Date: 2008-05-18
From: Pearisburg

To: Campsite mi. 636.2
Miles today: 12.2

Here follows an awkward arrangement of three journal entries of a southbound section, which is hard to put into Trail journals without screwing up the mileage progression. I will put the proper text in for each day as we hiked it, but the names of destinations won't match. Go with the text! We actually hiked all the trail, just in a different order.What a day! Rain, wind, tiny hail and sunshine alternated today, with the emphasis on the first three. We woke up at the apartment to looming clouds, and as we drove north to Pearisburg, it started to rain. The plan was to leave the car and have Brenda from the Rendezvous Motel shuttle us to the trail crossing at route 601, Rocky Gap. We would hike with Tom for 3 or 4 days back to P'burg and get the car, when he would drive us to the trail head so we could continue north and he would go to the airport in Roanoke to fly back home. We got to the trail about 1pm, and started hiking in the iffy drizzle. Now, I'm festooned with new equipment - pack, shoes, air mat, sleeping quilt, and so forth - all lighter than the originals and designed for warmer weather. It is NOT warmer this evening, as I write this in my tent!The shoes were fine, except when you wear any new shoe for hours your feetare alarmed at the change. They did well, under the circumstances, and I think the Hardrocks will be very good.As we hiked, the weather at first lifted, the sun came out, and we were much heartened. Shortly, however, the sky darkened, the wind came up and soon little hail was bouncing off the rocks and leaves in the path. This kept up a while, as we tromped up to the ridge where our intended campsite lay. The nastiness was mitigated by several hikers who passed us going the other way, north, a few of whom we recognized and this was cheerful. We all exchanged extremely brief pleasantries, and slogged on our respective ways.Around 5 we finally came to the campsite, with 6.5 damp and chilly miles for the half-day. This campsite indeed had a piped spring right beside it - sometimes when the book cites a "spring nearby" it is a challenge to find it. The rain had let up the last 20 minutes and we hustled to get the tents up as it started up again. But then it blew over, sun peeked out and blue sky appeared - YAYYY!!! For a little while...then cloudy, then sun, etc. Now, at 8pm it is quite cool and breezy out there indeed. I am doing the first run with my 45 degree down quilt, on an uninsulated (but comfy!) air mattress. My "cold weather" options include a silk mummy bag liner and a thin sheet of foam to place over the mat, as well as my long underwear, puffy jacket, knit hat and gloves. We'll see if that does it.A barred owl just called out who-who-who-who, who-WHO-who-who. It's still light enough to see well. Oh, I meant to mention the other wonderful bird sighting - indigo buntings, one down in Damascus and one near the apartment. Incredibly iridescent blue, with shades of purple and green in there somewhere. I've never seen one before.The hike today was in oaky woods, somewhat scrubby, and with our heads down in the rain, not much plant life caught my attention. Right now another new bird is calling, tck-birrrr, with a resonant, elastic quality to the birrr that's hard to describe. Hmmm.It was fun cooking dinner with Tom - the rain stopped in time for us to do that, and it was welcome for the chance to get our hands warm, as we handled the stoves and the cooking, and then to warm our bodies as we ate. A couple more days of hiking south with Tom, then back to the northbound trek. I think the 3 days off did a lot of good - feet are much better, and it feels great to be back out on the trail. Over and out from the woods of Virginia!