Day 49-More Rain, and An Official AT Detour

May 6-12.8 miles-Hurricane Mtn Campsite to Unofficial Campsite-AT mile 527.9

Once again we were lucky, and woke to no rain. Since we had a “short” day (I can still remember when 12.8 was a long day), I actually slept until 7:15. Sure Foot was up a little earlier, and retrieved the Ursacks from the bear box up by the shelter. 

We were on trail by 8:35. Not only was today not long, but there wasn’t too much elevation to deal with either. In fact, most of the day was fairly boring, and I didn’t take many photos. 

We did get to experience our first official AT detour. 

This went into effect back in September of last year. Both Guthook and the AWOL Guide had the reroute. Plus, it was very well signed. 

At first I was looking forward to the road walk, but after a short distance, I was wishing we were back on the trail. It didn’t help that the road walk was all uphill. Oh, and just at the junction of the detour, it had started to rain. *sigh* On with the rain gear...again. Every time I have to wear my rain pants, I think about how I’m going to order a pair of rain pants from Zpacks. I have the Zpacks Vertice jacket, and I really like it. The problem with my OR rain pants is the waist band is too bulky. With my pack waist strap cinched, it cuts into my hips, and doesn’t feel good. The Zpacks pants have just a thin drawstring. Primo has them and really likes them. I think I will order them tomorrow when we get to Marion, and have them shipped to Pearisburg (101 miles away). I’ll expedite the shipping if necessary. 

Anyway, we returned to the trail. First we thought we would have lunch at the next shelter, but it turned out it was still another 4 miles away. The rain stopped briefly, and we took advantage of some logs/rocks to sit on. Of course, it started raining again as we were finishing our lunch. 

A couple of the kids from Old Orchard Shelter flew by us shortly after we started hiking again. It’s really kind of funny. I’m sure they went to the next shelter, but they would have gotten there probably about 1:00. At the speed they go, they could go much further. 

We crossed another cow pasture (Guthook calls it a meadow...it’s a pasture filled with cow shit). Just as we got near the pasture, I said to Sure Foot, “Watch out for the cow patties!” He turns around, then as he turns back around, I happened to look down. He just barely missed stepping in this.

That was a close one! Yikes!

Watch your step Sure Foot!

We safely negotiated the cow pasture, and met a Flip Flop hiker on the other side. He started at Harper’s Ferry, and was headed southbound. His name was Centerfield. He was about our age. Who knows, we may see him again when he flips back up to Harper’s Ferry to go northbound. He has about the same miles to go to get to Springer, as we do to get to Harper’s Ferry. Although, I think our miles are easier. 

Today we weren’t going to a shelter. We were just trying to get as close as possible to where we will go into Marion tomorrow. There were three unofficial campsites on Guthook. We went to the last one, which leaves us 6.4 miles tomorrow. We managed to get our tents up before the rain, but not cook dinner. Plus we were really cold. We both cooked while sitting in our tents. It was a Happy Thanksgiving in my tent, as I had a Mountain House Turkey Dinner! 

The rain is continuing off and on. It’s about 7:15 now. I guess I’ll have a good amount of time to read. We are getting up early tomorrow to do the 6.4 miles before 11:00. Believe it or not, there is a Marion Transit bus that picks up at the Mount Rogers Visitor Center near the Partnership Shelter. It costs 50 cents.