Appalachian Trail Section hiking: Troutville

Bobblett's Gap Shelter to Troutville, Southbound

Bobbletts Gap Shelter to U.S. 11/Troutville, Southbound

Day Seventeen – Wednesday, April 9, 2014

17 miles

9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

We parked our car at Highway 11 Troutville parking area, then Karen took us to Bobletts Gap. We began hiking south at 9:00. It was an easy hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We met Tumbleweed, Thunderfoot and Pilfer again as they were headed north. They told us about going to the Fire Station in Troutville to get a shower. Troutville is known to be a friendly hiker town.

Near the end of the day we went through some pasture land, then into a little wooded area, then came out at the railroad tracks at Highway 11. We made good time for 17 miles and had a relatively easy day with only one noticeable climb.

We ate at Country Cooking restaurant, a good buffet and spent the night at the Comfort Inn.

Troutville to Campbell Shelter, Southbound

Troutville/U.S. 11 to Campbell Shelter, Southbound

Day Fifteen – Monday, April 7, 2014

16.9 miles

8:20 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Karen "Hikermom" Bennett followed us to 4 Pines Hostel where we left our car and she shuttled us back to begin our hike at Troutville--headed south. We left Troutville/US 11 at 8:20 and had a pleasant hike to Lamberts Meadow Shelter. It was 40 degrees and raining and foggy all day. On the way, we caught several glimpses of the meadows below but really couldn't tell much about what was down there because of the fog. Too bad we did not get to see the view.

As we hiked we met Pilfer, a girl from Michigan, for the first time. We also met Caribou from Alaska. They were both headed north. We don't meet too many hikers on the trail these days.

It was 2:30 when we got to Lamberts Meadow where we orginally had planned to spend the night. We rested for 30 minutes then decided to push on to the next shelter because we had plenty of time. It was an easy hike except right before Tinker Cliffs. We had heard so much about the view from Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob and were so looking forward to seeing it. But alas, as we reached Tinker Cliffs, the fog was so heavy we coudn't see anything.

We continued on to Campbell Shelter to spend the night, hoping to wake up to better weather in the morning before we reached McAfee Knob. It was dark when we reached the shelter and we were surprised to find Dr. John already there. He said he had zeroed the day at the shelter due to a stomach issue he had after eating pizza from the Quick Stop while at 4 Pines. The shelter was not very big and he had claimed one side of the platform, so we claimed the other side and tried to find a dry spot. We stayed mostly dry throughout the night and awoke to more rain. Too bad for McAfee Knob.

Zero Day in Troutville

Zero Day in Troutville
Day Fourteen – Sunday, April 6,

A good night's rest at the Quality Inn can't be beat. They had a good breakfast, when we were glad to help ourselves to. We spent the day doing laundry at the Truck Stop, eating at the Cracker Barrel right next door, and resting.

That evening we met up with the spectacular Hikermom - Karen Bennett - who lives in Troutville. I had gotten to know her on Facebook Section Hiker's Page and on Whiteblaze. She offered to shuttle us while were in her area.

We went to her house and ended up spending the night there in her basement where she has set up a little hostel room with a couch and an air mattress for sleeping. She and her husband were very cordial hosts. As we talked, I shared with her about my concern for our daughter and her high-risk pregnancy. Karen was a big comfort to me that night and offered to continue to pray for our situation. Maybe that's the reason for our acquaintance.

Brush Mountain to Va. 624

Brush Mountain to Va. 624

Day Thirteen – Saturday, April 5, 2014

12.7 miles
7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Audie Murphy Monument (Photo by Bryan Turner)

We broke camp at 7:30 and started on up the mountain, expecting to see the Audie Murphy Monument in a short while. Forty-five minutes later we saw it. On the way up, we had speculated how hard it must have been to build the monument way up here on top of the mountain, then when we got there, we saw that there was a road coming up to it. Good thing, otherwise, there would be very little visitation to the monument, I believe.

The monument commemorates Audie Murphy who was the most deocrated American soldier of World War II. His single-handed capture of a large number of German soldiers made hima legend. After the war, he starred in many Hollywood war and western movies. He died in a 1971 plane crash near this site. (Thru-Hikers Companion)

After the long, hard climb up the mountain we were pleased to find upon leaving the monument that the trail followed a nice, wide rut road on top of the mountain for a while. We were now looking forward to reaching Dragon's Tooth. As we came around the side of one mountain and looked to the next, I was sure that we could see Dragon's Tooth on the top. As we reached that point, I thought we had reached Dragon's Tooth and was very under-impressed. Obviously, I did not know about Dragon's Tooth, because I thought we had surely reached it about four times before we actually did. By the time we got there, I was wondering, "Just how many teeth does this Dragon have???" We crossed peak, after peak, after peak, then suddenly heard people talking below us. Looking down, we saw lots of people on the trail coming up the mountain from the north side. We wondered what that was all about. Then we encountered the sign for Dragon's Tooth.

Oh! Now we know what Dragon's Tooth is. It is a huge boulder sticking up into the sky like a - well, like a Dragon's Tooth, I guess. The Hiker's Companion does not say much about Dragon's Tooth but obviously it is a very popular day hike for the locals. There were people all over the place, going up and down the rock faces like it was no big deal (except for a few wary ones). But to me, it was a big deal trying to get down the path of boulders with a backpack. It seemed very dangerous and quite tricky to keep from falling face first off the enbankments. In several places, there were hand grips inserted into the boulders which did help some.

When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, there was a big camping area where some tents were set up and a short trail to the parking lot. But we still had 1.5 miles to go to get to Highway 624. It was more rock scrambles, but nothing like we had already done.

We reached Highway 624 then walked about a half mile east to 4 Pines Hostel. While walking there, Dr. John from North Carolina came up behind us walking lickety split. He was going to stay at 4 Pines Hostel tonight and continue on hiking to Harper's Ferry.

When I took my boots off and removed a piece of tape that I had on the top of my foot where it had been rubbing, the skin came off with the tape! Ouch! Now I had a pretty bad spot to worry about.

We showered and changed at the hostel, then headed out intending to eat at the Homeplace Restaurant, famous among hikers for the All You Can Eat meals. However, the number of people waiting in the yard of the restaurant encouraged us to continue on to find a quicker place to eat. I believe it was the Catawba Quick Stop where we had sandwich and pizza. Not like Homeplace, for sure, but it filled us up.

We then drove up to Troutville where we spent the night in the Quality Inn.