Home Place Restaurant

Hello from Glasgow! I’m over 1/3 of the way done with my thru-hike at 775 miles and 8 weeks on the trail.

The past week on the trail has been great. After a wonderful stay with the Stricklands in Roanoke (including a dinner party and a delicious breakfast), I hiked to Catawba, Va., for an all-you-can-eat family style dinner at The Home Place. This restaurant was insane–fried chicken, roast beef, country ham, string beans, mashed potatoes, biscuits with apple butter and/or gravy, corn, beans, and peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Not to mention the gallons of sweet tea and lemonade I consumed there. Definitely a trail highlight.

After waddling out after dinner, I didn’t feel up to walking the 1.8 road miles back to the trailhead. Luckily, a large group of thru-hikers and cross-country cyclists (the Trans-Am route runs right through town) were camping on the lawn of the general store across the street. Talking to all the cyclists was fun, and got me really excited about planning my own cross-country ride in the near future. Have to finish this hike first, though.

There was a long road walk up from Catawba that morning (Virginia hitching has been impossible), but the trail paid off. I got great views from McAfees Knob and Tinker Cliffs before a brief rainstorm rolled in. It was so beautiful watching the rain roll into the valley from the ridge that I didn’t even mind the rain once it started. I did a big day to get into Daleville and, while an unplanned stop, a night at the Howard Johnson’s was just what I needed. A nice tall Dos Equis from the Mexican place across the street sealed the deal.

McAfees Knob

After hitting the Pizza Hut in the morning, I did a pretty slow day in the rain to get to Wilson Creek Shelter. The next day was a big push to what is probably the nicest shelter I’ve stayed in so far, Bryant Ridge. This place was like a normal AT shelter that had been built by a maintaining club with a huge budget and a big American Craftsman influence. Two floors, multiple overhangs to cook food under, etc. There was a guy there celebrating his 50th birthday who was very, very drunk. Among other things, he told us about his history of ual relations with chickens, how he had done a “dumptruck load of ” in his day, and that he really just wanted to party in the woods and not be weighed down by us “serious” hikers. Later, he fell off the shelter ledge in a stupor (He survived). Talk about great hiker TV.

Bryant Ridge Shelter

Yesterday I swam in a river and watched a fellow hiker, Marty McFly, try and spear trout. Today I jumped off a 30-foot bridge into the James River. The point is I’m having a great time and the trail is treating me well. I’m spending the night here in Glasgow, where the town has built a shelter in the city park for hikers to sleep and shower in free of charge. Beyond a gas station that serves up some mean fried chicken and a library with unlimited internet access, the shelter is Glasgow’s only real point of interest for thru-hikers. Looking forward to Shenandoah National Park and seeing friends in D.C. in the coming weeks.

James River

Till then, happy trails. -Ichabod.