Greetings from Bland VA, not like vanilla ice cream, and I will not make any more food references from now on. We are making this entry as Dewey is in absentia for the time being. After hiking 123 miles from Damascus, he returned for Trail Days on Friday with two friends we have made on the trail. He was to return to his exit point yesterday, and will probably catch up to us sometime before New Hampshire.
Virginia has been a great trail state so far. The trails are well maintained and usually well graded. The shelters have largely been recently replaced and are constructed out of a log kit. One very recently constructed shelter we stayed at close to Mt Rogers State Park Headquarters had two levels and could sleep 18. It even had its own hot water shower, a welcomed luxury. A shower now seems to take on a completely different meaning these days and almost reaches a religious experience!
The Mount Rogers highlands at 5500 ft were spectacular. These high bald areas are inhabited by several thousand wild ponies. These horses have no fear of humans and will willingly eat out of your hand. We brought a few carrots for just such a purpose. (We have pictures but have problems downloading them into the blog from the computers we are using at hotels, libraries, etc. These will have to wait until I can send Kathy a CD copy in the mail.)
We have teamed up with two other thru- hikers for the time being, 'almost lucky' a 26 year old from central PA, who will be doing a three month internship with ATC after he completes the trail. 'Circadian' is a special-ed teacher from Mass, now living in New Haven, who has an excellent sense of humor and keeps us all entertained. He has a pregnant wife and two small children at home (wow!).
In the meantime, Ryan, from now on referred to as "Tres" maniac, has joined us for 10 to 12 days of trail magic, flying in yesterday from Portland to Roanoke, Va. There we arranged for a shuttle service with Homer who hiked the trail in 2002 with his wife and two children then aged 8 and 11 years! After dropping Tres off at the motel, Homer had the foresight to know that Uno might be having a problem getting a ride into Bland, as he had to walk the distance 5 years ago. Sure enough, about two miles out of town he found me with my thumb out and frustration somewhat high.
The last three days on the trial have been somewhat lonely, as many of the thru-hikers had been shuttled back to Damascus. I spent one night completely by myself in the Davis Path shelter. The next day, I wanted to cover much of the distance to Bland, so I went a full thirty miles to Jenkins shelter. This took me over Chestnut Knob at 4400 ft., which was another beautiful bald area. The shelter had originally been the cabin for a forest ranger who had manned the tower, long ago dismantled. The building itself was stone, fully enclosed, and could easily sleep 12. What a view from the top! It would have been great to stay there, but at 4:30, 10 miles of further hiking was calling me, so I settled for making dinner, and continuing on my way, arriving at the next shelter at 8:45PM.
Our plan now is to take easy hikes over the next couple days, either waiting for Dewey to close the 55 mile gap, or we will simply wait for him at the next hostel stop in Pearisburg. Next update on our wild adventures to come from there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment