Christ on crutches! Change of plans: I'm at Mountain Momma's, in the very, very small town of Mt. Sterling, NC. That's 20.9 miles of AT and another 2 miles down the road to the hostel—a 22.7 mile day! But it was another perfect day of hiking: great scenery, good trail, light heart, and I just zoomed along. Got to Cosby Knob Shelter at 1:30—my proposed stop for the night—met Birdman taking the Low Gap cutoff for the waterfalls (Flatfood said it was nice) and decided to push on to Davenport Gap Shelter. But as I thought about it, I realized that if I went not quite 3 miles more I could have a shower and clean clothes tonight and still be on track to pull into Hot Springs on Monday, plus get to split what looks like some big ups and downs into three very reasonable days instead of one mondo and one normal day.
This place is a dump! The Brits are here, as are Foxfire and Pirate. Pirate's an older hippie-looking dude; Foxfire is a thru-hiker from Indiana. Her husband is in Macedonia or Kosovo (she doesn't know which); they left the same day. I'm sharing a "cabin" with Foxfire. It's small, and the holes in the screens aren't stopping anything smaller than a raccoon. Pretty picky for someone sleeping in a three-walled shelter, huh? Mountain Momma's does have a hiker-friendly store, so I have victuals for the stretch into Hot Springs: Lipton noodles, tuna pouches, and poptarts. I also have postcards which I'll write next, and a Great Smoky Mountains shotglass for Lesley's collection. No tincan stove fuel, though.
After breakfast tomorrow I'll catch the shuttle up to the trailhead.
Oh, and bears seen today? Zero! Not a single bear sighting in the entire park. What's up with that? Well, people say I'll see plenty bears in the Shenandoahs.
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