Appalachian Trail - Day 041 - AT Mile 399.0 to Sugar Run Mt

Day: 041

Date: Sunday, 04 June 2023

Start:  AT Mile 599.0

Finish:  Sugar Run Mt (AT Mile 623.0)

Daily Kilometres:  41.9 (Ascent 4623', Descent 3632')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1049.8

Weather:  Mostly mild and overcast. Humid in the afternoon with a late thunderstorm and some rain.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Cheeseburger & fries, ice-cream 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Following the fast-flowing and picturesque Dismal Creek upstream through sun-dappled glades in the early afternoon.

Lowlight:  Julie would like it noted that being the faster hiker of our duo is not all beer and skittles just because she gets a rest every 20 minutes while she waits for Dave (who doesn't get to rest).  Because we are earlier risers than most hikers and because Julie is in front, she gets to clear all (well, most) cobwebs from the trail.  Today, when we saw no hikers all morning, that was a lot of cobwebs.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were hiking soon after 6:30am on a mild and overcast morning.  We had decided to detour half a mile off the trail at a road crossing in 11 miles to a grocery/deli for lunch, so were keen to get there in good time.  The trail continued to follow the ridge for most of the morning and the hiking was relatively easy.  We made good time, though the final mile or two down to the road was quite slippery in a few places.

We reached the road and quickly covered the distance to Trent's Grocery where the friendly proprietor produced our burgers and fries in quick time.  A third of the very small grocery was devoted to guns and fishing and while we ate there was a steady stream of customers buying beer for their Sunday afternoon's entertainment, one young guy wearing a pistol tucked into his belt.

The lunch was good and we returned to the trail with Julie leaving a little earlier so she could do a side-trip to Dismal Falls.  After she rejoined the trail we followed Dismal Creek upstream (see above) mostly through rhododendron glades on a path that was often very muddy for stretches.

After leaving the creek there was a very tough climb up onto the ridge that led to Sugar Run Mt (4040').  As we reached the ridgetop, the thunderstorms we could hear around us produced steady rain for about an hour.  It stopped shortly before we reached the tentsite we were aiming for but, when we got there, it was already occupied by a couple of tents.  Shortly before, we had seen a couple of good sites and so were kicking ourselves for not taking one.

We continued hiking for longer than we would like and eventually found a spot, shrouded in fog, atop Sugar Run Mt near a number of broadcast towers around 7:30pm.  It has been a long day, but we now only have 14 miles to our next resupply town, Pearisburg, and a day off.