Date: 2007-06-07
From: Stealth side 1 mile past VA 606, VA

To: Stealth site 5.3 miles past Doc Knobs Shelter, VA
Miles today: 20.4

Alright folks, first things first...check out the mileage for today. My FIRST (and hopefully only) 20 miler!! I'm dead exhausted right now.Last nite, I got chilled due to having my tarp pitched out too far, and again, it was breezy. I am THE biggest weenie when it comes to staying warm...I swear! LOL It was 51 when I woke up this morning, but ended up getting up to the high 70's, so it was nice today.Today was a big day for another reason, I hit 600 miles!! This means I did 100 miles in 7 days, which is hilarious when you consider it took Persistent and like a month to do our first 100 miles!I'll be honest, I tried to make a toast, but because it had only been a week since my last toast, it was really lame, so I may need to start toasting every 2-3 hundred miles! Bad problem to have huh? I was looking forward to seeing Dismal Creek Falls and I'll be damned if I didn't hike right past the blue blaze trail! Rats!! There was no sign or anything, so I missed it totally...that's what happens when I get lost in my thoughts and zone out.I did decide to hike listening to music for the very first time today. Because I've not listened to music in so long, it was like a drug. Felt great to listen to my favorites. Something funny happened though. I was hiking along (alone as always..which I'm loving) and I was totally jamming\singing LOUD to none other than Whitesnake's "Still of the Night," (my favorite 80's hairband) when I look up and there's a freakin day hiker 20 feet ahead of me stopped and staring at me! LOL He was lost, so I pointed him in the right direction (which was the opposite way of where he was going). He didn't comment on my singing...wonder why? LOLAgain, the scenery was very much a repeat of days before, but there were a few views, one of which was a rock outcropping where I layed down and rested a bit on the sun-warmed rocks. I was higher than the birds that like to float on the air currents, with views of farmland and mountains as far as the eye could see. Really beautiful.I stopped for lunch by the side trail that takes you to Watipi Shelter. A cool guy named DQ (from Alabama) showed up and ate lunch too. He's going to be a junior at Yale, and he has to declare a major by September, so that's what he's doing out here (seems like the rest of us..not knowing what to do). Super nice guy that I really enjoyed talking with. As we were sitting there, a deer walked right up within 10 feet of us. Totally didn't care that we were there. I know it's "just" deer, but I get excited everytime one doesn't run immediately. I love connecting with nature even if it's from an observer's viewpoint. Then it was up a VERY steep 1.5 mile climb, probably steepest yet in Virginia. On my (very slow) way up, I passed a section hiker who I recognized as a Whiteblazer when she told me her name..Lil Red! She was on her 2nd day of a 5 week section hike, and the steep climb was taxing her as well. Very nice woman, and as always, I loved that laid back section hiker energy. I think I'm a section hiker trapped in a thru-hiker's body. LOLToday I was being circled (like the helicopters do to King Kong) by what I call Deer flies. The big ones that bite. It was a bit annoying, but not so bad. Not looking forward to when the bugs get really bad.After this climb, it was another ridge walk all the way to Doc's Knob Shelter, where my plan was to make dinner and hike a few more miles. I got there and the cool guy from Maryland I kept talking about (his name is Bean...I finally asked him..again) was there. Dogman, Crocket, Doc (a fellow hanger) and 2 new people Comet and (drawing a blank here), one other guy, were there. (I am SO bad about remembering names!). The talk was about the NBA finals being on tonight, so everyone but Bean and I were headed into Pearisburg tonight (it was already 5:30 and town was still 8 miles away).This gave me an opportunity to get to know Bean better. I could tell there was something different about him, something a bit more serious I guess. Come to find out, he had just gotten out of the Army in January, he was an officer who flew Blackhawk Helicopters, and he graduated from Westpoint 8 years ago. We both had a wonderful talk about the instituion of the U.S. military, and I have to say it was enlightening to meet another person who sort of found it difficult to assimilate into the system. We both agreed we never regretted our time of service and are proud that we served, but it wasn't the right fit for us either. He's doing 20 mile days, so he'll start getting ahead of me soon, but I am glad I met him. After dinner, I told Bean goodbye, and headed out again. My plan was not originally to hike 20 miles total, but something in my brain wouldn't let me stop hiking. After another climb it was back to a rocky ridge and let me tell ya, I've never seen so many deer within a 5 mile stretch before. I think I saw about 8 of them, and I'm guessing it was feeding time for them @ dusk. Really cool.I actually ended up running into the group that said they were headed to town. They decided to call it a nite, as had I, so I hiked down a bit further and found a great place to hang. They invited me to come enjoy a campfire, but I was so beat, I just went to sleep. I think I might be near a black ant colony, because I keep seeing them running along the bug netting above me. Whoops....LOLWell, it's 61 and I'm gonna pass out. Into Pearisburg, VA tomorrow! ~Certain