Got a call from Bear Garden Hostel informing us that 24 the mi section of trail from VA 16 (Mt Rogers NRA HQ) north to VA 42 has been closed due to an ongoing crime investigation.  Its been reported that a mentally unstable individual, James Jordan (trail name “Sovereign”), who had been apprehended a few weeks ago for threatening hikers with a large knife and a shovel and was released shortly thereafter, made his way back to the trail and assaulted two hikers.  It doesn’t sound good at all but I won’t add to the wild speculation going on.  The facts will come out soon enough.  Fortunately, he’s been taken into custody again.  Our prayers and thoughts go out to the victims and their families.  Hopefully no one else was involved.

As for Deep Woods and I, the hike is still on.  Its likely that the closed section will be reopened by the time we get there.  We should cross VA 16 on day six and finish at VA 42 the following day.  If we have to get off trail at VA 16, we’ll head into Atkins and catch a shuttle back up to Bear Garden.  We’ll just add the 24 mi to next year’s hike.

Update: Confirmed that a man was killed and a woman severely injured.  Horrible!

More to come…