A week later

It's been a while I know so this may take some time, I'm about a week behind so here goes...Saturday night I slept well, unlike the first night at the travel inn and when I awoke it felt nice to be able to turn on the heat in a cold morning. One thing this trip has done is help me get back to basics in life and appreciate the things we all take for granted; heat at the flick of a switch, a proper toilet (the privys are like holes in the ground and that's if youre lucky, if there is no privy you're pooping in the woods!), clean water and clean clothes, hot showers, information at the tip of your finger and comfy places to sleep! Immediately my mind turned to going back into the woods and the cold night forecast. It would have been easy to stay another night but as I had already arranged a lift I knew I was going out there. I stayed in bed as long as I could before showering and packing everything up ready for the ride.

I got dropped off at Dickeys Gap with the German couple Sandra and Bernt and set off in cold weather. It wasn't the most interesting of days hikes but it went surprisingly well, I covered 14 miles in 6 hours and arrived at the Partnership shelter around 4.30, six miles out of Marion again. Partnership shelter sleeps sixteen and there were only four people there so there was plenty of room. The shelter was two tier and I went upstairs as I knew it would be warmer. It certainly was an unusual shelter as it also had running water, a cold shower and a privy with toilet paper, luxury on all fronts in hiker world! It was also around the corner from Mt Rogers visitor centre where there was a phone and dumpster! That's something else I should have put on the list of everyday life: not having to carry your rubbish with you. The people there were Cold Taters, Grizzly Bear from Maine, Footage and Earthling who had hiked the trail last year and was on her way back from Trail days. Later on Sandra and Bernt, Chuckles, Taylor, Big Bird and Iceberg showed up but there was still plenty of room. Then a strange thing happened, Earthling had a car and offered to drive anyone to town if they wanted to eat or re-supply and I said no thanks! To have that opportunity for a free lift is so rare to turn it down is unbelievable but I'd already eaten and my pack was already loaded so I and Chuckles turned it down and stayed by the fire we had made. It was a cold night as forecast but upstairs in the shelter in my sleeping bag, sleeping liner and under quilt I was quite warm and as it was dark up there I didn't wake up until nine fifteen!

A guy comes to that shelter every morning to bring donuts so that was breakfast sorted and after a quick look around Mt Rogers visitor centre I was ready to go. It had been a cold start and I didn't really get on the trail until 10.30 but it was a gradual climb for the first couple of hours which soon warmed me up, the day itself also got slightly warmer and it wasn't a bad hike through different terrain again. Starting through the woods before coming out into open fields and farmland for a while. Then after stopping at the shelter for a quick lunch I learned of some trail magic at Lindamood School a couple of miles further along the trail. Once I got there it was yet again a welcome bonus. The school itself had shut down in 1939 and was a single room building which still had the old school desks and lesson list not to mention a list of punishments for wrongdoing, today's nanny state would be horrified by the penaltys! The magic itself was provided by the local Baptist church again and was amazing; sodas and water in cool boxes, fresh fruit, biscuits, crisps and cookies but also hand knitted woolly hats, and a big box containing amongst other things Ibruprofen, bite cream, heat pads, toothbrushes and toothpaste, combs and hand sanitiser. They seem to have everything covered apart from beer but as we are still in the south that was not surprising as a lot of places are no alcohol zones, they are still very strict about that in these parts. After taking what I wanted I headed off again through the fields and back into the woods. I noticed in a lot of the trees were these large cocoon type things which I later found out were full of caterpillar young, there were hundreds of them in this area and already some were coming out to start their feeding. After crossing rail lines (which was a first) I headed into Atkins with every intention of passing through, the trail goes directly past a motel, a couple of gas stations and a restaurant and as I got into town (it's not really a town, it's exactly as I described it and no more!) I caught up with Chuckles and Iceberg who were discussing sharing a room, once I got the idea in my head that was it, and when I said I was up for it a deal was soon struck to share a double room between the three of us. It's strange how out here on the trail you can meet someone one day and share a room the next, it's all about saving money and being out of the forecast rain. Just another example of the different way of life. Rock City and Cup of Tea were also stopping as were Thin Mint and her dad who was joining her for a week and Jeff who was in Marion aswell turned up later. We went to the restaurant and on the way back bought a few beers from the gas station and sat around chatting about hiker life!

After the change of plan I'd only covered 11.6 miles that day but I didn't regret it, it's always nice to shower, eat something that isn't trail food and sleep in a bed in a room. It was raining the next morning but I set out about the same time as the day before and again made steady progress covering 14.7 miles, during the day London Jack who I hadn't seen since Hot Springs passed me by, he hikes fast and an old guy called Lumber Mac pulled up by one of the roads and gave me a can of soda, another old hiker who dishes out trail magic. It was another grey cloudy day and at high elevation it was very misty. I hiked part of the day with Norway, who I hadn't seen in ages and Ranger and also passed the quarter way point of 547 miles, nicely marked by a sign. By the time I reached Knot Maul Branch shelter it had cleared up a bit and as there were some strangers in the shelter I opted to hammock in the camp grounds and luckily the night stayed dry.

Once again Wednesday was wet and misty and turned into a short day. Because of all the rain the trail was turning muddy and slippery and boy did it rain that day! There was a four and a half mile climb up to Chestnut Knob shelter and it rained all the way. Because it was so high up, the clouds made it difficult to see more than twenty yards in front of you and I almost missed the shelter! It was another shelter with a difference, a stone building with a door and when I reached it I knew I wasn't going any further that day! There were already a few people in there cooking their lunches at the table in the middle and not many of them moved on because of the weather. It was still early afternoon when I arrived and as some people had already claimed bunks I threw my stuff on the last available one and that was that. Throughout the afternoon and evening many more people sought refuge and although the poorly designed inside only slept eight we crammed in fifteen, people slept under the bunks, on the table, under the table and one guy Curly hung his hammock between the bunks. Oh and also there were two dogs in there aswell. Later on in the evening there must have been another fifteen camped outside, the bubble of people from trail days was already starting to catch up. Just for an hour the cloud lifted and there was a beautiful sunset before the gloom descended again. Familiar faces there were Rock City, Cup of Tea, Chuckles, Thin Mint, Pteradactyl, Sneaky Pete, Ranger, Norway and Pancake aswell as others including Rocky, Pinecone, Tortuga and Constantine. All in all quite a crowd.

The next morning the gloom lifted and for the first time in what seemed weeks the day was rain free. I covered 15.1 miles with a few hills but not much to see eventually reaching Laurel Creek camp ground at about 4pm. It was one of those lovely little campsites with a picnic table and lots of good camping spots, I got my hammock set up perfectly, had something to eat, washed my feet in the nearby river and felt quite content with a good day. Rock City and Cup of Tea arrived a bit before me and they started to build a fire which later on was a roaring success. Once again Pancake, Thin Mint and her dad and Chuckles were camping and Chuckles girlfriend was visiting and as she had driven up she brought beer, cheese, bread and strawberries. A very pleasant evening to round off a good trail day. 

And so to Friday which was a big day for me for two reasons, more of which later. I started out before 9am after a quick breakfast and soon started sweating going up a short steep climb. Pancake, Rock City and Cup of Tea were all heading into the small town of Bland to re-supply but as I had enough food I carried on past and was once again on my own. The terrain was slightly different as it followed the main road for a while before eventually heading back into the woods for a six mile stretch without any map markings which means you don't really know how far you've covered. I've worked out that on average I do about two miles an hour so I can sort of guess where I am but it's obviously not an exact science. Water was scarce along this stretch, well not so much scarce as none existent but it wasn't hot so I didn't have to carry too much and there was a road with an unreliable water source at the end of the six miles where I had originally planned to camp that night. Anyway, just as I thought I should be reaching the road I was ambling along minding my own business when I heard a loud commotion in the undergrowth just where I had passed. I looked around and my heart raced as I saw two bear cubs followed by their mother running in the opposite direction! I must have walked straight past them. For all of my wanting to see a bear, a mother and cubs is probably not the best thing to come across. My first reaction was not to run but to reach for my camera, however my second reaction was to move quickly. Adrenaline was pumping through me and as I got a little distance I turned and took a quick snap of the mother staring back at me making sure I wasn't following them. I wouldn't say I was scared but I nearly crapped myself and after hurrying down the trail I came to the road and realised what had just happened! It was a truly memorable experience to see these animals in the wild, the mother was a very large bear and would have been very protective of her cubs so to see something like that was a special moment. My original plan to camp near there was out of the window, no way was I camping on my own so close to where they were! Because of this I decided to push on to the next shelter and when I reached it I had covered 18.8 miles, a new personal best! With the adrenaline still pumping my feet and ankles didn't feel too bad and I excitedly told my story to the other hikers already there. It had been due to rain that evening so I bagged the last place in the shelter and felt very satisfied with the day behind me.

It did rain that night and into the next morning and I left Jenny Knob shelter at about 8am but I hadn't slept that well on the hard wooden floor and coupled with the long day before I wasn't really feeling it. My main plan was to go to Trents Grocery which was a half mile off the trail where you could do a small re-supply and get hot food, typical American fare Hot Dogs, Burgers and the such like. With the rain making the trail even wetter and slicker and a long downhill into Trents I was getting more and more angry and frustrated at my slow progress. Half the battle of the trail is as much mental as physical and I wasn't mentally into it that morning and after finally reaching the grocery half a mile off the trail I sat down feeling like I didn't want to go any further for the day. Rock City and Cup of Tea had caught me up and they were feeling exactly the same and when they said they were ringing a shuttle to take them into Pearisburg I jumped at the chance to join them. The days hiking was over before midday with only 6.2 miles covered. Whilst waiting for the shuttle a whole gang of bikers pulled in on a charity run and so there we were bikers and hikers outside a grocery store in the heart of Virginia, an interesting mix! Once we reached town I checked into the motel and chilled out for a while taking my time to sort through my bag. It was only a one night stop as we arranged with the shuttle guy to be picked up again at 9am and taken back to the trail head where we had left. I was going to re-supply but then realised I was coming back to town on Monday and only needed one nights food which I still had. To my surprise Hot Rod and Slow Poke were staying at the same motel so the five of us went out to the Mexican restaurant over the road which was very pleasant, even more so when the twins insisted on picking up the bill! HR and SP are a great pair and kept saying how great it was that their favourite people were all back together. I keep bumping into them and they had travelled with Rock City and Cup of Tea for about a month earlier on in the journey. They later suggested that the three of us skipped forward to rejoin them and travel together in our own little bubble. They had slack packed 20 miles further on from Pearisburg so were over forty miles ahead in total. To be honest I thought about it but after missing those miles earlier it wasn't really something I wanted to do even though it would have been a laugh travelling with them.  The girls remained non committal so I assumed they weren't going to either. I retired fairly early that night and set my alarm for 7am ready to hit the trail again in the morning.

Saturday was supposed to be a nice day and we got to the trailhead at about 9.45 and soon hit Dismal Falls which was a little bit off the trail but worth the extra walking to see another little beauty spot. With the sun shining and a short day the day before I felt pretty good. The  trail was pretty flat until the first shelter of the day and went through a pine forest with lots of little bridges over streams and although it was still very muddy in places I got a good speed going and had covered eight miles in about three hours before stopping for lunch where I met up again with Pancake. Also having lunch were the German couple who I hadn't seen in a few days. The afternoon was a bit more strenuous with a long uphill to tackle but I still managed a good pace until Big Horse Gap where all of a sudden the terrain changed to very rocky and the clouds rolled in again dumping hail, rain, thunder and lightning on me! I was getting sick of the weather, it just seemed to rain every day! Apparently Virginia is known for this but even the locals said this month had been exceptional for the amount they had had. When I got to the road which led to Woods Hole Hostel I saw Rock City waiting and when I asked what she was doing she surprised me by saying she had decided to skip thirty miles to join Hot Rod and Slow Poke and was waiting for a shuttle! Cup of Tea didn't want to so they had split which was a shock as they had been hiking together for a long time. I understood why, as I've said before you have to hike your own hike and do what you feel is right. What's right for one person might not be right for another but I was still surprised, I wished her luck and set off the final 2.3 miles to the shelter. The thunder showers continued and I was relieved when I got to the shelter and found plenty of space but it soon filled up with Pancake, Constantine, Tortuga, Ranger and a few others, so much so that people had to start camping. A couple of other English guys turned up White Noise and John Boy so all of a sudden their was an English bubble. As I'd got there quite late the evening passed quickly and it was soon hiker midnight and time to turn in.

I rolled out of Docs Knob shelter before nine knowing I only had 9.3 miles back into Pearisburg. When I was in town on Saturday I'd booked a room in the Plaza motel for Monday and Pancake was happy to share the room to reduce costs so I didn't need to rush but the morning went well, a couple of nice views which had been lacking so far in Virginia and a steady climb before a very steep downhill which wasn't easy in the mud and I ended up on my arse near the end cursing the conditions again! Myself, Pancake, Cup of Tea and Sneaky Pete hitched a ride into town and Pete asked if he could sleep on the floor to reduce costs even more which was good. We checked in, gave the lady all the laundry and chilled out for the rest of the day. Once again there were a lot of hikers in town so we sat around for a while before going to Hardee's for a burger and then I returned to the room to update Facebook, Twitter and start writing this! It's now Tuesday morning and the decision about what to do today is still to be made. Pancake is waiting for a letter from the UK to be delivered to the Post Office and Pete is waiting for a package. I've still got to re-supply and as my knees are aching it looks like I might stay tonight and head on out in the morning, we shall see! The next re-supply is not for another 95 miles so about six days of food is needed so I'm going to get moving, go shopping and make a decision on what to do. Once again you are all right up to date, hope you're enjoying the journey!

007

Licensed to Hike!!