Appalachian Trail 2017

Day 61, Thunder Hill Shelter to U.S. 501

Saturday, June 10, 2017

In many ways, the Appalachian Trail is like a river. It’s true that hikers flow through it in two directions. Nevertheless, the trail is a continuous stream.

A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus said, "In the same river we both step and do not step, we are and are not."

While some people, including Plato, have misquoted or tried to simplify Heraclitus’s meaning to something like, “You can't step into the same river twice,” his words are quite deeper.

The water of any spot on a river is never the same. It is constantly in motion, yet the river is constant in its sameness.

The sameness comes from our memory.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Weather	Mostly sunny and warm, with a high temperature in the upper 70s
Trail Conditions	Easy hiking, though hard climb up Highcock Knob
Today's Miles	14.6 miles
Trip Miles	784.9 miles

As I walk through forests, valley meadows, and over mountaintops, as I meet hikers on this trail from all over the world, I’m fixing in me many memories. The trail will change, but these memories will keep the trail in me. They will always keep the trail the same as I walk through it.

And for today, one of those memories includes a fiberglass dinosaur.

Stick and I decided to get an early start today because we didn’t hike as far as we originally intended yesterday. We wanted to get to Glasgow as early as possible.

Any time in town is valuable time, so we wanted as much of it as possible.

Stick checked with me at 5:30 a.m. to make sure I was awake. We packed up, ate breakfast, and were out of camp by 7:00.

Leaving Thunder Hill Shelter, the trail made a mile-long, steady and easy descent before reaching the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve lost count how many times the trail has crossed this road so far, but this would be the only time today.

After another mile and a half we came to a large rock. Figuring this was a spot to get a view of the valley below, we stopped and climbed up on the rock. It was only after we climbed down from the rock and walked a few more steps did we realize a wider, more accessible overlook was a short distance down the trail.

Near here was a small patch of columbine flowers. I never get tired of seeing these.

The trail then made a steady descent for the next two miles. Reaching the bottom, it crossed a gravel road.

From here, the James River was about 8.5 miles away, but already there was a warning sign posted about the hazards of jumping off a footbridge at the river. Apparently that’s something some hikers do.

One reason why the sign was posted so far from the river was because the trail was entering James River Face Wilderness Area, where by regulation the use of signs is kept to a minimum.

Now the trail began a steep ascent of Highcock Knob, climbing 600 feet in one mile.

Just beyond the summit, Stick and I met up. We stopped because we knew we could still get a cellphone signal here. We called a shuttle driver and asked him to drive us to Glasgow. He agreed to meet us for a pick up at 3:30 p.m.

Continuing on, the trail made a long and mostly easy descent.

Reaching a spot about four miles from the James River we got our first view of it. From there we continued to get occasional glimpses of the river through the trees.

Once the trail reached the bottom of the mountain at the river bank, it turned and followed the river downstream for about a mile.

Along the way, I saw RedEye. She had just finished swimming in the river and was now warming up in the sun.

After chatting with her a short time, I continued on to a long footbridge that spanned the river.

The 625-foot bridge is the longest footbridge on the AT. It was constructed to eliminate what used to be a dangerous route involving a narrow two-lane bridge that wasn’t built for pedestrians.

A couple day hikers offered to take our picture at the bridge. We were ahead of schedule for our planned pick up by the shuttle driver, so we gladly posed.

When CSX Railroad built a new trestle to improve the river crossing for trains, the piers of the old trestle remained in the river.

Bill Foot, an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker and maintainer, saw the piers as an opportunity to fix the dangerous problem for hikers. Starting in 1991 he began promoting the idea of constructing a footbridge on the old piers.

Sadly, he died of cancer in 2000, just a few months before the bridge was opened for use. He said he didn’t want the bridge to be named for him, but considering his last name was Foot and this was a footbridge, he didn’t have much choice.

On the other side of the river the trail crossed under CSX Railroad’s current tracks. Just as we were walking under the tracks a train rumbled by. The noise in the underpass was thunderous.

We then reached the parking lot where the shuttle driver was to pick us up. We were early, but he also came early, so we didn’t have to wait too long.

The driver drove us to Glasgow. There wasn’t a motel or hostel here, but there was a free hiker shelter, and that’s where he dropped us off.

Yung Gandalf and Summer were there, along with a couple other hikers I didn’t know.

The shelter was built in 2010 as an Eagle Scout project, with support from community members and organizations.

As with most shelters, it was open on one side, but there were also a few amenities you don’t normally get in an Appalachian Trail shelter. Instead of just a platform, there were bunks inside.

The town provides electricity at the site and an enclosed shower with hot water.

As usual, Stick and I chose to set up our tents nearby, rather than sleep in the shelter.

As I took my shower I washed my clothes, hiker-trash-style in the shower, then hung them to dry on a clothesline provided nearby.

Gravity and Stick with the Glasgow dinosaur

By 5:30 we were both clean and refreshed, and now ready to get something to eat. A short walk from the shelter was a pizza restaurant called Scottos.

Pizza and beer were calling to us from the restaurant, but first, we stopped to check out a large fiberglass dinosaur standing across the street.

The statue was the creation of a Glasgow resident named Mark Cline, who made several dinosaurs a few years ago as a prank. They were placed in a variety of locations in town.

Because of the dinosaurs, the townsfolk gave themselves a self-deprecating slogan, "The Town That Time Forgot”.

I’m not sure if they got tired of the slogan or the dinosaurs, but the one we saw is the only one that remains in town. The others were eventually removed and taken to a roadside attraction called Dinosaur Kingdom, located in nearby Natural Bridge, Va. That business closed in 2012, but reopened again in 2016 as Dinosaur Kingdom II.

The pizza I ordered was much larger than I expected, so large that it exceeded my hiker hunger capacity. Before Stick and I walked to the nearby Dollar General store to resupply I took the leftovers back to the shelter and shared them with Yung Gandalf and Summer.

This was another full day.

A full day of memories.

On the cool flow
Floatin' down down below
The bridge till the water's edge
From the ridge to the ledge
From the hills to the sea
I'll become a memory
James River blues
James River blues
James River blues

From "James River Blues” by Critter Fuqua, Ketch Secor, Willy Watson and Dave Rawlings (Old Crow Medicine Show)

This trail report was published on February 14, 2018

From the hills to the sea, I'll become a memory

Day 61, Thunder Hill Shelter to U.S. 501