From Hazard’s notes:
Day 48: June 26, 2009
Travel:
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, VA
To: BRP mp 9.6; Dripping Rock Parking Overlook. Then to Rusty’s Hard Time Hollow.
Beginning: 8:00am
Ended: 7:20pm
Number of miles hiked:
a) Trail – 27.1
b) other -
c) AT Mile Marker – 838.2 cumulative
Weather:
AM: Overcast sky for the morning, sun peeked through.
PM: Had some dark clouds come in, but they were short lived. A few drops of rain but it didn’t even break through the canopy. By my vote it doesn’t count and we are still on the rain-free streak.
People: Rusty (Owns the hostel), Iceman and Cattywampus. Wheels came in late and I had referred to him as Chef before but that was actually the Canadian girl he was hiking with when we first met him.
Animals: Same old
Money: $0, $799 cumulative.
Notes of the day:
AM: Morning was an easy 7 miles from our shelter to the next which was Priest Shelter. So easy, in fact, that Spoon exceeded 3mph and I got there right at 10:20am. Not a bad start on the day. Once up on top of the Priest there really wasn’t much to see, so we began our 3000 vertical foot decent to the Tye River. It was about lunchtime and there were some cool rocks to sit on and watch the river from beside the suspension bridge so we decided to have lunch.
PM: There were some locals picnicking below us and a couple of little girls swimming in the river. I was dreading the next section of trail as we had to climb back up those 3000 feet up to three ridges. And it was soooo hot! If you ever want me to soak my clothes to the point where you can see my boxers through my shorts, throw me in a pool or ask me to hike up three ridges. The rest of the day wasn’t too bad. Came down about a thousand feet and then followed along the Blue Ridge Parkway for the rest of the day. Had a short spat of rain that wasn’t enough to moisten the ground, but it rained further up the trail more, so the rocks were nice and slippery when we got there. By the time we got to Cedar Cliffs it was getting late and we were spent. The original plan was to stay at the shelter 7 miles back but we decided to push to make the walk into Waynesboro shorter. Ended up being the best decision we could have made. While sitting at the cliffs a couple came strolling down the trail and clearly the guy was taking his girlfriend down to the cliffs for an evening picnic with wine and a sunset. Well played, sir. I will have to use that move one day. Anyhow, it was a 10 minute hike up to the parking area where we met Iceman standing on the side of the BRP. He told us about Rusty’s and it sounded a lot better than sleeping next to the bug infested water source. Cattywampus was already getting a ride from a teenager in a convertible, that called Iceman “sir”, because he could only fit one at a time. We decided if we could find a ride we’d go to the hostel. Got a ride from a friendly crew that thought our car had broken down. We should stand beside other people’s cars more often. Rusty’s was a cool place, for more info, check out the Video Blog 08.
