Campsite Near US 321 to Vandeventer Shelter

Appalachian Trail, 9.1 miles

As we hoped, there was a faucet at Watauga Lake, so we cameled up. It was nice to have plenty of water for our long climb up to Vandeventer.

Today I lost Tim for about two hours. We came to a place where the trail diverged a couple different ways, and we were both scoping around and looking at maps for a minute. When I looked up, I thought he had gone ahead of me, but he had actually stopped to check out one of the side trails. Not knowing this, off I went toward the white blazes, pushing hard to try to catch up with him, not realizing I had actually left him behind me. We caught up with each other about four miles later at a muddy spring just shy of Watauga Dam Road. Though I like Tim’s company, I can’t say I minded hiking solo for a little bit. I do love to be alone in the woods.

We gained a lot of elevation north of Watauga Dam, so it was definitely another long and challenging day. We stopped for a fiver at the dam(n) access road and met a few guys from Georgia who were really nice and funny. Sounds like they will be hiking pretty much the same itinerary as we are this week, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of them as the week goes on.

I became the recipient of some awesome trail magic this afternoon. When we arrived at Vandeventer Shelter, we chatted with two thru-hikers who were resting before pushing on to the rest of their 20-some mile day. The topic of my lost sandals came up, and without hesitation the one dude unclipped his crocs from his pack and handed them to me! I was like, “Wha? No way! You need these!” But he insisted he never wears them and was planning to pick up some flip-flops in Damascus anyway. I’m telling you, I was giddy with excitement over these battered up plastic shoes, no matter that they are men’s size 12. My feet were so blissfully happy to get out of my boots! Later I found out the guy’s trail name is “Mom.” Totally makes sense.

Around 4pm, two groups of kids showed up at the shelter with guides. There is a group of girls heading southbound, and a group of boys going northbound. They are all between 12 and 15 and they’re simultaneously adorable and annoying (the girls tend to do a lot squealing and screaming). A few are teary-eyed because of blisters, so we gave them some bodyglide and moleskin to take the edge off. My thru-hiker friend (“Mom”) helpfully gave them some candy and then went on his way toward Damascus. The kids are all from a big church in Florida and they’re doing a trip through a ministry called Wilderness Trail. The boys will stay here at Vandeventer tonight and the girls still have a ways to go, as they’re shooting for Watauga Lake before nightfall. (Good on 'em... the poor things are doing a 12-mile day and seem a bit ill-prepared.)

The shelter is pretty crowded tonight, and there are quite a few other hikers trickling in still. Right now it’s 8pm and I think there are about 20 people around. Tim and I are tenting again. I usually prefer shelters, but since we have the tent anyway, and there are so many people about, the tent will do just fine. Also Tim doesn’t care for the shelters because the possibility of mice kind of freaks him out.

There is water here, but it’s almost half a mile down a ridiculously steep side trail. Still, we need to really fill up because we hear that there won’t be a lot of good water north of here tomorrow.

The view here at Vandeventer Shelter is really pretty. I didn’t mention this to anyone, but this shelter was the site of a murder in the seventies. A solo hiker was killed with a hatchet(!) by a guy who wanted her fancy new backpack. Luckily Tim’s backpack is much newer and nicer than mine, so I feel quite safe. :)