Rusty's HARD Time Hollow

Is that barbed wire? Can you type out the words on the sign. I can't read it. And who is Rusty? There must be a good story here.

Sorry about the bad pic....I shouldn't have even posted it.No, I can't even read the hard copy. Maybe somebody has a better one. Rusty runs a hostel just north of Three Ridge Mtn, south of the SNP. I've never meet him but what I've read he runs a pretty nice rustic hostel. Yeah, I'd like to know some about the guy. Maybe someone can add something. And yes that is barbwire, the trail runs right up to some farm land here. A good place for a relo, somebody even thought that right up against this fence down a little ways was good place to stack what looked like 500 bags of fertiliser.

Is Rusty's open again this year? Just my luck, I hike the one year he shuts down in ages....this must have been around the same place the sign last year came out of the blue "Rusty's Hard Time Hollow is closed". Rusty's place is a legend on the trail-a big time vortex for hikers.

The sign gives directions to his place off the BRP.

"... old time hollow" my bullocks, rusty would be offended even if he had power, phone, and a computer to read this on. if there's one thing to remember when you leave, it's the "hard time hollow."

OOPS!!!! You're right. My bad....Don't tell him.

I'm in something of a minority. I found my stay at Rusty's to be barely tolerable. Not necessarily because of Rusty or the ammenities at the Hard Time Hollow. What I did not enjoy was the hikers who had decided to take of residence. They spent an awful lot of time drunk or stoned and dancing on the truck until4 in the morning.

Rusty looked REAL ragged out when I got there as there was something like 40 people at the hollow at the time, and everyone wanted a piece of Rusty.

People also violated his no-pets-in-the-bunkhouse rules enough that the place was pretty much hopping with fleas when I stayed...I wished I had pitched my tent.

The two guys I was hiking with at the time and I got out of there at about 5:30-6:00 in the morning. We hot-footed it to Waynesboro and got a hotel room at the Holiday Inn. I treated the guys to a good dinner in the hotel restaurant and we got a good night's sleep before heading into SNP.

Now I've talked to hundreds of hikers over the years who had a great time at the Hollow. But Rusty got so well known, and so popular, that once hiker season started, he never got any rest and couldn't afford to spend any real time with the hikers...he just ran shuttles and cleaned up.

I had a great time when i stoped at rusty,s,he is a great guy and a lot of hikers take advantage of him,because he accepts only donations,a lot of hikers stay there eat his food and have him to shuttle them,then they leave him nothing,I spent
the night there in late october 2002