Day 36: Living off the land

Hiked 22.7 miles, tenting at Abingdon Gap shelter.

Given the view at the shelter we were hoping for a great sunrise this morning unfortunately it was a little too far to the left and was in the trees.  The four of us took off early, apparently shortly after we left the creepy guy from yesterday showed up and starting making a fire.  Banyon and Blue said they cleared out fairly quick.

The terrain today was very relaxed.  We spent the whole day walking along the ridgeline.  The highest and lowest point of the day were only approximately 500 feet apart in elevation.  A lot of times this can be harder because you can have constant very short and steep up and downs, which means constantly changing gears as you walk.  Today this was not the case and overall the ups and downs were fairly gentle grade most of the time. The ridge line was mostly tree covered with occasional views.  We could see the valley on either side pretty much the whole day but not well enough for awesome pictures.

Monument to 'Uncle Grindstaff'

Shortly before lunch we came on a sign for trail magic with a big bear chest next to it.  We opened it excitedly to find it was all gone, biggest let down ever.  Shortly after we came out of the woods and crossed through a couple fields.  It was up on a tall hill and we could see the whole valley.  There was a bench next to the trail and we decided it was the perfect place for lunch.

Crossing the meadow

Enjoying the view with our trusty friend, the white blaze

Looking back the way we came

View from our lunch spot

While we were there Banyon and Blue caught up to us and hung out for a bit.  Why Not spent all of lunch airing out her food bag.  Her bottle of denatured alcohol had leaked all over.  Luckily the stuff evaporates quickly and we will be in town tomorrow so fuel is not a problem.  It could have been a lot worse, it could have been her olive oil.

After walking back into the woods we found a ton of ramps.  These are a type of wild onion, similar to green onions.  Everyone dug up a few to add to dinner.  This is our first time foraging and it should make dinner delicious.  They are good to eat raw too.  The leaves are very large and taste pretty similar to arugula but a little more bitter.

This cow was standing sentry at the fence crossing

We passed Aquaman late in the day and made it to camp pretty quick for a solid 22 mile day.  We found out later from another hiker that Aquaman got off shortly after with suspected Noravirus, so we aren't out of the hot zone yet.  Banyon and Srocket are both showing symptoms as well but some people have trouble digesting ramps and we are hoping that is the problem.

My dinner was awesome.  I had leftover mushrooms and spinach that I had packed out of Hampton, along with fresh ramps, ramen, olive oil, garlic and a salmon packet.  Combined together it made a great soup!

View late in the day

Camp at Abingdon Gap shelter

Bonzai caught up to us at camp and we ran into another hiker Quaker who we haven't met yet but is a really interesting man.   We have a short 10 mile day into town tomorrow and we cross the border into Virginia!