“Sleeping bags are the soft tacos of the bear world.” ~Bears
June 19, 2021
Hike from mile 800 to the Long Mountain Wayside (VA Rt 60)
AT miles: 9.1
Ascent: 1815’
Weather: cloudy and warm
Sightings: lots of day hikers
High points: Successfully completing this 57.2 mile section of the AT!
Last night I did not get much sleep. The primary reason for my lack of sleep was simply fear. Before last night I had only stealth-camped with a group. Being out in the woods just the two of us unnerved me. To put it succinctly, I was frightened of the lions and the tigers and the bears!
A secondary reason for my insomnia was a little brown bird called a whippoorwill. I have heard other hikers complain about their racket, but until last night I hadn’t heard one myself. Basically the bird chants its own name endlessly. (One person once counted 1088 whippoorwills given rapidly without a break!) Our whippoorwill started its chanting from a distance, but about once an hour it would move closer to us. It sang for over six hours! If you wish to hear the call, check out https://youtu.be/jIxfVSS_65o
The last reason for my being awake most of the night was that the wind came up and blew and howled and wooshed. When camping, I do not like wind!
But dawn did arrive and we packed up and set off.
The first part of our short hike out was downhill towards the Lynchburg Reservoir. We walked across a lovely footbridge.
The reservoir was fairly far away, but the reflection of the clouds in the water was gorgeous.
The mostly level trail meandered here and there. We found a convenient set of steps.
I do like walking through pine woods because the ground is so soft!
We crossed numerous streams, all of which had easy stepping stones.
We walked up along Brown Mountain Creek. In the early 20th century there was a community of decedents of freed slaves that lived in this area. This ruined stone wall is a relic of that community.
We crossed Brown Mountain Creek on a another solidly built footbridge.
Last night two hikers walked past our tents at 3:50 a.m.! We had been impressed by their zeal for hiking and we did a lot of speculating about why they would hike at such a crazy hour of the night.
We found the two hikers taking a nap in the next shelter! East and West (their trail names) had been trying to hike over 40 miles today, but the heat and the difficulty of the terrain foiled them.
After a 1.8 mile gentle uphill walk from the shelter we reached our car! I loved hiking with a friend, and interacting with the hiker community was a joy. This was a fun, successful, and satisfying 57.2 mile section hike.
Today is a great day for a long walk in the woods!
What elaborate and gratifying descriptions of our walks in the woods ~ it is hard to believe we hiked the same path, with you putting into words what I absorbed but let go.
I shall take care to be way more observant and appreciative of what others may only experience through our eyes.
Loved the quote from da bears!
Woo-hoo! I’ll bet the temps are great this time of year! Very cool bridge.