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Not a bad nights sleep. The tent site was almost flat and my foot did not
bother me that much, so I slept well. Now if we could do something about the
birds singing at 5:30AM we might get to sleep in once in a while. Up at 6:30AM
and packing things up. There was a cold wind blowing and the humidity was high.
Swelling in the ankle was minimal and not much discoloration. CC had all her
stuff on and said not to fire the stove up she just wanted to get moving and
warm up. Without a shelter to get out of the wind in, walking is the quickest
way to get warm. Had a cold, quick breakfast and was on the trail by 7:45. We
had to get to town for a re-supply stop. It was 14 miles away and we did not want
to get in too late to get things done. CC sets the pace, she has to take one and
a half steps to my one and even with a game ankle I will soon leave her lagging
behind. We were on top a ridge that separates Virginia and West Virginia. The terrain was rolling and stones were tolerable - walking was fast. Our camp was between Dickinson Gap and Groundhog Trail at about 3,350', we
bounced between 3,300' and 3,400' for the first six miles. Our path took us
through Symm's Gap and past the Rice Field Shelter. The views from both were
somewhat obscured by low clouds, but we could look down on some of the WV towns.
After Rice Field Shelter we started dropping down into the New River Valley and
town. Made the trip in record time, 14 miles in seven hours total time. This
included stops to adjust clothing and a 20 minute lunch stop. My ankle held
up very until we were at the bottom of the hill, then it started to weaken a bit.
Part way down the hill, CC jumped to the side of the trail and flew some 15
feet down the trail then stopped and spun around. "Watch out for that snake!"
she yelled. There was a four foot plus long Black Snake to the up hill side of
the trail. He was holding his ground and acting a bit defensive. I tried to get
a picture, but he was blending in too well. That and CC was quite anxious to be
out of the area.
When we hit the hard top road into town, things were not matching my map, and
there seemed to be no blazes to follow. I asked directions into town and off we
went. By this time the clouds had blown away and the sun was blistering down the
temp was near 80. In the parking lot a fellow was hooking up an equipment
trailer and asked where I had come from. When I told him Harpers Ferry, WV his
jaw dropped. I love to see the reaction of folks who are not hiking when they
find out we have walked almost 400 miles to get here. It was about another mile
to the motel.
Just before we got to the motel a Jeep pulls to the side of the road and the
driver jumps out and walked up to us. He did the Thru Hike last year and was in
town visiting. Wanted to know if we needed a ride anywhere. We told him we
needed to get our room and clean up. Made arrangements to be picked up at
4:30PM and off he went. We walked the last 100 yards to the motel only to find
the office locked. We rang the bell to no avail, walked around looking for a
staff member and found no one. Being unsure how far the rest of town was (the
map in my book showing town is not to scale), we sat in the chairs by the front
door and waited. About an hour later a woman drove up and apologized for being
gone and said she was out of rooms. However, as we had sat patiently waiting she
would drive us to the nearest motel so we could get a room. The "Trail Magic"
was strong today. We threw our packs in the back of her SUV and headed up the
hill that we did not want to walk up. CC asked her to redirect the young man who was giving us the ride so as not to be rude and
she said no problem.
Got our room, did the shower thing and felt much better. Sponge baths and baby
wipes can only clean so much and we have yet to find a good stream on a hot day
:-) We waited until 4:40 before heading out. There was no sign of our ride. We
headed for town proper. After walking two blocks our ride whipped to the curb
and off we went. This fellow had a eye for hikers and stopped to pick up
everyone he could stuff in the rig. He would run us anywhere we needed to go -
dropping off and picking up hikers as he drove. What a saint.
Got the pictures on a CD and had a fine Mexican supper, then went food
shopping. Got back to the room and the manager showed us where the laundry was
so we could do our wash. It was free and so was the soap. More Trail Magic. Made
a few phone calls and tried to plan the next push.
We have 15 days to cover 167 miles down to Damascus, VA. We have to be in FL
for our son's college graduation on 9 June. We have to average just over 10 miles per day
to do it. It is a workable plan. We have four days of food now that will get us
to Bland, VA. We will buy six days food there and head for Troutdale and a
re-supply box. Then we start the final five day push into Damascus.
Thanks to everyone who had made comments on our trip. As I have said before,
Matt sends us them once a week and it really makes our day to read them. I am
amazed when I see one from someone we don't know.
We have had a few questions pop up and I'll take a minute or two to answer
them.
What do we talk about when we walk?
We talk about family, friends, flora and fauna, the trail, work, our home,
our next trip, other hikers we meet, the next trip to town, God and His wonders,
how far we still have to go, how many mountains are there left to climb that
day. We do not talk much when going up hill as we are trying to breathe. We don't
talk much when walking down hill as we are paying attention to foot placement
and avoiding a fall. We don't talk on flat ground when it is real rocky for the
same reason. So that leaves about 15% of the day when we can talk.
What do we think about when we are too far apart to talk?
The same things we talk about. The thing is we are very seldom more than
eight feet apart. There are some couples out here who get up to four hours apart
while walking. We stay close. We have never spent this much time so close to
each other since we have been married :-)
Well it is the morning of the 23d and we need to hit the trail and make our
miles. In four days, we'll check in again.
Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost
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Tot: 0.211s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.097s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Katrina Clement
non-member comment
Hello:)
Your hike sounds like it's going really well.....Pat you have such a way with words I can really envision what you saw and did on the trail:) I really look forward to getting up in the morning and reading where you guys are and what you've encountered.....Soooooooo interesting!!!!! We're praying for you-Stay Safe!!!