Day 56
Start: Saunders Shelter
End: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles Hiked: 18.8
Miles on AT: 499.2
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Last night was a quiet night. No wind, no rain, just peace. I woke up around 7 am, got ready, and chatted with a hiker named Green over breakfast. At 8:05 I hit the trail. Once again, I was greeted with spiderwebs, but the beautiful mountain laurel blooms brightened my morning.
The air was crisp and cool on top of the ridge, waking me up and putting me in good spirits. Today was going to be a good day. Blue skies were with me again! Coming off the mountain, I connected with the Virginia Creeper Trail, a nice, flat bike path. A bench called my name, so I sat and had second breakfast while bikers zoomed by.
On I continued; the flat trail didn’t last long on my journey and soon I was back among the trees.
Okay, I have a hiker confession to make: sometimes I get nervous about climbing mountains. There, I said it! I see a large incline on the map and sometimes I think, “Can I do it? How much is it going to hurt?” I felt that way when I saw I had to climb up most of Whitetop Mountain. The incline didn’t look too bad on the map, but I still had to reach ~2500 feet of elevation gain.
I ate lunch before the start of the climb to strengthen myself and engaged in some positive self-talk. “I can do this. It won’t be that bad. You never know what pleasant surprises the trail could bring.”
About a half-mile in, my positive words proved to be true. I came out of the woods into a clearing full of beautiful wildflowers and, surprise, cows! It was such a delight. This climb might not be so bad after all.
And it really wasn’t. The incline was steady, but not overly steep. The switchbacks snaked up the mountain through the lush green underbrush. Soon, I emerged from the forest onto a grassy bald. I could almost see the rocky top of my destination – Buzzard Rocks.
After a few more minutes, I was there and wow! What a view! Mountains stretched in all directions and the weather was perfect. After a brief photo shoot, I was back among the trees. A deer whose tracks I had been following for a while turned and watched me from the trail before dashing off into the woods.
I decided to take a snack break at VA 600, a paved road, and was greeted by a seemingly sketchy man in a hat and hoody. Excitedly, he asked me my trail name, where I’d started today, and whether I was thru hiking. I hesitantly answered, keeping my distance as he motioned to his Sprinter van. He said he had two princesses in the van that would love to meet me (my trail name is officially Princess now).
I couldn’t see around the other side of the van, so I stayed back about 15 feet, approaching the van from where I could see the side door from a distance. When I could see the other side, there stood a table, two lawn chairs, and, peeking out from the inside of the van, a well-cared for girl of about 8 or 9.
Whew, I wasn’t going to get kidnapped after all! It was just trail magic. The man explained that he was traveling back to Alabama with his two daughters before the oldest went off to space camp and he decided it would be cool to do some trail magic. He had section hiked part of the PCT and, now that he was retired from the military, was thinking about doing a few more sections. I sat and we chatted for a while, glad to share some trail stories.
It can be hard to trust people you meet on and around the trail, and by no means should you trust everybody. Most people have good intentions, but I always stay vigilant and ready to leave a situation if necessary. I’m glad this one turned out to be a good situation.
After about 20 minutes, I continued on the climb up to Mt. Rogers (the highest point in VA) and Thomas Knob Shelter. The climb was beautiful. A wide grassy hill dotted with wildflowers and cows led me into the forest. Surprisingly, the climb was very gradual. Near the top, I entered a cool spruce forest, like the ones I’d seen in TN and NC. Water flowed everywhere on trail and moss dotted nearly every tree.
Eventually I emerged onto a grassy mountainside and, wow, was the view stunning. The shelter was just in the distance, but I found the perfect spot to set up my tent.
At the shelter, there were a few section hikers, but no thru hikers. We had a really good conversation about – you guessed it – different trails and hikes on the East Coast. One guy had worked in different southeastern state parks, so he knew a lot of interesting and challenging hikes in the area. I really enjoyed their company.
As night was falling, we all went our separate way. It was going to be a cold one; the forecast predicted a low of around 38 degrees. I still had my cold weather quilt as well as my puffy, so I put on every stitch of clothing to keep warm. Hopefully it works out!
And that’s day 56.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.