Catawba To Glasgow Pt. 2

Things take a turn for the better

After a restless night of sleep I got up at 6 AM anxious to get back on the trail. But first, a visit to the free Super 8 breakfast was in order. There were no eggs, no bacon, no sausage….but it WAS free. I ate my fair share of free yogurt.

After breakfast, I packed up and checked out. Upon walking out the front door, I was struck by how much the weather had improved. It was a crystal clear and surprisingly cool morning with a steady breeze. Perfect hiking weather, the kind that makes you restless in a good way, ready to get things done. I snapped a couple of quick pics before heading up the highway to the trail

On my way up the highway, I passed a little gas station called GB’s, and on a hunch I paid them a quick visit. Sure enough, they had fresh sandwiches. I ordered a turkey and swiss to carry out with me for lunch. By the way, this is the pro move- always try to leave town with a sub or sandwich for lunch. The nice lady behind the counter offered to wrap it in wax paper just for the nice hiker man.

The trail meandered through the woods alongside a creek for a short ways, and then started a gentle climb through what seemed to be a pecan orchard.

The trail continued a gentle climb for the better part of a mile through a mowed grassy corridor. I spied many patches of milkweed along the edge.

Eventually, I approached the crossing of I-81, which the trail goes under.

Not long after crossing the interstate, there was a brief roadwalk to get over US11 followed by a short stroll through a pasture before finally re-entering real forest and beginning the serious part of a 1,400 ft. climb.

The trail was nicely graded and switchbacked through the woods, so it didn’t feel terribly difficult. Plus, I was distracted by a treasure trove of wildflowers.

About 5 miles into the day I reached the end of my climb and the short side trail to Fullhardt Knob Shelter, where I met Groucho. We would run into each other on and off for the next several days. Both of us were disappointed to find that the spigot for the water cistern at the shelter wasn’t working. It looked like it was a government design, way over-engineered. It badly needs an Eagle Scout.

Luckily I had also purchased a Powerade at GB’s, so I was able to enjoy my lunch.

The nice thing- the ONLY nice thing- about a knob is that when you leave one you’re usually heading downhill, and thus I began a long descent after lunch. I passed through a wide stile along the way.

After a couple of miles, some stairs led me out of the woods and onto Salt Pond Rd.

At this point it was early afternoon and I had already knocked out 8 miles, so it seemed like a good place to have a snack and water break followed by a brief nap.

After a short rest I continued my descent into the woods, and nearly a mile later ran into Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and a couple other guys at Curry Creek. It was definitely time to camel up so I filtered 2 liters and stashed another in my CNOC bladder for later. Curry Creek was wide and probably was crossable via rocks, but my agility wasn’t up to the task, so I ended up just wading across. Back to having wet feet again.

The next couple of miles was pretty friendly trail, often fringed by Galax and Trailing Arbutus.

There was one final creek crossing to make- Wilson Creek- and this time I was able to keep my feet dry thanks to a couple of strategically placed logs.

A half mile later I reached the Wilson Creek Shelter. LAF (Lost and Found), Gazelle, PJ and Slow Poke were already there, and several more thru-hikers stopped by briefly for dinner before hiking on.

Although a diverse collection of characters, the fellowship and vibes at this shelter were exceptional. PJ was a very fit 68 year-old doing a LASH (Long Ass Section Hike). He was from Cincinnati and was familiar with the area my grandparents had lived. Gazelle was a young lady from the Philly area on a thru-hike, and Slow Poke was puttering up and down the trail for a while because he had nothing better to do.

Slow Poke built a nice fire in the fire ring, the smoke of which kept the now-emerging mosquito hordes at bay while we cooked our dinners.

Everyone else was sleeping in their tents or hammocks, so I had the shelter to myself this night. No mice, no snakes, no problems. Day 4: 11.5 miles.

I woke early the next morning feeling surprisingly refreshed. The first several days of a section hike beat me up, and I wake up feeling partially fossilized- stiff and achy. Bourbon and Vitamins I and MJ at bedtime help some. But here on the morning of Day 5 my body had started to adapt. Not only were my joints getting used to the work, my senses were becoming more acute and my trail legs were coming in. Add to that the once again perfect weather, and it promised to be a good day.

Less than a half mile into the day I passed a stream, where I topped off my water supply. The trail was really nice, and plant life continued to be worth being on the lookout for.

The trail then began an ascent of 1,200 ft over nearly 2 miles as it climbed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. After crossing a dirt road in Blackhorse Gap the trail started to follow a rocky ridgeline parallel to the parkway. Along this stretch there were large patches of Appalachian Lily-of-the Valley.

Periodically I would hear a car or a group of motorcycles go by on the parkway, but it was more lightly trafficked that I expected.

At just over 3 miles I reached the Taylor Mountain Overlook off of the parkway, which had really nice views.

A mile later I reached the Montvale Overlook. Its sign was less defaced. There were views southeast towards the town of Montvale, and almost as important, a TRASH CAN! I gladly offloaded at least a pound of garbage that I’d been carrying.

A half-mile later I wandered into Harvey’s Knob Overlook. There was a nice shaded area in the grass that looked perfect for a quick water and snack break.

There were more excellent views from this overlook as well.

The trail then meandered back and forth between the woods and the road for the next mile or two. There were some cleared areas near the road that felt noticeably hotter; hiking through them sort of disturbed one’s mojo.

At last, the trail left the parkway and dove back into the forest for good.

The problem with hiking along the ridgeline was water, or lack thereof. Which meant that at around 7.5 miles I was forced to take the 0.3 mile side trail (descending steeply of course) down to Bobblet’s Gap Shelter, where there was a usually reliable boxed spring. Fortunately with the recent rains it was flowing strongly. I decided to take a late lunch break here, and while I was eating a trail maintenance crew from the Natural Bridge Trail Club came by. They cut down a dangerous tree near the privy and tidied things up. One guy had been using a weedeater to trim margins of the trail, and I appreciated his work after I left and continued hiking NOBO.

I saw at least 20 fairly tame deer during the day. The one below is the one that let me get the closest.

About a mile north of the shelter, the AT wound up back at the parkway and the Peaks of Otter Overlook. Yeah, the origin of the name is obscure.

Another half mile further up the trail was the last of the overlooks- Mills Gap Overlook- with views of the James River valley.

The trail then climbed back up onto the ridgeline. Right after it re-entered the forest there was a nice concrete picnic table, so I took a break for water and my last snack of the afternoon. While I was there, a large bubbly lady with a HUGE pack staggered by going SOBO and stopped to chat for minute. She was struggling but still had a smile on her face.

Now about that picnic table….

The trail finally left the ridgetop and descended to VA43 in Bearwallow Gap. There was a stream here, and I had hoped I might find a tentsite here as well. No such luck. What I did find was a poor young lady thru-hiker who was having her come apart moment of “I HATE THIS @#%$&* TRAIL.” I think her partner finally persuaded her not to quit since they hiked by my campsite later. Groucho was already there getting water, and we decided to camp 3/4 of a mile ahead at a known campsite, which unfortunately required a fairly rigorous 400 scramble up the side of a mountain. Nothing sucks at the end of a long day like scrambling up a mountain.

When we arrived, the skies turned gray all of a sudden, and a cold wind started blowing. It seemed that rain was coming to the party again. We got our tents set up, with me doing a rather poor job on a not so level site. As I was cooking up some Lebanese beef stew for dinner Wild Violet caught up to us. It turned out that I had WAY too much dinner to eat, and WV happily scarfed up my leftovers. She said it was the first hot dinner she’d had on her entire thru-hike. We then shared a little bit of bourbon before the rain came.

Listening to the rain pitter off my tent fly was hypnotic, and sleep came quickly. Day 5: 11.7 miles.