Back to the Trail
21st May
17.5 miles
Trents Grocery Store (608.5) to Docs Knob Shelter (626)
When the hotel door opened in the morning it was raining. Heavy rain with little visibility. It’s hard to get motivated to head back to the trail in such conditions. Enthusiastic I was not.
We were back to the trail and hiking by 10.30am. Lucky for us the rain had stopped. A big thank you to Thom for the great company, the pick up and drop off at the trail and putting up with our bad smell.
For the first few hours the weather was overcast and pleasant for hiking and we made good time. Wapti Shelter is an infamous Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. It was the site of a double murder on 19th May, 1981. A local man committed the murder. A plea bargain saw him serve a small sentence and he is now a free man. Rumour has it the shelter is haunted by the two murdered hikers.
By mid afternoon the rain set in. I set up my umbrella and set myself up for a rainy afternoon. Like most people I like to hike when the weather is nice. So far on the Appalachian Trail there seems to be more rainy days than clear days. I could be miserable, but I choose to just accept it as rain and keep on walking without complaint.
The rain continued into the late afternoon. When the low cloud settled in there appeared to be only two colours visible, green and grey. All other colours no longer existed. My hiking buddy, Delicate Flower, would fade to grey then disappear in the clouds when he walked faster than me.
We stopped at Docs Knob Shelter for the night. The rain continued. I didn’t want to put up my tent in the pouring rain so slept in the shelter.
I’m generally a quiet kind of person who likes my own space. Sleeping in a cramped shelter with several other hikers who liked to talk a lot doesn’t always suit me. It’s during this quiet time that I write this blog and transfer my photos from my camera to my phone. I think I’ll be spending more time in my tent in future.
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Next : Day 37 – Nero In Pearisburg
Just came across your blog. Was flooded with memories. I thru hiked in 1981. Had hiked with Bob and Susan. Was a couple days ahead, when they were killed. Tragic. Was a trying time.
Look forward to reading more of your posts.
Wow, small and tragic world we live in. Despite the tragic events I feel safe on the trail.
I too felt safe and secure on my hike. I took some time off afterward, but my hike from Virginia to Maine was wonderful – amazing. I actually took a trip to visit Bob Mountfords’ parents while in Maine. Enjoy Pearisburg. It’s my hometown! — David Tice
I enjoyed Pearisburg, the Chinese buffet was great. Everything a hiker could ever want.
Here’s article on second attack near Wapiti shelter. Can’t believe he was ever paroled in 1996 after committing double murder in 1981.
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20080713/LIFE/807130311
Thanks for the update, bad things happen, even in Trail from time to time.
The murderer died nine years ago: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Lee_Smith, after attempting another double homicide.
I also had to do some research on that crime and found out the murderer has also died. I wanted to set the record straight and let Brad know he wasn’t still alive and kickin’ so to speak!
And Brad, I am loving reading about your adventure on the AT!
Cheers, thanks for the update and kind words.
Craziness, thanks for the update
Hey, I have the same problem with using the WordPress app… as you painfully know, there’s no way to add captions like on the desktop. If you’re *really* intent on adding them, you can directly code them in by wrapping the image in another bit of code… after you upload the image you’d have this:
Then you add this in:
[caption align="alignnone" width="WIDTH OF PHOTO FROM IMAGE SIZE (3624 in this case)"] YOUR CAPTION HERE[/caption]
Yeah, brutal. But possible!
I can also use the web based version on my phone but too annoying. We shall all suffer fir a while longer.