Just got back from a two day trip in Va. Cove Mt. Shelter to the James River. We got dropped off in Arcadia, off 81, then hiked up to the trail. Does anyone know when the 'lil store called Arcadia Mercantile closed as a supply point? Looks like it carried everything at one point. Neat store but looks somehow stuck in time. It’s still stocked, the windows grimy and dusty, ghosts of past hikers lounge on packs against yellowing painted walls outside. The short-order kitchenette’s oven door opens and closes every few minutes and you can here a faint “order up” bell ring from somewhere. The oven door moans open on rusty hinges. The hikers get up and claw the dirty windows like some multi legged beast waiting to be but never quite being fed. Then they sit down when the oven door closes until the next time it opens. The the whole scene repeats itself like some Disney ride gone awry. We flee. Yes, very good fleeing.
Bushwhack