon with no views.
Looking back south, at where I had just come from.
The small descent to the next gap was getting nice and green, and the forest smelled like springtime.
The next gap was called Hog camp Gap, and it was where we camped in 2012 during a thunderstorm. Much different today!
I stopped for lunch a little while later, and then shortly after lunch I caught up to Bob and Cedar. Bob and I walked together for a bit, and stopped for a quick side trip to Spy Rock, which has good views if you scramble to the top. So, we did!
The last 4 miles were uneventful, but we did enter another wilderness.
We got to camp at 5pm, and Early Bird (who I met back on day 12) was already at the shelter. Cedar, Toast, and Lightfoot showed up too.
It’s a fun shelter, it’s called Priest shelter (on Priest mountain), so everyone confesses their trail “sins” in the shelter journal. They were hilarious to read, and it was some good dinnertime entertainment.
Priest Mountain is 4050ft high, and this will be our last time above 4000ft until Killington peak in Vermont, 900 trail miles north of here. Downhill tomorrow! Happy Easter!
Bob and Lightfoot quickly pulled ahead, and I enjoyed a slower hiking morning going up the big hill. The top of the climb had some nice views looking back down at where I had just come from.
The brown river seen in the photo is the very flooded James River, after the 2in/5cm of rain we got yesterday.
The trail stayed on a high ridge to the next peak, Bluff mountain. I made it to Bluff!
At the summit there was also a memorial to a young child, poor kid.
The descent from Bluff mountain was through a bright green forest, coming alive with spring!
And then, as I crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway once again, I got really excited when I saw this.
A rubbish bin! Thru hikers get really stoked on getting rid of any extra weight, and trash is easy weight to lose.
After another hour, I took a late lunch at a swingbridge.
Bob was there taking a break too, and after lunch we hiked the last 5 miles to the shelter together. We arrived by 4pm to find Lightfoot already there, and Cedar arrived a little while later, as did Recall.
