Miles: 811.6 | A rainy morning brings a much-needed milestone as we cross 800 miles, marked by simple trail art made from flowers and stones. Despite lingering Achilles pain, a locked ankle, and Miles realizing his pack is nearing the end of its life, we stay positive and steady all day. A detour around a closed footbridge and a walk through the quiet ruins of a former freed-slave community add weight and perspective to the miles. With Trail Days pulling most hikers away, Cow Camp Gap Shelter feels calm and spacious, making for an early night that’s dry, reflective, and quietly satisfying.
We crossed 800 miles on the rainy morning. Someone made 800 out of Rhododendron blossoms. And someone else out of rocks. It felt great to be making progress again after so much time trying to heal.
As we were crossing a bridge in the morning, Miles realized his backpack was ripping more than he thought. It was deteriorating pretty quickly. He would need to get a new one soon.
We stayed positive all day, even through my Achilles and my ankle acting up and Miles’ backpack problems. Miles even rolled out my calves on a bench because my ankle locked up. After that there was a footbridge closed so we had to take an alternate route.
We walked past the ruins of a former freed slave community. The community was located where slaves of a plantation owner, Jesse Richeson, used to live. When the slaves were freed they never left. Mose Richeson, one of the freed slaves, bought 220 acres of land along Brown Mountain Creek where he built a community with other freed slaves.
They worked as sharecroppers and cooperated as a community to be self sufficient and even sell some of their crops back to the landowner. The sharecroppers even used the frost mill that had been built up when they were slaves on the owner’s land. The signs say the land that the settlement had been on was sold to the Forest Service but we heard that it was more of a forcing out.
Apparently, as industrialization moved into the area, a Dam was proposed nearby which would make the land that the Brown Mountain Creek Community lived on face a drought and it would quickly cripple their small farming cooperative. The Dam was opposed by many, but it was needed to build up the industrial economy and railroad in nearby Lynchburg, VA.
The Dam was built with the help of the Forest Service and other government entities. The remaining Richesons (sons of Mose) were forced to sell their no longer sustainable land to the Forest Service. The Richesons and their neighbors dismantled their homes and took their possessions and building materials with them. No one really knows where they relocated to. Read more here.
We kept walking through the forests of Virginia. We saw a lot of salamanders and mushrooms. We passed the road to Buena Vista. We climbed up ‘Bald Knob’ which wasn’t actually bald... and eventually we stopped at Cow Camp Gap Shelter. The shelter was virtually empty. Everyone was at Trail Days in Damascus so we had most of the shelters to ourselves!
The only one at the shelter was Trouble, whom we had met before. He was really cool. He thru-hiked before and he loved it so much he basically just lives on the trail as much as he can now.
He told us all about Waynesboro, VA, which was our next town, and gave us some advice about upcoming shelters. Since there were so few people around, we decided to sleep in the shelter that night. We ate dinner with Trouble and played a game of chess. We went to bed early. I hung my pack under the overhang in front of the shelter with the pack cover on.
Around 10:30pm someone came into the shelter and started setting up loudly. They woke us up. Who comes into a shelter at 10:30pm?! I get that it was raining but they definitely could have set up their tent. They didn’t turn their red light on until I asked them to. Frustrated, I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.
1. Positive all day
2. 800
3. Shelter = easy and dry