(Thunder Hill Shelter (mile 772.5) - Punch Bowl Shelter (mile 797.8))

Last night I had a near-death experience. In the middle of the night I woke up to an unusual sound and noticed a dark shape hovering above my face. For context, my tent is designed so that when I sleep, the top of my head is almost touching the mesh door which acts as the entrance. This black shape seemed to be clinging to the mesh, maybe a foot above my face. In my partially awake stupor, I couldn’t tell if it was on the inside or the outside of the mesh. I opted to just stay still. Then the shape started moving at me. Fast. My brain realized it was a rat! Running down the mesh at my face. I threw my hand up to hit it, still unsure which side of the mesh it was on. Fortunately, it was on the outside, and my blow sent it flying off into the night. With my adrenaline pumping, I rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.

I woke up for real around 7:15am. I needed water for breakfast, but I was determined to avoid backtracking 0.2 miles again. I decided to check out the apparently “stagnant” spring which served as the shelter’s only water source. Guthook made it sound sketchier than it actually was. It wasn’t flowing, but the water was crystal clear, and as I approached, I saw a frog hop into the spring. If it was good enough for the frog, it was good enough for me.

I got hiking at roughly 8:30am. The sky looked cloudy, but there was no apparent storm front rolling in. With 33 miles until my next planned resupply in Buena Vista, I wasn’t sure how far I needed to hike. As far as camping options were concerned, there was a shelter 16 miles away and another one almost 26 miles away. According to Guthook, there was no water and no campsites between the two. This presented a bit of a dilemma. I wanted to hike more than 16 miles, but after a long day yesterday, I didn’t want to do over 25 miles. I thought I’d prefer to stealth camp between the shelters, but with no water, that seemed unlikely. Part of me wanted to push for the farther shelter. If I make it there, I might finally catch up with Katie, Jasmine, Puddin, and Clover, which would be nice because were planning to get our second round of COVID vaccinations together in Charlottesville. I thought I might catch them at the shelter last night, but no such luck.

After 1.5 miles, I reached the Blue Ridge Parkway and soon found myself at the Thunder Ridge Lookout, which featured an impressive stone observation platform. After another 3.5 miles, I crossed a gravel road at Petites Gap and met a trail club crew repairing a sign which had been damaged in a wind storm. I stopped to chat for a bit and one of the older gentleman explained that he personally maintains Thunder Hill Shelter. When I told him my trail name, he asked if I had seen the frog in the spring. With a bit of surprise, I told him I had and he explained: "Yeh… he's taken up residence there. It's his home now."

The next 8 miles involved a quick climb over the wooded summit of Hitchcock Knob, followed by about 2.5 miles of rolling ridge hiking, and then another 2.5 miles of downhill towards Matt's Creek Shelter and the James River. Just before the shelter, I caught up to Push and I soon spotted my first corn snake of the trail! The little guy was just to the right of the trail, with its tail stretched out into the footpath. Push commented that whenever he hikes with me, he sees more wildlife!

Push and I made our way to Matt’s Creek shelter for lunch. Delta joined us soon after. Over lunch, we chatted about Push’s experience competing in triathlons and ultra marathons. Afterwards, I left Push and Delta and hiked along Matt's Creek for about a mile until it merged with the James River. As the trail met the river, I was impressed by the imposing cliffs which the river must have carved over millions of years. With the river to my left, and the cliffs to my right, the trail followed a somewhat narrow wooded shoreline which offered a scenic pass between the river and rock. Camping was forbidden in this area, presumably due to the risk of flashfloods, but it was really pretty and - understandably - there were multiple established campsites. As I made my way along the river, the sky opened up, seemingly as if someone had turned a faucet on. The torrential downpour was brief, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. But it was enough to leave me sopping wet.

I crossed the James River Bridge, which is the longest footbridge on the AT. The bridge was impressive and seemed to be constructed using the supports of an old rail bridge. When I reached the other side of the bridge, I was greeted by an older gentleman who introduced himself as a volunteer with the US Forest Service. He asked if I’d be willing to complete a survey about my use of the National Forest Lands. I figured “why not” I might as well try to be helpful. I quickly realized I had made a mistake. The survey was ridiculously long and it was definitely not designed with thru-hikers in mind. Questions like “how long do you plan to use the national forest lands?” are hard to answer when you’re constantly weaving in and out of USFS land over the course of a multi-month thru-hike. I think the older volunteer could sense my mild annoyance and I felt a little bad, but we made it through all the questions and he thanked me and apologized for the crazy questions.

After another 2 miles, I took a short side trail to John's Hollow Shelter where I filled 2 liters of water, prepped dinner, and used the privy before tackling the next 8.8 miles to Punchbowl Shelter. There would be three big climbs (totaling ~3,120 feet) between here and there, and no water. Sure enough, the climbing started immediately. Over the course of 2 miles, fierce switchbacks climbed over 1,400 feet to the summit of Little Rocky Row, offering nice views of the James River from the summit as well as the Fullers Rocks just below. After a brief stop to catch my breath, I continued on to the next climb. Another mile of switchbacks elevated me another 700 feet to the summit of Big Rocky Row. As I was nearing the summit, I heard the unmistakable sound of a rattle. It was my first timber rattlesnake of the trail! It was a sizeable specimen, although I might not have spotted it if it hadn’t started rattling. I whipped my camera out to take a video as it slowly slithered further from the trail and disappeared into the undergrowth. Just beyond the summit, I found a lovely grassy campsite beside a cliff offering spectacular view to the south. If I had enough water, I would have been tempted to spend the night there.

As I prepared for the final climb over Bluff Mountain, I queued up a playlist of angsty middle school classics. I’m talking Shinedown, Disturbed, Atreyu, Slipknot, and Stone Sour - among others. The next 4 miles mostly involved rolling ridge hiking until the final ascent to the summit of Bluff Mountain. When I finally reached the peak, I was exhausted. Bluff Mountain had once been home to an old fire tower, but now all that was left were a couple large concrete blocks that must have once supported the legs. I opted to take a break, plopped down on one of the blocks with a dramatic sigh, and admired the wonderful view to the northwest. The previous three climbs were tough, and I soaked in the view as my reward.

With a little under 2 miles to go, I began the final push to Punchbowl Shelter. Fortunately, the trail was more-or-less entirely downhill, and I arrived at 6:45pm. To my surprise, I was the only hiker at the shelter, so I decided to set up in the shelter. The shelter was set in a large clearing beside a swampy pond. Guthook described the pond as providing “some ambiance, but also some black flies during the summer.” Maybe the threat of black flies scared everyone else away. Fortunately for me, although there were some gnats buzzing around me, nothing seemed to be biting. Someone in the Guthook comments had also warned about a birds nest in the shelter, but I checked and it was empty.

Push arrived about 30 minutes after me and opted to set up his tent. He explained that he enjoyed the extra privacy. I usually agree, but I was more than happy to spend the night in a shelter all to myself. After eating dinner, I made my way down to the spring in front of the shelter. As I was filling my bottles, I noticed a moderately sized leopard frog sitting beside the flow. I caught it and noticed that its hind leg was limp and appeared to be injured. Poor guy. I took a few pictures, showed Push, and released it back at the spring. Godspeed my froggy companion!🫡