May 25, 2008

Only made 3 miles out of Pearisburg today, before twisting an ankle pretty badly. Sat down for a while and was in a very bad mood - zero motivation to hike today, especially given that my pack was first-day-out-of-town heavy and there was a steep uphill climb.

So I bailed - I was only a couple hundred yards from US 460, so I walked down to hitch back to Pearisburg. I was only there 15 minutes before I got a ride - from Lipstick.

Lipstick's husband, Raccoon is doing a thru-hike. She's his roving support team, following him from town to town. Along the way, she helps out whoever else needs a hand; today it's me. She takes me to the Catholic Hostel in Pearisburg, where I catch up with Nyquil, who is also struggling to stay motivated. His solution is going to be a dog - he's seen an ad for a "free to a good home" dog.


May 26, 2008

Slackpack. Lipstick is dropping Raccoon 19 miles outside of town and he's walking back. I do the same - nice to crank out 19 miles while carrying only a water bottle, camera, and lunch.


May 27, 2008

11 miles. Could/should have done more, but a lot of folks camping at War Spur Shelter tonight.


May 28, 2008

I've come to the conclusion that the single biggest difference between trail life and "normal" life is water. In the modern, developed world, you don't give water a second thought - it runs hot and cold, and drinkable. If you're finicky, you go down to the store and buy a gallon. Out here it's not so simple. To begin with, it's not always easy to find. Then when you do find it, you have to see if it's clean, or else make it clean. And then you have to carry it with you wherever you go.

This morning, I left War Spur Shelter "cameled up" with about 3 liters of H2O. Inside my pack was a 2 liter bladder with a drinking tube that enables me to sip as I go. I also had two one-liter bottles, both about half-full.

I didn't have them all the way full, as I know I'd have a 1700 foot uphill in the morning, and I didn't want to carry more water than I needed to (water is very heavy). As it turned out, it was a cold, rainy day, so I wasn't sweating too much. I made Laurel Creek Shelter by noon, and had lunch there. But I decided not to reload on water, because my info was showing a creek three miles ahead. Except when I got there, the creek was running through farmland - not very safe to drink, even when chemically treated with Iodine.

By the time I got to Saver Hollow Shelter at 5 pm, I was down to .5 a liter or so, and the map was showing no water for the next 6 miles. Hence I had to stop there - which unfortunately meant a .3 mile walk, steeply downhill, to get to the shelter and its water source. After the downhill, I decided to call it a day after 12 miles. I'd have preferred to push on 2-3 more miles; but you generally have to camp where the water is, especially when all your dinner foods are dehydrated...


May 29, 2008

Today went in stages - first was seven miles of trail done before 1 pm, when I hit VA 621. I noticed that for the upcoming several miles, the AT ran parallel to the road, before they both were crossed by VA 620. So since my ankles were hurting (It's been an awful lot of ridge-walking the last few days, on slanting and sometimes loose racks) I decided to take a little road walk. I'm glad I did - the woods have been dull lately, and some farms, houses, churches and a rural fire station were a nice break. It was also nice looking up at the mountains for a change.

As I was walking, though, I was thinking about how close I was to Catawba. Catawba is where, at 4:30, some friends that I'd been trailing for weeks were meeting for dinner (I knew this from messages left in the shelters). So I decided to take a break by the side of the road, stick a thumb out and see what happened. After only 20 minutes I got a ride - and here is your trail magic - free fried chicken and beer thrown in, and dropped off at Catawba exactly on time.

Catawba, VA, has, from a hiker's perspective, a certain sort of perfection: a post office, a general store, a restaurant, and nothing else. But the general store also serves biscuits in the morning, is a great place to bum rides from nice locals, allows camping in the back yard (no charge), and even provides a garden hose for "showering". And the restaurant is family-style, all-you-can-eat southern cooking. Yeah, that's pretty much perfection.

After 2 1/2 hours of dinner, I camped behind the store and caught up with Trainwreck and Pearl who I'd not seen in a couple of weeks, and Butterfly Moon, who I'd not seen since mid-April. Good times.


May 30, 2008

Another weird day from a trail perspective. I leave my pack at the Catawba general store, the slackpack back over part of what I skipped yesterday - there's an interesting rock formation everyone says is not to be missed - then turn around and hike north again, making it back in time to eat dinner at Homeplace again, and after a couple hours given to digestion, I hit the trail an hour before dark, just going up one mile to a shelter before calling it a day.


May 31, 2008

15 hard, but spectacular, miles today. Went up McAfee Knob, a rocky peak with spectacular views, and crossed the Tinker Cliffs, a long rock ledge with equally spectacular views. Along the cliffs, the trail runs just a few feet away from a 50-foot drop - awesome stuff.

The walking over the last few days has been very hard, because it's been a lot of ridge walking, running right along the tops of mountains. On a profile map, this looks easy - no long, steep ups and downs - but in reality it has a ton of ups and downs, as you climb (literally climbing in many spots) up and down and over rocks.

But I've made decent time, thanks in part to the closest thing I've had to a partner for weeks. I've been walking a lot with Daisy who is 1) male, 2) Australian, 3) someone who hikes faster than I do, but not faster than I can. I've moved quickly through some hard miles just by getting behind him and not letting him get away. Most important, he's good company, and seems to think the same of me.

Still, I camp alone tonight, because I find an awesome spot with room for only one - hanging between two trees up on top of a knob, with a boulder to sit on and, with a view down over a reservoir 2000 feet below. Awesome.


June 1, 2008

Got up at 6 and was hiking by 7 am - going into town today. By 8:30, I'm at Tinker Creek. This is a spot I've been looking forward to, since Annie Dillard's book about the year she spent living along this stream is a personal favorite. It's an amazing book, even if for no other reason than that is one of the few books of spirituality that can speak to - and challenge - people of any or no faith. If you you've never read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, I recommend it highly.

Alas, where it crosses the AT, Tinker Creek is an ugly, muddy little stream not far from an interstate. Nonetheless, I put my feet into the squalid little Ganges before pushing on to my goal for the day - The Howard Johnson. Showers and laundry, resupply at Kroger, a couple calls, some Internet, and a lot of time sitting around the pool. Daisy was intending to resupply and push on, but the poolside is too tempting, and we end up splitting a room.


June 2, 2008

Run errands in town until 1 pm - new socks chief among them - then head out, making 11 miles before stopping at Wilson Creek Shelter. Highlight of the day, I suppose, was crossing Curry Creek, which is only significant because it lies on mile marker 725 - which is significant since it is 1/3 of 2175.


June 3, 2008

Another milestone of sorts today - hiked up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Actually hiked along it, actually, since the AT ran parallel to it for 8 miles, and the BRP is 1) much easier 2) nearly deserted on a weekday this time of year.

Needed the help as I had very low energy today. Have not been sleeping well. With help from the BRP, I still knock out 14 miles.


June 4, 2008

Start day with 3 miles down from Shelter to Jennings Creek, where I run into Daisy - he pushed on to here last night.

It's shipping up to be a really hot day, though, and I have other ideas. There's a developed campground only a couple miles from the trail. I head there and find that I can get what I'm looking for - hooks, line and bait. Jennings Creek is a stocked trout creek, and I aim to give it a go.

I spend the afternoon on a rock on the side of the creek, listening to Rosemary Clooney with my feet in the water, fishing line tied to my hiking pole. Of course, the one trout I catch is too small to keep, so the whole effort is just a disaster...

Mustang Sally spent the afternoon at the campground's pool, and did both our laundry to boot. We finally hike out at 5 pm, after it's cooled a bit, and we take a route back to the trail that leaves us near Bryant Ridge Shelter. Despite having spent three hours fishing, I still knocked off seven miles of trail.


June 5, 2008

Mustang Sally and I leave the shelter at 6:30 am - we've heard the forecast is for more high heat, and we want to avoid it. Working hard uphill, we knock off 10 miles by 1 pm. She calls it a day right there, at Thunder Hill Shelter, but at 4 pm I head out again and make 7 more miles before camping at Marble Springs.