Day 60 Saltlog Gap to US60 Buena Vista

Today's miles 14.4.  AT miles 802.6

Today was our two month anniversary on the trail and we also passed the 800 mile mark.  It was another gorgeous warm sunny day.  We left camp at 9am and headed uphill to Bluff Mountain where there was a sad plaque in memory of a little four and a half year old boy whos body was found at that location. There were great views from the top.  It was mainly downhill from there with the odd little ups thrown in to Pedlar River Bridge.  A nice wooden suspension bridge which bounced as you crossed it.

The paths again today were good and well maintained again, just one section a large tree had recently fell across the path so we had a bit of an obstacle course to get around it. There were views of a lovely lake/reservoir from the path.  A bit further on the path followed a lovely stream gently up the hillside for two or three miles, an area called Brown Mountain Creek where once a community lived.  There were supposed to be some ruins of this past community but we didn't really notice anything significant. A final gentle three miles uphill and we arrived at the US60 road.  

We were told there would be a phone signal from the picnic table area to call for a shuttle into Buena Vista town.  We had booked to stay at the Blue Dog Art cafe and they would pick us up but there was no signal.  I was wondering around with my phone trying to find a signal spot then stopped to chat to another flipflop hiker when Iron Man and his wife drove past.  How lucky was that, they gave us a ride into town. We were thinking we would have to hitch into town. Iron Mans wife, Dina, is down for the week, she's a school teacher on spring break, so Iron Man and Extra Miles were having a rest day today and they had slack packed Team Berlin.  They were all staying at the Budget Inn so we decided to stay there too instead of the Blue Dog Cafe. 

We got showered and changed then Iron Man kindly drove us to the nearest supermarket to do our food resupply for the next three days. Team Berlin arrived quite late in the evening. It was getting late, just after 7.30pm and they hadn't turned up yet so Iron Man drove out to look for them and picked them up as the trail is about ten miles from Buena Vista town. It was great to catch up with them all again.  We should be walking more or less the same schedule again for the next three or four days to Waynesboro.