May 8 - Central Virginia

DAY #57
START LOCATION: War Spur Shelter
FINISH LOCATION: Niday Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 18.2
TRIP MILEAGE: 676.6
MILES TO GO: 1,502.5

Today was hiker Wednesday. That is, the middle day of the five day
stretch. I woke up at 6AM to unforecasted thunder and lightning. But
no rain... Yet. I was wide awake. I glanced at my guidebook and saw I
had 18 miles on the itinerary. I thought... This was going to be a
long hump day. But, I didn't dial whine-1-1 just yet. I bolted for my
food bag and had it back at my tent just as the rain started to fall.
I fired up some oatmeal in my vestibule as I scarfed a pop tart. I
usually never eat before I break down camp. But, I had to act if I was
going to pull off 18 miles in the rain.

I finished breakfast and changed into my hiker wear. Just as I did, at
about 6:45, the rain stopped. I peeked outside. The sun was coming
out! Yes... A blow-in-blow-out thunderstorm. Here I was, 7:20AM and
all packed up and ready to hike. So what did I do? I hiked. The rain
flushed out all the heat and humidity. The air was crisp like a fall
day and there was a good breeze keeping the bugs down. It was
fantastic. I flew.

After a 1,200' climb, I reached Kelly Knob at 9:30AM. It is a gorgeous
rock outcropping that has a sweeping 270 degree view of a green
forested valley. The wind was howling up there and the sun was
shining, so I took out all my wet gear and aired it out while I had a
nice long brunch of peanut butter and honey. I couldn't believe that
of the 8 people at the first shelter, only 2 of us even stopped there.
It was beautiful.

At the 6 mile mark, I buzzed in and out of Laurel Shelter to use the
privy and re-up my water. I'd planned on taking my full lunch around 3
PM at Sarver Hollow Shelter so I kept moving. Damn did I move. Walked
through a gorgeous pasture, I passed the Keffer Oak (the second
largest oak tree in the US) and I got to Sarver at 2:45PM. I wished
I'd paid closer attention to the guidebook. Sarver was located at the
bottom of a 300' descent over .3 miles. This was all in an effort to
get more water. There were no water sources until I reached Niday
another 6 miles away. So, I took off my skirt and headed down. The
water source was miserable. It was a cistern style spring with a film
of water striders, leaves and pollen coating the surface. With my pot
I was able to catch clear water running into it, but it took 15
minutes to milk out a liter and a half. Ugh. I had my delicious lunch
of kool aid, pepperoni/cheddar sandwich and some starbursts. I wrapped
up, dreading the climb out, and pushed up the hill.

At the top I hiked on about a quarter mile. I got some phone service
and caught up on some texts. As I did, one of the older section hikers
I'd met the day before came upon me and said... "Hey Natedog, only a
little ways to that next shelter, huh?" I said, "Well, 6 more til
Niday." He looked at me funny... "No, I meant Sarver." I replied...
"Dude, you walked right past it. It's a quarter mile back" He looked
dejected and embarrassed. So I said.. "you're ok! It's just a short
ways back there. The sign'll be on the left." But I know how he felt.
When you miss something and it takes another hiker to tell you so,
your mind tailspins thinking of how far you might have gone had that
random hiker (me) not been standing there. He left, I chuckled a bit
and pushed along a beautiful but rocky ridge for the last 6 miles into
Niday. That last 6 flew by... I had so much valley scenery to occupy
my attention that I barely noticed the 2 hours go by that it took to
hike it.

This went from potentially being a miserable day to one of my
favorites of the Virginia stretch. The wind is howling now and the
temps are cool. I'm expecting heavy sleep tonight. I could use it
after today's push. Plus, I plan on hitting an early Catawba stop
tomorrow, which will give me 17 on the day. I need some rest.

-natedog