As it happens, I made it through the last 10 days on the trail; 10 days without staying in a town. How would I describe it: mud. This seems quite appropriate and fitting. The last 3 weeks have been very wet. Fortunately for me, most of the heavy rain seemed to happen at night while I tried to sleep in the shelters, or prior to this, while I was in town. We are told by the meteorologists that the entire country has been affected by an unusual weather pattern and jet stream configuration causing an 'omega' block, giving the Midwest continuous sunshine and the east and west coasts a rainy unsettled pattern. Looks like I should have planned on hiking the Great Prairie, Cow-flop Trail after all this year. Each day for the past three weeks has had an interesting combination of clouds, sun, and the threat of rain. Some days, we wake to a bluebird sky, but could end with thunderstorms. Although we have not had a prolonged soaking rain, the cumulative effect of this rain on the trail has produced an overabundance of mud. Additionally it has been unusually cold. At altitude, even one week ago, I was waking to temps in the upper 30's, making me question if I had unwittingly been teleported to New England, instead of Virginia. I have not seen snow recently, but friends in the Graceland Highlands two weeks ago saw six inches of snow with muddy wet trails, forcing their self evacuation back to Damascus to await a warm-up and drying of the trails. After making the final descent into Pearisburg, the weight on each foot was more mud than shoe. I spent an hour in the hostel there washing the boots with water and a steel wool sink pad. I was quite glad to give hiking a week break to return to Maine and family for Sean's graduation from UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine, and give the weather one more week to straighten out.
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| Moonrise over Walnut Mountain |
I carefully worked out the hiking intervals needed over ten days to cover the 163 miles to Pearisburg, and found it could not include another town stop. Fortunately, there were two stores where some resupply was possible without leaving the trail, so I incorporated this into my plans and shopping in in Damascus. After a pleasant stay at the Hikers Inn, where I stayed in a room with a Queen bed that actually had sheets, I loaded up the backpack with 8 days of food and set out on the Virginia Creeper Trail, a converted rails to trails multi-use trail. The predominant form of recreation seemed to be bicycle, and most cyclists were ferried by van to the top of the trail in the mountains and coasted at high speeds back to town. The AT intersects, and for short distances follows this rail-trail, but finds at least one 1500' climb up a side ridge, before returning back to the Creeper Trail. Those who are purists follow the AT, but those less inclined to be complete in their efforts to see every white blaze while going north, could be tempted to continue on the Creeper trail alone and 'blue-blaze', thus eliminating 2-3 miles and 1500' of climb. Although tempting, I followed the way of the white blaze. The new poles had arrived at the Post Office, and the old sent back to Orono. It felt great to once again have a good pole in each hand, and the Helinox poles seemed a much better choice over the Z-poles. As we continued north, I was impressed with the increased hiker traffic heading south. These were hikers doing an extended section hike with the purpose of concluding their hike as they entered Damascus for Trail Days. This event can attract an estimated 10,000 present and past hikers. I was all the more happy I had timed my visit to Damascus to avoid this event.
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| Max Patch |
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| Crossing Virginia border to Damascus |
The second day out presented two of the most significant climbs for the week, both on the same day. The first climb brought me to the summit of 5800' Whitetop Mountain. There I ran into Ragawort again, who had camped 2 miles up from where I started. As I passed, he kept up with me for the rest of the day. We seemed quite matched for pace and endurance, and spent a fair amount of time hiking together over the next couple days. The second climb was over Mt. Rogers, then on to the Graceland Highlands, home for the 'wild' ponies. The horses are left on their own for three seasons, but are corralled and brought to farms over each winter. Consequently, they are easily approachable and have no fear of humans. A sign warns us to neither feed or pet the horses. I think of Sean nearly incited a stampede nine years ago when he offered a carrot to one or two of the ponies. At Elk Park, we found Trail Angels who offered us salads, fruits, cookies, sandwiches, and Gatorade. The gentleman had hiked the trail in 2013 and knew what we would crave most, so salads were first on the menu. They gave us small somemore packs with chocolate, graham crackers and marshmallows. We took advantage of this at Wise shelter that night.
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| Trail Angels at Elk Park Gap |
At 4 AM, the heavens seemed to open up and the thunder, and lightning. The deluging rain that rolled off the roof seemed to accumulate in front of us, making a moat (no alligators), and bringing into question whether or not we might need to swim to escape the shelter. It was a good day to turn over and go back to sleep hoping that in a little more time, the rain might stop. After breakfast, and as soon as I put the pack cover on, the rain seemed to suddenly dissipate! This has actually been a recurrent theme and observation leading me to conclude that my pack cover is magical. As the day progressed, the sun came out which facilitated the 20 mile hike to Trimpi shelter. This proved to be an old stone and mason shelter with a fire place built in the 1960's.
The next day, I awoke to a strange blinding, glowing orb in the sky, something I had a hard time identifying at first, but later felt with some degree of certainty that it was indeed the sun. After leaving in the early morning, I passed through several fields with livestock, (which is considerably better than deadstock!). The morning sun on the dew laden grass was beautiful to see, but my boots quickly seemed to fill with water.
We hiked through a long climb to Partnership Shelter, located on the edge of the parking lot for the Park Headquarters for Mt. Rogers, on the road to Marion., Va. The shelter is new and heavily coveted by hikers as it can hold up to 16 hikers. There is a phone outside the park HQ building for hikers to make local calls, and yes both Pizza Hut and the local Chinese restaurant will deliver to the gate from town, (cash only!) Finally, the shelter has it's own shower! Usually, the water is heated with propane, but when I arrived, it seemed someone had forgotten to pay the bill. Undeterred, and facing many more days without a shower, I took a very refreshing cold shower in my hiking clothes (multi-tasking,) with only one consequence that George described so well on Seinfeld. I then laid out in the warm sun for an hour, drying and enjoying lunch, while most of my hiking companions went into town for resupply.
After lunch, I continued to hike the last 6.8 miles to Chatfield shelter. A stream flowed in front of the shelter and there were several hikers there, none of whom I had met before. I apparently decided to make a spectacular entrance however to really impress them, and again fell spread eagled in the stream after stepping on a slimy rock. This once again earned me a score of 8.5 (damn that Swiss judge and his 8.5!). No permanent damage, but that did hurt, and an immersion of my lower extremities in the cold water did help. This is the one thing that all hikers fear: an unexpected fall causing enough trauma to take you off the trail. So far, so good!
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| Ragawort on muddy trail outside of Pearisburg |
The next morning once again, I awoke early to the sound of pounding rain on the metal roof, though this time, there was no thunder or lightning. Once again, after donning the pack cover, and leaving at 7:30, the rain ceased, like Moses and the Red Sea. The day improved with the sun appearing later in the day. As I passed through Grossclose, passing under I-81. I found some provisions at the wayside Shell station to supply me for the next two days that was not sugar, sugar, chips and candy. I bought two out of three Ramen noodle packages they had for sale. After my mad shopping spree, I went to The Barn, home of the Hungry Hiker Burger, which is not available at 9:30 in the morning. So I had an egg/bacon entree, sandwiched between two wonderful pieces of toasted Wonder Bread. After this second breakfast, I walked on to Knot Maul shelter and settled in for the night. There I met Slo-Poke and Hot-Rod, two middle aged, thru-hiking twins from Florida who passed through. I had heard of these guys and how funny they were from other hikers (reputation travels fast). They did not disappoint. That night however, I shared the shelter with two young men. One of them had a snore that was Moe, Larry, Curley, all rolled up into one, and sent bears running for miles around. I can usually sleep through most shelter snoring, but not the case that night. Each of these guys had no sense of hiker etiquette, as they arrived late and were still night hiking at 9:30, well after the rest of us had gone sleep. They then insisted we make room for them in the shelter and one stayed up well past 11PM, showing really no respect for other hikers there. They were both, of course, still sleeping in their bags at 7:30 the next day as I left.
The day started out well for hiking with a bluebird sky and cool temps. I had wonderful views to the south with Mt. Rogers and Graceland highlands in the distance, as I climbed up through bald pasturelands. Despite a favorable forecast however, the day clouded up, and I had rain by the time I reached Wallace Gap. This time the pack cover could not save me, and the cold rain and sleet (at 4500') persisted. The ridge proved to be difficult footing and a tiring section to navigate with many short ups and downs before finally descending to Jenkins shelter.
That night was a cold one once again, with a low in the upper 30's (really, Virginia?) That day was ideal hiking weather as the sun did stay out, but ineffectively as the temps never got above 60. We made a short day of this to Helvey's Mill shelter, in order to give myself a mini-rest day, arriving there at 2PM, allowing a nap, reading, and generalized goofing off. The hiking traffic had really thinned out by now as everyone who cared was at Trail Days in Damascus.
The next day promised a room for rent with a shower in a store only a half mile off the trail, as long as I could hike to Trenten store and reach there early enough in the day. Once agin, I caught up to Ragawort, and we hiked most of the day together. I have to admit that if you hike with a companion who matches your pace, the conversation makes the day go by very quickly. I told him about the room for rent, and he agreed to go half on the rental. We got the room which included a shower and laundry for $22.50 per person. We of course availed ourselves of the restaurant and had a great burger with fries that night and scrambled eggs the following morning.
We did set off early the next day as the weather promised intermittent rain for the next three days. Our goal was to reach the famous hostel of Woods Hole, and we knew the rain would bring everyone off the trails in search of a dry place for the night. I had wanted to stay here with Ryan 9 years ago, but the family had closed it 10 days prior to our arrival, as they felt Tilley, the grandmother, was no longer physically capable of running the operation. Fortunately, the grand-daughter Neville and her husband Michael took over the operation 2 - 3 years later and have transformed the place into a farm that is nothing less than awesome. This put a special spring in our step and we covered the 15 miles before 1:15 PM. Once there, we rewarded our efforts with a pint sized blueberry/banana smoothie. The hostel is a favorite with hikers. We stay in a barn with clean mattresses and fitted sheet. It includes a shower and for extra charges, they prepare dinner and breakfast. In a kitchen smaller than mine at home in Orono, they prepared dinner for over 30 people. There were over 20 cold frames, from which they picked the fresh components of a wonderful salad. The bunkhouse, as predicted, filled fast, and people were being turned away by 3PM.
The final day's hike was again foggy and damp, though no frank rain, as I made my way over the last 11 miles to Pearisburg. Ragawort left at 6:15, so I had no chance to wish him good-bye or safe hike. Hopefully we'll see each other again up the trail. This reminds me of the many chance encounters we experience on the trail, and the different people we meet. I'll return to the trail a week later, and the cast of characters will have completely changed. This is just another opportunity to meet more new trail people. We are all bonded by a common cause and purpose. Being unsuccessful in my attempt to secure a rental car in Pearisburg from the local Enterprise Agency, (who apparently have a reputation of never having any cars to rent), I arranged for a local shuttle with Don Raines, who brought me to Blacksburg. From there, a bus picked me up the next morning, and for $4, drove me the hour to Roanoke Airport. So here I am in Orono, on 'vacation' from my present job of hiking the AT. The timing of the visit is perfect for attending Sean's graduation, as well as being here for Kathy's 60th birthday. We'll be back on the trail as of May 27th.
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| Woods Hole Hostel, Pearisburg, Va. |
We did set off early the next day as the weather promised intermittent rain for the next three days. Our goal was to reach the famous hostel of Woods Hole, and we knew the rain would bring everyone off the trails in search of a dry place for the night. I had wanted to stay here with Ryan 9 years ago, but the family had closed it 10 days prior to our arrival, as they felt Tilley, the grandmother, was no longer physically capable of running the operation. Fortunately, the grand-daughter Neville and her husband Michael took over the operation 2 - 3 years later and have transformed the place into a farm that is nothing less than awesome. This put a special spring in our step and we covered the 15 miles before 1:15 PM. Once there, we rewarded our efforts with a pint sized blueberry/banana smoothie. The hostel is a favorite with hikers. We stay in a barn with clean mattresses and fitted sheet. It includes a shower and for extra charges, they prepare dinner and breakfast. In a kitchen smaller than mine at home in Orono, they prepared dinner for over 30 people. There were over 20 cold frames, from which they picked the fresh components of a wonderful salad. The bunkhouse, as predicted, filled fast, and people were being turned away by 3PM.
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| Ponies in Graceland Highlands |
The final day's hike was again foggy and damp, though no frank rain, as I made my way over the last 11 miles to Pearisburg. Ragawort left at 6:15, so I had no chance to wish him good-bye or safe hike. Hopefully we'll see each other again up the trail. This reminds me of the many chance encounters we experience on the trail, and the different people we meet. I'll return to the trail a week later, and the cast of characters will have completely changed. This is just another opportunity to meet more new trail people. We are all bonded by a common cause and purpose. Being unsuccessful in my attempt to secure a rental car in Pearisburg from the local Enterprise Agency, (who apparently have a reputation of never having any cars to rent), I arranged for a local shuttle with Don Raines, who brought me to Blacksburg. From there, a bus picked me up the next morning, and for $4, drove me the hour to Roanoke Airport. So here I am in Orono, on 'vacation' from my present job of hiking the AT. The timing of the visit is perfect for attending Sean's graduation, as well as being here for Kathy's 60th birthday. We'll be back on the trail as of May 27th.
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| Wild Azaleas |
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