Thursday April 18, 14.8mi/23.8km

Thunder Hill shelter (771.9) to Route 501/Glasgow (786.7) (VA)

Spring is here! The sun came up early and shone into the shelter, waking us up before 7am. I got on trail at 8am, and was surprised to see a scattered thunderstorm approaching.

It cleared after an hour, and it was hot and sunny for the rest of the day. There were more signs of spring along the way.

This wilderness has a funny name.

And this view was from the top of a knob, whose name can’t be put into print. Ha!

After the aforementioned knob, the trail descended 2000ft/600m to James River.

The James River, kinda visible through the trees.

I stopped and took a lunch break at a shelter, and met a nice family who plans to do the AT someday after their son is older.

Jodie, Russell, and Henry Joe, I wish you the best on your future hike!

The last 2 miles to town was a pleasant riverside walk along the James River.

And the James River footbridge is the longest footbridge on the entire AT.

Coincidentally, it’s also named after a guy whose surname is Foot!

I got to the highway at 1pm, and hitched a ride within 5 minutes, and went straight to the only restaurant in town, Scott’s Pizza. Based on the sign on the front door, this is definitely a hiker town!

And there was a random dinosaur across the street from the restaurant.

It’s a nice small town, and I walked the 5 minutes to the hostel. The weather forecast is for 2in/5cm of rain tomorrow, with heavy thunderstorms and wind, so I will take a zero day.