Virginia!

VIRGINIA: Pearisburg to Waynesboro

Back on the trail after Pearisburg we had some beautiful days with some crazy river crossings--all the rain we had avoided during our stay in town really did a number on the water level. The trail in Virginia is often not much different than what we'd already seen in the South, with the exception of all the cow fields. At first the occasional field was a treat; wide open clearings had been rare so far on the trail, but now it seemed like we were walking through several a day--and some of them even had cows grazing in them (we made sure to treat our water). After a few days of hiking Mango and Johnny Appleseed split up for a bit. We parted ways at Sarver Hallow Shelter, a crazy nice and new shelter almost half a mile off trail--but worth the walk. Deer walked all around the shelter and even came right up to it while we were in it. Over the next two days or so Mango went ahead to visit Carrie just off trail, and Johnny Appleseed took it easy and rested his hip. After a little over a day apart we met back up again and also caught up with our pals Goose and Always Fine. The next morning the four of us all got up before the sun to head to McAfee Knob for the sunrise. There was some pretty intense cloud cover, but the sky was still beautiful. Since we had started so early we made it to Daleville by lunchtime and had settled into our hotel room not long after. We ended up taking a zero day the next day because Johnny Appleseed went to the clinic and was told he had hip tendinitis, and to rest it/take it easy however much he could. We ended up dodging another rain storm that day, so the zero fell in a pretty good place. We headed out the next day with big plans to make it to Buena Vista (and then to Lexington) for Mango's accepted students day at Washington and Lee. We got picked up at the trailhead by Mr. Webster and headed into the city of Lexington, where he gave us the grand tour. The next day Johnny bummed around town while Mango was at school, and by that afternoon--thanks to Mr. Webster!--we were back out on the trail. Mango met a lot of professors and future classmates at ASD, it was exciting and overwhelming to think beyond the AT and imagine living there for the next four years! However, for now the woods are our home. We only did about 3 miles that afternoon, but man it was one intense climb! We spent that night at Cow Camp Shelter--and what an insane night it was (the night of the tornadoes). It stormed all night with heavy rains and intense winds, blowing down branches. The next morning it was still raining pretty hard, so we got a bit of a late start in the interest of staying dry. From there it was two decent days of hiking to Waynesboro, our next stop just before the Shenandoahs.
Waynesboro was possibly the best trail town we've been to yet. It's about 3 or 4 miles off trail, but there is no trouble at all getting a ride in. At Rockfish Gap (a visitors center/parking area at the start of the Shennies) there was a list posted on a fence of all kinds of Trail Angels who would pick you up and give you a ride in for free--you just had to pick one and dial. We were brought to the YMCA because they offer free camp sites for thru hikers, as well as free use of all the facilities AND a goodie bag of candy and toiletries! Before heading home, the nice older man who was shuttling us brought us around town showing us where the resupply store was, and then finally dropped us at the Ming Garden, an all you can eat Chinese food restaurant. Back at the YMCA campground we cowboy camped, so when we woke up the next morning we were covered in dew. Being wet and cold, we opted to chill at the YMCA for a bit instead of heading right out to the trail. We were back on trail by noon and began our Shenandoah National Park experience. We had great weather, low 60's with some clouds and a steady breeze, combined with the soft earth and easy grades to make for some big days. The SNP was filled with wildlife! We saw rabbits and deer daily and Mango spotted a four foot black snake on trail one day! We met a lot of day hikers, sections hikers, and weekenders that all praised us for our perseverance and high spirits. One thing I did not like about SNP was how close the Skyline Drive was at ALL times, it was impossible to feel completely at home when you hear a thundering motorcycle overpower the simple chirp of a bird. However, this also meant easy access to WaySides and other eateries which were abundant throughout the Shenandoahs! However, the restaurants also slowed us down and made us feel invincible! We had "planned" to do 64 miles non-stop at a slow pace and arrive at Mango's aunt and uncle's pad a night early so we could have more time with the family. Well, 10 hours, 28 miles, and a lot of hiking in the dark and rain convinced us otherwise. We stopped at a shelter around midnight to get some necessary shut-eye. And what a lucky stop that was! Sleeping already was our good friend Spam who we hadn't seen since North Carolina! So, the next morning was all catching-up and who did this, what happened here, and a lot of smiles. We left camp a little later and decided to try our "hike long but slow" method and arrive at our destination Thursday morning. Pshh it was only 36 miles...W started late in the day and hiked until midnight where we reached a shelter just 12 miles shy, so we figured a nap would be a good idea before we continued north. At 4am we awoke, packed up, and kept our feet moving. Finally, after four long, tiresome hours we sat down on some rocks and waited for the faces of family to gather our spirits and deliver us to memory foam clouds buried deep in the mountains where we rested our tired and sore bodies and minds. And now, in a few minutes we will again be hiking north into more familiar territory.

Peace and Love, Johnny AppleSeed and Mango

VIRGINIA: Damascus to Pearisburg

We ended up leaving Damascus around 4 in the afternoon with a 9 mile day planned, however when we got to the shelter around nightfall and found it full, we figured a little more night hiking wouldn't hurt us and continued on to the next shelter. The next morning we left the shelter with two friends, LaLa and Moose, who we ended up sticking with for most of Virginia. We hiked up Whitecap Mountain and Mt. Rogers (the two highest peaks in Virginia) in sub-par conditions before ending up in the Highlands. The Highlands were a very different landscape than we had been used to on the trail, and supposedly wild ponies wander all around. Reading the logbooks we found out that the ponies enjoy messing with hikers, like our friend South Butt who had his pack slobbered on by the ponies or our friend Denver was violently chased by a lonely mare that wanted a "friend".  We figured that since we badly wanted to see the wild ponies they messed with us by standing us up! How rude. The next day we were back under the familiar cover of trees and away from the empty plains of the Highlands. We were walking along at a pretty good pace and were ahead of schedule, so when we ran into a man and his dog who offered to give hikers rides into town in his ambulance for free, we figured why not? After a quick lunch at a dinner we were back on the trail. The storm that was supposed to happen that night seemed to be starting a bit earlier, and we ended up running the last four miles to Trimpi Shelter. We spent at least the first hour in the shelter trying to dry out and stay warm with our buddies Moose and LaLa; we were all spread out and had our wet gear hanging everywhere when we heard more people coming. At first we were bummed cause we were cold and wet and wanted all the space we could get...but then we saw who it was--IceAxe and Mancub! Quick breakdown: IceAxe is going to be a Triple Crowner this year when he finishes the AT, in '09 he hiked north on the Pacific Crest Trail, in '10 he hiked north on the Continental Divide Trail, and he will complete the TC on top of Katahdin in Maine. Mancub is a fellow New Englander who is famous on the AT for doing crazy miles (35+), with shin splints, in sandals, during winter. They both started March 15 and are more than a week ahead (ultralight insanity!). They told us we would definitely be expecting one more guest in the shelter that night, a fellow Triple Crowner and friend of IceAxe named Handlebar (who wore a hiking kilt!!). We spent one of the most unreal nights on the trail crammed into a tiny shelter, hiding from the rain, listening to Iceaxe and Handlebar exchange epic stories about climbing insane mountains all across the country. The magic of the night continued the next afternoon when we found some trail magic that Handlebar had dropped off at a shelter up the trail from us. Before long we were at the outskirts of Atkins staying at the Relax Inn and bouncing back and forth between gas stations getting some eats. After Atkins the next stop was Pearisburg, and we looked forward to being in a real town. We figure it would take us about 5 days of hiking to get to Pearisburg, and it would have...if we hadn't done another crazy night hike! We were on our fourth day of hiking and had stopped by a gas station/dinner deal just off trail for an extra treat. Back on the trail with full stomachs we somehow convinced ourselves that instead of hiking just a few miles short of Pearisburg we could go the whole distance that night. We couldn't convince Moose or Lala to join us on this adventure, so we headed out just the two of us. We ended up getting into town around 11 at night and had plans to get to the 24 hour Wal-mart for some victory food. It took us about an hour to get to the Wal-mart...but we made it, and ended up staying over 3 hours just bumming around the store. We left at about 3:30 in the morning and decided to check out the hospital so that Johnny Appleseed could get his feet looked at. If you ever wanna beat the wait at an emergency room, we recommend going in just before 4am on a Friday morning. It turned out that Johnny had a case of trench foot. His gortex shoes kept too much moisture in and his feet got a bunch of infections. The doctors there hooked him up with some antibiotics and a foot creme and ordered at least a few days rest. Things seemed to be looking pretty good...the only question left was what to do for the rest of the night? We tried crashing on the floor of the hospital, but were quickly approached and offered a ride. A very friendly cop gave us a ride in the cruiser (Johnny got to ride in the back) to the cheapest motel we could find where we had to wake up the attendant and get a room. We were bummed thinking that we would have to pay for an extra night since we were checking in so early, but the lady really dug hikers and ended up hooking us up with the best price she could give. We stayed a few nights, dug the town of Pearisburg, dodged some nasty rain, and healed our bodies. Before long we were headed back to the trail and onward to our next stop: Daleville.


TO BE CONTINUED...

VIRGINIA: Introduction

Oh my my, where do we begin! So much has happened since our last post, actually we've doubled our miles since Damascus (we're at mile 984)! We are currently resting and relaxing at my aunt and uncle's cabin just a mile off the trail with my brother. We got here after hiking 18 hours (another Damascus '11 all-nite hike repeat) so we could have more time to relax and visit with my relatives. Big shout out and thanks to my aunt, uncle, and Jon for being so kind and generous allowing us to crash here and call this home for three nights and hooking us up with massive amounts of food! This place is dabomb.com!

So, since we have mountains and mountains to write about, we're going to break down our Virginia experience into a couple of chapters. Please sit back, drink some tea, maybe munch on some poptarts OR our new favorite the NABISCO snak-saks (holla IceAxe), and live the experience!

"Mission control we are go for throttle up"