June 10 (Day 44) 

Even though I was camping in the middle of nowhere last night, no wildlife bothered me at all.  

After 2 miles of hiking I came to Stony Creek (I think it was called). It appeared that the AT crossed the creek, but there was no obvious way over. The creek was pretty wide, but there were no stones or logs in the water that you could step across on.  

So I took off my boots and socks, put on my flip-flops, and waded across. It wasn’t ever more than calf-deep. Sure enough, on the other side I found the white blazes of the AT and a sign that said the bridge that had once spanned Stony Creek had been washed out in a hurricane in 2004. So, I waded back across, got my boots and my pack, then waded across a third time.  

I passed a lot of people hiking today, some thru-hikers, some people just out for the weekend.  

The second climb of the day was a climb of a little over 1,500 feet. About 500 feet from the top, a gap and a road cross the AT. And, as the trail was getting steeper and rockier as I went, I was debating whether I should take a break, drink some water, etc. at this gap, or just continue on.  

I probably would have continued on, but Trail Magic decided for me. Just short of the gravel road was a plastic container, which had some candy and sodas in it. I helped myself to two mini Baby Ruths and a can of soda. That was some well-placed Trail Magic, being up on that hill.  

Unfortunately, Trail Magic usually shows up only on the weekends, which is not a surprise, but I probably won’t see any more for a while. However, it’s already a habit of mine to keep my eyes wide open at every road crossing.   

June 11 (Day 45) 

I knew it would be a relatively short day of hiking today, so I took the time this morning to cook myself some pancakes.  

After the first 6 or so miles, I came to the place where the Sarver Shelter path cuts across the AT. The shelter is ¼ mile off the AT straight down the side of the mountain so I didn’t visit it, but there’s a lot of talk about this shelter being haunted because it’s right at mile marker 666 on the trail.   

Alright, a hiker I met a few days ago met his father, a pastor, at this shelter and spent the night there. He wrote in the register that there was no need to fear and that his father had cleansed the place of all evil.

After that it was a very rocky ridgeline before the trail descended down to the Niday Shelter, where I expect to spend the night.  There was a short burst of rain early this afternoon as well, and there were quite a few people hiding out here at the shelter until it passed.   

June 12 (Day 46)  

It was a full shelter last night, but not a bad group.  

The trail climbed back up onto another ridgeline this morning, and not too long after reaching the top, Audie Murphy’s monument appeared just off the trail. Apparently, the plane crash he died in happened in the Appalachians, in this vicinity.  

The ridge continued very nice and smooth for at least a mile, the remains of some old road on top of the ridge, but soon enough it gave way to normal rocks and roots.  

After about 15 miles today, I came to a road crossing. One mile down the road was a general store where I was able to get an excellent pepperoni pizza.  

Originally I had planned to just go back to the trail and camp a  little farther on from the road, but I read in my guidebook today that they don’t want anyone camping between VA 624 (the road crossing with the store) and VA 220 (up near Troutville), except in the designated areas. So, I had to do an extra 3 miles or so to get to an approved camping area for the night.