Date: 2011-04-18
From: Woods Hole Hostel

To: Pearisburg,VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Hey guys! It has been a while since my last entry... and this one is going to have to be short. I hope to post a longer one the next town stop, which will be the Daleville/Troutville area and that will mean I'm almost halfway through VA! Which is insane!! Anyways many, many things have changed since Damascus and unfortunately they are not all positive changes... After leaving Damascus we went through the grayson highlands and saw all the ponies which was AWESOME! One started licking the salt off of my legs and it would follow me every where I went which was so cute! I must say I was more than a little jealous of the ponies. Day hikers kept giving the ponies apples... I would have done so many thing to have been given an apple... I seriously considered getting down on all fours just to see what would happen. haha The night we stayed at Wise Shelter we decided it would be a great idea to hike 30 miles to Partnership Shelter in order to get pizza. We also decided it would be a good idea to do some night hiking to ensure we got to the shelter in time to enjoy the pizza and to divide up the day, thus making it feel shorter. So we set our alarm clocks for 3 A.M. When 3 A.M. rolled around I began to seriously regret the decision as all I wanted to do was go back to sleep, but I sucked it up and crawled out of my bag anyways. We began the hike with The Diva leading the way, but he is notorious for taking wrong turns, and not too long after we started he tried to go the wrong way fortunately we realized the mistake and didn't lose any ground. Then it was my turn to lead. I was not so lucky... I am ashamed to admit I some how lead us down the wrong trail and no one behind me caught my mistake until we reached a sign that said "Appalachian Trail 1 mile ->" opps! So it was starting to look like the 30 mile day was going to be more than a 30 mile day... To top off the night hiking experience Butter's headlamp... yeah it's pretty much useless in the dark. She had to have someone hiking close behind and in front of her to be able to even slightly see the trail. Despite all of these hindrances, I absolutely LOVED night hiking. I can't wait until Butter gets a new head lamp and we can do more. Its thrilling! Upon arriving at the first shelter past Wise we made breakfast and waited for the sun to come up. The Diva informed us that his shins were giving him some problems, but hoped it would loosen up. After the sun came up we continued to hike on and I saw a total of 3 snakes. 2 with in 100 ft of each other. I will admit I screamed when I saw the 3rd one so soon after the 2nd it felt a bit like a scary movie were snakes attack. They were harmless Rat Snakes though so I really had nothing to fear, but still wild snakes scare me. I arrived at Trimipi (sp? ) Shelter before 1 with on 10 miles to go. (this 30 mile day was flying by!) I had an enjoyable lunch and headed out again at 1. The Diva and Buddha (Andy) had taken a shorter break and left before me. It wasn't long before I caught the still hurting Diva and then a bit after I caught Buddha. I was in the zone, pizza was all I was focused on. I was finished with the 10 miles to the Partnership shelter before 4. It was such an awesome feeling to have covered 30 miles and still have that much day light to kill. After such a long day the Pizza was heavenly! The Diva was broken however... his shins were absolutely killing him. He decided to skip the ten miles the next day to Atkins and took a ride from a school group that had finished their trip a day early. When I arrived in Atkins the next day (loved this 10 mile section, it was so green!) The Diva was unsure if he was going to be able to continue... this had us all worried... We went to The Barn to have our "Last Supper" so to speak just in case he wasn't going to be able to move on with us. It was enjoyable and Butter paid for all of our meals which was super sweet! After dinner we got a ride to see a movie! It was so awesome!!! The buttery popcorn and comfy seats were just what I needed. We saw Your Highness... yeah we know quality. It was a completely mindless movie which was good, thinking is so hard! haha kidding! The ride there was an experience there were 6 of us in a 2 door car... TIGHT! hahaThe next morning we headed to the Exxon for breakfast and that's when The Diva broke the news... He was heading home to heal. I will admit I began to tear as I left the parking lot... I am sucker for goodbyes. I hiked fast to try and out run my emotions. It didn't work... I didn't cry, but I definitely wasn't happy... The hiking a gorgeous and I kept thinking it was, so sad that The Diva was missing it. Near the end of the day though there was trail magic and it was just what I needed to brighten my day. I had fresh PB&J sandwich and a Dr. Thunder. It was just what I needed. I ended the day in my tent, in honor of The Diva who claimed I was a shelter whore, and he's right I am. I love how easy shelters are in the morning... nothing to pack up its nice! I was still in a funk the next day, but again right when I needed it there was trail magic in the form of water and a banana from some trail maintainers who just happened to drive by as I reached a road crossing. It was SO cool! After staying at Jenkins Shelter we pulled a 24 mile day to Jenny Knob, upon arrival to the shelter we heard the weather was supposed to take a nasty turn, so we decided to hike the 7 miles in to Trent Grocery the next morning and then head to Woods Hole Hostel to avoid the strong winds and heavy rain. That was the best decision we could have made. Woods Hole is a fantastic place, end of story. The food is Delicious and the people are so nice! We liked it so much we slack packed the 14 miles back to the hostel for a second night rather than hike the 24 to Pearisburg as we had originally planned. It was such a good two days. Ahh! The ten mile day into Pearisburg felt extremely short. Its weird how 5 and even 10 miles doesn't seem like much these days... I like the feeling. Now we are just hanging out and preparing to head out tomorrow. I can't believe it is almost Easter! I completely forgot how close it was until we got into town today. Losing track of the "Real World" is becoming exceedingly easy... Oh yeah and the college decision has been made. I'm headed to UGA. Go Dawgs! I guess this wasn't a short one... funny how these things work out.