We hiked this section on July 4, 2011.
Haha we lucked out again! Thank you trail gods!
Our hike leaders were Joe and Virginia Creeper from the NBATC! Dirigo was the assistant hike leader for our group which hiked north to south. Virginia Creeper’s group hiked south to north and the assistant hike leader was Anne.
We took four cars to the southern trail head. Then Dirigo and Heather drove Anne and Virginia Creeper’s cars to the northern trail head. We also had to transfer the car seat for the toddler named Bryce to Anne’s car.
Where else but the AT would you hand your car keys over to a perfect stranger?
The forest service road is also used by the logging trucks but since it was a holiday we did not see any. The road was actually in pretty good shape and there were several houses along this road. We don’t think the house had electric power and we saw several outhouses.
We started hiking around 10 am with Heather, Wayne, Sharon, Bryce, Richard, Dennis, and of course Joe. Joe was out in front and Dirigo was the sweep.
This group all hiked at about the same pace so we stayed together almost the entire hike.
We took a short break at Lick Creek.
A few girls went across the bridge for a separation and along came 2 thru-hikers. They said they would be in Harper’s Ferry in about 30 days. Hope they are flipping?
The climb up Lynn Camp Mountain was gradual but it was very humid today so everyone was sweating bullets.
We met the group hiking north just as we started descending Lynn Camp Mountain. They had about a 45 minute head start but they were making great time! Python asked Anne if they were running the trail.
As Dirigo was hiking a skink ran across her boots – she screamed like a stuck pig – and then it scurried up the closest tree. It was a very long lizard creature.
We stopped for lunch at the Lynn Camp Creek campsite. Python was glad she brought potato chips today to replace the salt from sweating.
Dirigo took a potty break further down the creek. As she was doing her business, she noticed a huge bear paw print in the mud!
We had a long climb up Brushy mountain after lunch. It was pretty hot so we took our time.
We must say that we were amazed by Sharon carrying her son up the mountain – she was at least 20 lbs overweight but never once complained and always had a smile on her face.
We stopped at the Knot Maul Branch shelter for a break and listened to a discussion about how the civil war was about states rights and not slavery. Then we heard a loud clap of thunder and everyone decided it was time to hustle off the mountain.
Heather was looking around and figured out her hiking poles were missing and she must of left them back at our lunch site. Bummer!
Once we started to descend, Richard slowed down because he had bad knees. Dirigo told him to take his time and we gave him plenty of room so he wouldn’t feel rushed.
We arrived about 5 minutes after everyone else and the other northbound group was waiting for us with their cars. They gave us a cheer when we arrived!
It started to rain hard about 10 minutes after we got in the car. Dirigo thanked George on Facebook for giving us the trail beads to protect us from harm.
Unfortunately, the ice cream store on the way home was closed. We got ice cream later in Abingdon.