We had another day of some fairly large climbs. Today the weather was definitely sweatier than it’s been of late, so that made it a bit tougher. The first climb was up Highcock Knob in the morning. That one wasn’t too bad. Then we descended down to the James River. We crossed it on the longest foot bridge on the AT, roughly a 1/4 mile long.

Crossing the river. Food awaited.

Looking at the James River

Some hikers jump in, but it looked a bit sketchy and dirty so we didn’t. Also, the YWAM group was having a hiker feed in the parking lot on the other side, so screw swimming in a dirty river when delicious hot dogs and hamburgers await. We had heard about this feed for the last couple days, so we were excited for it. We were not disappointed, as we rocked numerous dogs, burgers, sodas, and watermelon slices. Good stuff. Pretty cool of them to offer up food for all the thru-hikers in the neighborhood.
Next up was the big climb of the day. This was about 3 miles of pretty steep climbing in the hottest part of the day up to Little and Big Rocky Row. It was a tough climb and a real sweatfest. There were some excellent views up top though.

James River from Little Rocky Row

More cool views from Rocky Row

Lastly we climbed Bluff Mountain. This one wasn’t too bad and afforded some nice views, too.

View from Bluff Mountain

This section of Virginia really has been awesome since we got north of Pearisburg (other than the constant ticks). The trail is generally smooth and well maintained.

Tomorrow we are hiking 10.6 miles and going in to Buena Vista to resupply and spend the night at a hostel. It looks like we might luck out yet again, as they are calling for some storms tomorrow night. We’ve had a good streak of being in town during the last few storms, so I hope that keeps up.

Vital stats :
Miles hiked today – 22.6
Mood – rocking
Physical state – tired from some big days with hot weather, but good
Smell – new car……..just kidding, total dog crap
Song stuck in my head – Reading Rainbow theme song