Day 70 - Thunder Hill Shelter to Johns Hollow Shelter - 16.3 miles

A very long steep descent to the James River, where hikers cross on a specially made hikers bridge. There is  a bunch of college kids jumping off the bridge. This is one of the challenges for AT hikers - we pass up the challenge. But here are two images of Stucco, our warrior goddess who did do the jump - I am in awe. These images are taken from her Facebook photo album. We met Stucco briefly in Hot Springs, and she becomes a good friend later in the trip.

We try and hitch a ride into the town of Glasgow - about 10 miles away, but don't have much luck. There is nowhere for cars to pull over to pick us up even if they wanted to.

After an hour of trying, the college kids return to their cars in the car park and we put the hard word on them to give us a ride. One young man agrees to take us to Glasgow and we fill up his petrol tank with fuel out of gratitude.

We do a grocery shop, buy a burger, and drink a beer disguised in a plastic bottle as you are  not allowed to drink alcohol in a public place.

Then we call Ken who does hiker shuttles and he agrees to take us back to the trail, and picks us up in 15 minutes. We collect another 2 hikers who want a ride as well, but one lap around the town and they spy the rest of their group - Left It and Speak Easy and Clare the Dog with the Mohawk hair cut - at the park. So we drop them off and head back with Ken. Ken had agreed to take us for $10 - but alas we only had a $20 note and he had no change - so guess what - yep it cost us $20. But better than hanging around waiting for a ride. It meant we made it to the next shelter, struggling in with fully loaded packs.