Date: 2009-06-27
From: US 60/Buena Vista, VA

To: N Fork of Piney River (Camp)
Miles today: 12.1

I woke up from my hunkered position underneath the small 7X7 foot baseball overhang at around 6:30 am. It was Saturday morning and cars were already passing by, and I was clearly visible from the road. Actually, I'm pretty sure that the neighbors across the street had seen me get my things packed up. It was a beautiful morning and the early sunshine was shining a firey light onto the clouds above the mountains. It was supposed to rain last night, which is why I had sought shelter, but all I saw was heat lightening up in the sky. I walked 1.5 miles back into town, but since it was so early in the morning, not much was open. Without having to walk too far, my only real option was to go to the Hardee's, where I freshened up in the bathroom and rested out in the dining area. Just before 10 am, I headed to the library, where I continued to work on updating the Trail Journals site until it closed at 1 pm. There were two wonderful ladies in the library, who were very friendly, and invited me to come back and visit if I was ever passing through town again. Great people. It had become incredibly hot outside and, knowing that I didn't want to have to hike in the extreme heat, I headed down the road to eat my final Subway sandwich before taking off. It was great to get into the air conditioning again, eat a good meal, and fill up my water bottles with some icy cold water. When I left, I started walking towards the other end of town, having my finger out for a hitch as I walked. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, a Jeep had pulled off to the side of the road and I met Patrick, who took me on up to the trailhead. It was a tough climb up Bald Knob, reaching an altitude of 4059 ft. On the climb, I met Sarge and his sister, Jill, who was out hiking until she wanted to get off the trail. Sarge had told me that Chef was in town and had a head cold, but that her mom was coming to pick her up and, being from Nova Scotia, she was going to go tour the Eastern US for the next few weeks. At this point, my feet were hurting me so much that I actually switched them for my bright orange flashy Crocs. It was a poor choice because within several miles of stepping over large rocks, my ankle started to hurt. Man, was I a mess out there. What I had begun to realize was that the tread on my Keen shoes had worn down so low that there was almost nothing left. I had been wearing them since Franklin, a solid 600 miles, but they were now shot to the core. It was time to get a new pair of shoes, but hell - I was out in the woods! So, I just had to suck it up until I arrived into Waynesboro. Rather than pushing on to my original destination of Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, I decided to camp at the North Fork of Piney River. A couple had already decided to camp in the fork, but were fast asleep by the time that I had arrived. Darkness was approaching rapidly and I knew that I had to prepare myself for the evening. So, I purified my water, hung up my bear bag, cooked my food, and then ate my food while soaking my swollen feet in the icy river. Ahhh, so refreshing. The bugs were a bit brutal, so I decided to start a fire to ward them off. One unique thing that I should say about this location was that we were literally on a small island, surrounded by a creek on both sides (hence, the fork) and in the middle of it was this HUGE rock with a large tree growing directly on top of the rock. I had never seen something of its kind before - trees growing directly on top of huge boulders, without even touching the surface. I didn't sleep well at all because I kept hearing shuffling up these two large trees and I was absolutely convinced that a bear would be coming right around the corner.