Day 73 – Thunder Hill shelter to Glasgow, VA

Up at 5:00. On trail at 6:20.

Nice overlook at mile 774.2

Stopped for snack and water at 8:00. So-so water. Had to scoop it.

Started to see the evidence of the wildfire from last fall. NOT a controlled burn.

Stopped for food and to fill water at mile  7.1 for today. We made reservations for bunks at Stanimals hostel in Glasgow. Shuttle should get us around 3:00 at the James River bridge. 

This little girl wanted to join us for lunch.

Walked through several miles of last fall’s wildfire. Very desolate.

Here is a view back to the FAA radar facility we hiked by late yesterday. Look closely in the top center to see the dome. Apparently, we hiked in a big horseshoe today.

Stopped at Matt’s Creek shelter at 2:00 for a quick break. We have 2 miles and 1 hour to our shuttle. Going to have to hustle.   We just descended almost 5000 feet and it was rocky, steep, and had big, sharp drops. Not fun! Levels out the rest of the way to our shuttle spot.

Crossed the James River on the footbridge in the hot afternoon. Made it to the shuttle at 2:57. Three minutes early 🙂 Grueling !

That was a grueling 5171-foot descent. Most of the second half of the day was in the wildfire area. The pictures just don’t do justice to the burn areas or the regrowth. 

We settled into the bunk rooms at Stanimals, showered, did laundry, went out for dinner, and bought basic supplies for tomorrow. The hostel offers a 5-day slackpack package from Glasgow to Waynesboro. First two nights at Glasgow, next 3 nights in Waynesboro including a zero day. $250 including a bunk, showers, and the driving. Not a bad deal since we were going to zero in Waynesboro anyway. The heat index is over 100 the next several days with some big climbs. Slackpacking those is going to help a lot PLUS these will be big 20-mile days which will SAVE us 1 day on our overall schedule. Anything that saves a day is a good thing.

Got my big pack all set up for slackpacking tomorrow. We will be doing 22 very hot miles from US 60 back to Glasgow departing at 6:00 a.m.

Technical Notes:

• Pop-Tarts 380
• Pop-Tarts 380
• Trail mix 200
• Crackers 210
• Snickers 220
• Snickers 220
• PayDay 240
• Dr. Pepper 150
• Dr. Pepper 150
• Spaghetti 2800
• Pringles 300
• Gatorade 140
• Water liters 5
• Miles 14.7
• Time 8:40
• Elevation gain 1884
• Elevation loss 5171
• Calories consumed 5290
• Calories burned 6500