Friday, 25 September

Destination: Matts Creek Shelter (784.5)	Today’s Miles: 3.9 (0.0)
Start Location: Johns Hollow Shelter (788.4)	Trip Miles: 24.0 (0.4)

Numbers in parenthesis after Destination and Start Location are northbound mileage markers as listed in the 2019 Northbound A.T. Guide. Numbers in parenthesis after Today’s Miles and Trip Miles are off trail miles to shelters and campgrounds.

Looks like we made the right decision to stay in the shelter. By six am there was a steady but light rain. It started to rain a little harder and we decided to wait until it eased before leaving.

We had only about 300 feet down and 200 feet up in our 3.9 miles planned for the day to Matts Creek Shelter. Along the way, Bob and I crossed the James River on the AT’s longest foot use only bridge. It was quite impressive. We arrived at the shelter for lunch and decided to set up our tents during a break in the rain. We expected weekend hikers if we stayed in the shelter and the rain is supposed to stop by midnight. That will give things a chance to dry out a little before packing them up.

Today we saw four hikers. The first passed us by the bridge, had his earphones in and never spoke with us. Next was a fellow running on the trail who stopped for water in front of the shelter, spoke with us a bit and was back running on the trail. Finally, two guys with dogs came over to our tents. They thought they were still following the AT but our site is about 50 yards off the trail so we redirected them.

This is a beautiful area with a nice deep creek in front of the shelter. Since it rained most of the afternoon, we have not really had a chance to enjoy it.

I am having some phone issues. It keeps rebooting so I am not sure how updates and photos will go. I think I uploaded photos from the first two days. You have to go back to the entries for those days to see the photos.

Looking forward to dry weather tomorrow. Doesn’t look like cell service here so this will be at least a day late.