- Miles 472.2-484.3 (11.6 mi.)
- Total ascent: 3698′; descent: 3547′
A third rat snake we saw not 100 yard from our tent site let one get away last night: Some rodent decided to chew a dozen holes in Rachel’s rain jacket, which, of course, we’d already replaced.
I shook the mouse turds off around 7 a.m., slathering on hand sanitizer upon putting down the jacket, and Rachel spent the next hour repairing her gear with Gore-Tex patches.
While I was making breakfast and Rachel was swearing like a sailor, we met a section hiker who was born in Washington, Missouri; a young couple who offered their duct tape to patch the holes; and Cindy and Suzanne, our retired hiker friends from Florida.
First up this morning, once we got the jacket repaired, was a series of switchbacks: 20, according to Guthook’s count, up Iron Mountain.
The summit, like most other recent peaks, was little more than a spot in the woods. Because it’s said to be similar, we plan to skip the side trail to Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia (fun fact: Mt. Rogers is named after the founder of MIT).
We ate lunch around 1 p.m., well after conquering the switchbacks and on the other side of Iron Mountain, at a large tent site with rushing water on three sides. The site was surprisingly clean for being near the VCT and AT: only a penny, a towel, and an empty beer can.
We spent much of the day surrounded by streams, which surprised us after struggling to find water for multiple days prior. We stepped over a half-dozen tributaries before calling it a day at the creekside site beside which we currently sit. We also admired the footbridges built not to support trains, but to weather falling boulders (in fact, we were forced to take a detour today because one such rock had taken out a bridge built just last year).
Tonight, we’re camped beside an actual rail bridge on the Virginia Creeper Trail. We only knew about it because we’d seen it while riding bikes yesterday; two other hikers, to our surprise, joined us for the last hour or so we spent out of our tent.
Because we didn’t make it quite as far as we’d hoped to today, and because we wanted to claim this site, we’re adding 2.5 miles to tomorrow’s hike. As mentioned earlier, the site’s protected on three sides, and the Mt. Rogers area is covered in signage about bear encounters.
On the river by our site sits a rock so large six or more people could lay out on it, with excellent star-viewing real estate above. Although the moon is a waxing gibbous, the night is clear and dry. We’re hopeful that the relative lack of light pollution afford us a good view.
Stars or not, we’re glad we stopped. A good site is a good night, as we say.
