Date: 2008-05-14
From: Dismal Creek Falls

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 22.4
Weather: overcast clouds

We slept great last night. Brad was up early starting a fire but did let me sleep in a bit. He did let me know it was time to get up by taking off the rain-fly and exposing the light and cold. Up and at 'em!Brad, Busdriver, Mr. Bones and Stubbs eat the last of the hotdogs for breakfast while I enjoy a peanut butter and banana wrap. We set out on the Trail and my right foot hurts so badly that I limp until the advil kicks in. I'm worried but keep saying little prayers to myself that this passes. The Trail is like a walk in the park. It is flat and smooth and it feels like we're out for a Sunday stroll. It is a bit overcast but warm. We wander through the woods following the Trail along Dismal Creek, in dark rhododendron thickets and in bright sunny spots. We stop for lunch at the Wapiti Shelter. We take off our boots and socks to give our feet a nice break and proceed to eat lots of food.When we leave the shelter we expect to have a huge climb. But really only the first part of the hill was steep and it then tapers off. We along with Stubbs, Mr. Bones and Sunbeam stop at the top and take a break on a very inviting log. We walk about 5 minutes past the log and find a rocky outcrop with beautiful views of the valley below. Of course we have to stop again! All the natural beauty serves as a great excuse to stop, take the pack off and sit. This is what it's about.We push on to Docs Knob Shelter. Along the way it sprinkles, but never really rains. The shelter is packed and the tenting spots are kind of crappy so we head on down the Trail to find a more comfy spot.We move right along despite being tired. We come to Pearis Mountain which has power lines running up and down it, but it has beautiful views of the valley. It's just about dusk so the great lighting adds to the beauty of it all.In the woods I see a deer staring right at us then all of a sudden he takes off and all we can see is his bright white tail bobbing up and down through the woods. We see about 5 more deer, barely making out their bodies but knowing it is them by their tails.It's getting dark and hard to see and I'm pretty sure that we misses the campsaite we were shooting for. We put on our headlamps and get ready for our first night hiking of this trip.We stop at an overlook and get an incredible view of the town all lit up. All we see is lights, hundreds of them in the distance and it's a pretty awesome change compared to the daytime views we usually have.It's a bit scary; it's all so different in the dark! We go out to Angels Rest which again overlooks the city. We climb on to the huge rock, turn off our headlamps and simply marvel at where we are and what we are doing. Then we hear this wretched squeeking and squeeling right next to us and our eyes get really wide with fear. And so we take off!There are enormous rocks with lots of caves in them. It is terrifying to think what may be in them. We basically run through that area!There are tons and tons of milipedes out all over the rocks, trees, and Trail. They are creepy and disgusting and I decide that I hate them! They give me the creepy crawlies! We see lots of salamanders and I love them! I stop at every single one I see and we take pictures. Brad gets a great photo of a six inch salamander and it is my new favorite photo. Before we know it we are only a 1/2 mile away from town and we have done our first 20 mile day!After all our salamander watching we finally roll into town at about 11:30pm. What a day! We stop at a store to get a soda and icecream before walking up the BIG hill to the Holiday Motor Lodge. I am barely able to stay awake long enough to shower and then we crash hard!