Friday, October 7, 2016
Start: Partnership shelter
End: VA 610/Appalachian Dreamer hostel
Miles: 21.7
This morning, I started out from Partnership shelter by 7:30am. It started raining yesterday night; I heard the rain start to pitter-patter on the roof sometime around midnight. It continued to rain off and on all day long. It was also more cool, around 60-65 degrees, so if I didn’t keep moving, I got cold fast.
Today I passed by Chatfield shelter; the next northbound shelter is 19.3. Originally, I was going to tent out but due to the rain and an precipitously placed flyer in Partnership shelter, I ended up at a hostel tonight.
The trail went straight through Atkins, which included a gas station, two restaurants, and a seedy motel. I stopped at the gas station and the Mexican restaurant for my lunch break; I was there for ~45 minutes. Before I left, I called up the Appalachian Dreamer hostel and let them know I expected to be at VA 610 by 5:30pm. As it turns out, I was there at 4:30pm and so was he; he figured it wouldn’t take me as long as I was anticipating. The hostel is explicitly Christian, though so far, the fellow is less openly religious than other folks I’ve met. Since it’s raining, the hostel went from just me to being full (6 beds) in a matter of 4 hours. I have a feeling it’s going to be a late night, since 3 hikers just arrived.
Today I climbed Glade Mountain (4113′), Gullion/little brushy Mountain (3300′), and Walker Mountain (3432′). Much of today was flat-ish, which was nice. Unfortunately, that flat was mainly in open fields with long grass which all work to make sure you get as soaked as possible.
It’s set to rain tomorrow morning and then possible showers until 2pm or so. And then it should dry out and be nice after that!
