Groseclose, Virginia to Knot Maul Shelter

Groseclose to Knot Maul Shelter

Day One – Monday, March 24, 2014
13.9 miles

9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.


Last night we spent the night at Big Walker Motel in Bland, Virginia, Room #1.  This morning we arose bright and early to 20 degree cold weather and walked down the hill in front of the motel to the Dairy Queen for breakfast.  There we met a hiker who was being shuttled by a guy named Bubba.  Outside we met Bubba and told him we would be calling him for shuttling on our next leg of the trip. 

At 9:00 TrueBrit picked us up to shuttle us down to Va. 683--Groseclose, Virginia--to begin our hike where we left off.   He dropped us off at the northbound trailhead and we looked back down the road to The Barn Restaurant and remembered the fatal accident we almost witnessed at that point when we were here in October.  We were hiking north by 9:30 a.m. 

At mile 546, we stopped to celebrate with a short break.  We have hiked one-fourth of the Appalachian Trail!  Yahoo!  We started in the fall of 2011 and this is our 6^th section hike in 3 years.  We had intended to be further along by now, but feel very fortunate to have been able to get out here on the trail as often as we have, and especially to have done a couple of longer hikes.  Not bad at our age, I guess. 

At 10:45 we spotted a privy, table, and steps but no shelter--looked like where a shelter used to be. This must be Davis Path Campsite as indicated in the Hiker’s Companion.  We also saw lots of pastureland and farms in this section.

Shortly after lunch we were looking up at Big Walker Mountain, our highest point today.  The profile looked ominous, rising 900 feet.  So we started up, expecting it to be steep and hard but were pleased to find that the switchbacks made it fairly easy.   Coming down the mountain into Va. 610 gap the trail was filled with big rocks, which always makes it challenging. 

After crossing Va. 742 and Va. 42, we headed up again to the top of Brushy Mountain.  Although not as high as Big Walker, we found it steeper and more challenging at the end of the day. We were ready to rest when we reached Knot Maul Shelter at 6:30 p.m.

 Only three northbound hikers have signed the register within the last few days.  Maybe we will be able to encounter them; we always enjoy meeting thru-hikers. 

Since we were the only ones at the shelter, we set our tent up on the shelter floor for the night.