Day 41 - Monday, April 5, 2021

The nights are starting to stay warmer; last night the low was 40°. A sign that Spring is finally here to stay? It is expected to make the 70’s this afternoon. 

Today we are hiking from VA 621, Craigs Creek Road (689.2 NoBo) to VA 30 (678.5 NoBo) for a total of 10.7 miles. This will be a welcome shorter hike as yesterday’s hike took its toll on me ðŸĪŠ.

And for all you geography buffs, todays hike will also take us over the Eastern Continental Divide. (The Eastern Continental Divide or Eastern Divide or Appalachian Divide is a hydrographic divide in eastern North America that separates the easterly Atlantic Seaboard watershed from the westerly Gulf of Mexico watershed).

We began hiking at 9:10 am under sunny skies. 








The trail took us into a lower corner of this cow pasture. She didn’t seem that interested in us.

 

At the other end of the cow pasture  we walked up to an AT Club maintenance volunteer named "Dinosaur" clearing briars at a gate into a pasture. She completed her through hike in 2006. She also pointed out to us the second largest  oak tree on the AT that was in the corner of this pasture, the Keffer Oak. We all know that the largest oak tree on the AT is in New York, the Dover Oak, which is near Jim's house



The Keffer Oak.



View from Bruiser's Nob.





Putting the finishing touches on a stone cairn. I’m actually getting pretty good at this... perhaps I can build them after  I complete my hike ðŸĪ”.





The junction of the AT & the Eastern Continental Divide.



Jim contaminating the Atlantic Seaboard Watershed.

We met several hikers on the trail today. "Spun Candy" is beginning her thru hike starting in Virginia but is originally from Alaska. Her and Jim had something in common as Jim talked to her about back in the late 70's he worked in Alaska when his mother had a salmon set-net fishing permit. She told us that she is doing the thru-hike to validate herself as a life-coach. She also told us about a person who is making burritos in the trail head parking lot for hikers today?
 
We finished hiking at 3:15 pm under bright sunny skies. The temperature was 72°. And sure enough there was a person at the trail head parking lot making burritos for the hikers.



This is "Freshground" (as in the coffee) making burritos in which he also had drinks and snacks free for any hiker. He has never completed a thru-hike but he had logged in over 3,000 miles doing section hikes. He has been cooking for hikers for over 10 years where travels back and forth from the Appalacian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, 5-6 months a year, cooking for hikers. He said that this was part of a non-profit group doing this but he didn't mention the name. I think he was the "non-profit" group. Even though he didn't ask I gave him a donation for his generosity and good deeds.



And here are two local AT maintenance  volunteers who were assisting "Freshground".  Their trail names were "Recruiter" & "Blossom”.

Till next time... Happy Hiking   ðŸĨū 

😋

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