Date: 2005-04-16
From: Words from Scarecrow

To: Pearisburg, VA MP 623
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Scarecrow here. Dad is away on a business trip until the end of May (yikes!), so I'll be posting the updates as best I can. I've gone 100 miles in the past 5 days and some interesting things happened. As you remember, last weekend I spent sunday and monday at home with the family. They placed me back in the woods near Marion, VA where I met a whole new pack of northbounders who'd been behind me the whole time and were excited to finally meet the magnificent, elusive, and stunning Scarecrow. These people inlcuded Jack and Jill (a guy and his dog), Four Cheese, Bass Master, Frank (a girl), Krowe, and Night Lion. Tuesday we all did a 25 miler to the Knot Maul Branch shelter, my biggest day so far. Krowe and I took a nice hour off and had to do 2 miles in the drizzly darkness with our headlamps to the shelter. Then, after eating my dinner.... I awoke at about 2am with my guts completely in a knot. Something I ate was screaming to get out both ends. After heaving and making a mess in the wooded darkness in the pouring rain, I had a shallow sleep before waking up to a cold, windy downpour. I was able to hike downhill for 3 miles until my pace halted on a slight incline; the lack of stomach juices brought my metabolism to a crash and I couldn't hike more than 100 feet without a two minute, light-headed rest stop. I pitched my hammock-tent in the driving rain and slept for three hours as the group hiked onward. I put my wet gear back in my pack and hiked another 6 miles that day to Chestnut Knob shelter (where the other guys stopped for lunch), which requires a staggering 1800 foot climb up a rocky slope to a 3 mile hike across a grassy, unprotected bald. I was sad to have yet ANOTHER stunning view clogged with typhoon conditions (hey, at least it wasn't a blizzard) and fog. Chestnut Shelter is 4400ft in elevation and actually has four walls and a door (an old cabin of some sort) so I was VERY thankful to be there. Visibility outside was 10 feet at best, winds at 30 knots, temperature 40 degrees, and rain so hard it stung! I layed alone in the shelter, shivering in my newly-acquired summertime bag, trying to ignore my grumbling innards while all my clothing hanged dripping... while hurricane-force weather slammed fury upon the tin roof. I remember thinking "Why am I doing this?" After a groggy night's sleep, I awoke to a settled belly, somewhat odd silence, and a slice of sunlight on the stone wall.... A curious dash from the sleeping bag to the door yeilded a completely clear sky, calm air, rising sun, and 60 degree warmth on my skin. Just then I answered my question with "Oh yah, THIS is why." So on thursday (April 14th) I left Chestnut Knob Shelter and burned a 24 mile day INCLUDING a surprisingly easy 2.6 mile hitch in and out of Bland, VA for a sandwich and some candy. I ended up at Helvey's Mill shelter to find Four Cheese, Paladin, Senor Nobs, and Kirk and Lisa (the newlyweds)!! I met Senor and the newlyweds my second day on the trail! What a wonderful surprise! Thursday, Friday, and today brought chilly evenings with pleasant 70 degree, cloudless, dry days. We cranked out another 25 miler to Wapiti Shelter and then a 17 today into Pearisburg, VA where mom was able to pick up cheese and myself and bring us home to shower, launder, and eat.OH GOODNESS!! Today there were rocks! Scattered, loose, jagged rocks! Being a fat, clumsy idiot, I stumbled and fell several times; barking my shins and scraping my knees...AND completely destroyed a titanium hiking pole ("Leki" brand, the best you can buy). Hopefully Sunday, April 17th I can find an outfitter to exchange the wreckage for a sturdier set of poles. Dang it, I need equipment that'll withstand a 2,170 mile beating! Ultralight gear is for Girls Scouts and old people! (Yah, SHORTS, you heard me. haha) On a little side note, it is becoming more springlike out on the trail, but we noticed today that there's a SOLID LINE in the woods where wintery brown trees meet blossoming, green foliage of spring. This line will move steadily upward and then disappear within two weeks in the highest of elevations, leaving me in a tunnel of green and spotty sunlight on the forest floor. I know you guys love the pictures, but it's not easily done while Dad's away. My next check-in will probably be in a week. Thanks for stopping by!