Date: 2008-04-03
From: Trimpi Shelter VA

To: Relax Inn - Atkins VA
Miles today: 22.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 46 ¢ Thursday April 3 ¢ Relax Inn - Atkins VA ¢ Miles Today: 22.2 Total Miles: 536.4We woke to a warmer morning - lower 40s or perhaps 40. Just as we had finished packing up the tent, the sprinkles arrived, so we made a mad dash to the shelter to put on our full rain gear. We also decided to go ahead and eat our breakfast at the shelter as it looked like this was going to be a rainy day. The morning, however, turned out to be more wind than rain; we just had a few sprinkles off and on but boots and everything stayed dry. The afternoon though was a flip-flop; it was lots of rain and just a little wind and we were drenched. Despite the rain, the time went really fast. The terrain was very easy again today and we made it to the Partnership Shelter by noon. Yep, 10.1 miles in just 4 hours. We were surprised to see the shelter so quickly. Got to love the easier trails! The Partnership Shelter is a famous shelter, complete with a shower (water was not turned on yet for the season) and a pay phone by the Visitor's Center where hikers can call for a pizza delivery (we opted out)!Just before the shelter we talked to a couple section hiking. They only have 800 miles of the trail left to do! Wow, less than us, our minds reminded us. They've been doing section hikes over many, many years.   This jaunt is a three-day trip of day hikes to complete this section of Virginia. As we finished talking to them, the rain arrived and we hid under the rhododendron branches as we put on our rain gear. The section hikers told us that the forecast is calling for sleet and ice in the area. Yikes, let¢s hope the forecast is wrong!We took an extended break of 30-45 minutes at Partnership Shelter before we headed on to the next shelter. The next shelter was just over 7 miles away and we had a couple of interesting things happen in the afternoon. First, as the rain fell in the higher elevations, it formed thin ice on the trees, perhaps about 1/8". Pretty. Luckily we were still warm and basically dry.Next, Brakeman saw 2 deer as he reached the top of a ridge. However by the time Grasshopper reached the ridge, they had escaped over the other side, so she missed seeing them.Then the numerous 8 1/2" x 11¢ color laminated posters attached to trees stating ¢ATTENTION¢ grabbed our, well, attention. Guess we should read them.   The poster stated that the National Forest Service was going to be doing a controlled burn in this general area and that the AT would be closed from mid morning to mid afternoon on whatever day they deemed appropriate weather wise. Luckily due to the pouring down rain, it was not on the day that we were passing through. It would be quite a bummer to have a schedule and then lose basically 4 hours or so because of a controlled burn.   But we escaped it; I'm sure there will be some hikers who will hit it. The sign was very vague; it said the controlled burn would occur during the spring of 2008 or 2009. It looked like some areas were already burned. The controlled burn area was a pretty wide band between 2 state roads so our guess is that they are doing the burns in sections. One weird thing we saw ON THE TRAIL was a full-sized regulation highway construction sign that said "Road Construction Ahead"! Not really sure what that was all about. The sign was positioned on the trail just before we approached a state road. We've never seen normal construction signs on a trail before. I'm sure there's some federal regulation that mandated its placement to prevent lawsuits. Another weird thing we saw today, as we were coming out of the woods through an old cow pasture, was a school bus parked right alongside the edge of the woods and field. And to continue the weird sightings for today ¢¦ we came across a deer leg right in the middle of the trail, which was a woods road! It still had the skin and meat on it! Our trail was close to an old forest service road so our guess is perhaps, hunters killed the deer and left behind the parts they weren't interested in.   Or perhaps an animal caught it and left it behind because I guess there's not a lot of meat on a deer leg. Pretty interesting though. And our last unusual sighting for today ¢ for the first time we have seen flowers (other than daffodils). Pink and white lady's slippers. Spring is definitely coming more and more each day.We would have got the picture of all these unusual sightings today ("Road Construction" sign, school bus, the ice on the trees, the deer leg and the flowers) but the camera was tucked away all day due to the rain. We got to Chatfield Shelter about 3:45. The debate began - to stay or to continue on to Atkins. Earlier in the day, Brakeman said, "You know, we really need to start using trail towns to fuel up on extra food like cheeseburgers".   So all day long Grasshopper was thinking CHEESEBURGERS. Then, later in the day, Brakeman mentioned that if we got to the Chatfield Shelter early, maybe we should just head on into town and pick up our food drop. So Grasshopper connected those two dots (i.e., Cheeseburgers and Atkins¢¦TODAY). When we got to the shelter, we waffled back and forth as to what we should do and the decision was finally made - the terrain is easy, the weather is stinky, we might as well keep on going, get to town, get the food drop and get a motel room, and oh yeah, get a CHEESEBURGER. So on we went for 4.5 more miles, arriving to Atkins about 5:30.   The last 12 mile or so dragged on and on. We were walking through fields at this point in time and could see the town, but could not seem to get there! We had to keep meandering through the fields. We really wanted to make a straight beeline to town, as it was a 22.2-mile day in not so good conditions and we were ready for our CHEESEBURGERS!Of course before we hit the motel we stopped in at the Truck Stop mentioned in our book. Surely it has Cheeseburgers, right? Wrong. It wasn't much of a Truck Stop at all. It was more of a gas station with a deli and they weren't serving cheeseburgers anymore today. What? It was only 5:30. How could they not be serving cheeseburgers?   What do truckers eat for dinner? The pizzas looked pretty bad so we decided to go check into the motel and investigate other food opportunities. Hungry hikers can still be somewhat picky eaters! Hard to believe.The motel was right next-door. The Relax Inn charged $5 to pick up a mail drop if you did not spend a night with them. So we were able to use that $5 toward a motel room rate which was only $42 including tax! They also had our food drop box! It¢s always a great event to see that it has arrived. The motel lobby had a flyer for a local pizza restaurant that delivered! We ordered 2 medium pizzas - thick deep pan pizza, one with all the works and one vegetarian. It was most delicious! We ate most of them tonight and saved 4 pieces for tomorrow morning¢s breakfast. We're enjoying the comforts of a warm shower, a warm room and no rain on our heads. Our shoes and socks are placed in front of the fan to hopefully dry overnight. The forecast is calling for considerable rain over the next few days off and on so it looks like we¢re basically up for a week of on and off rain. Good night from a dry motel room in Atkins, Virginia.