Date: 2006-10-22
From: knot maul branch shelter

To: chestnut knob shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: overcast clouds

======2003====== thursday, april 10, day 48glad our day was short (9 miles)......i did feel better than yesterday, but more than half the day was rainy....we climbed about 2000 ft. from lynn camp to chestnut mountain.....and i have to admit to a few tears by the time we reached the top....the trail through the open meadow was a ditch running with rainwater.....it was very foggy and bitter cold....sleet and wind was stinging my face (my umbrella was no good in the fierce wind....it took us a long time to warm up here in the shelter....we mostly just shivered and shook for a while under our quilt.....(at this writing, however, after supper, we are finally fairly warm)......¢pepper¢ is here....what a nice fellow!....he let me borrow his camp clogs to go out to the privy.....(guess he figured i¢d never get my frozen feet back into my wet shoes!)it¢s snowing now.....hope there won¢t be too much accumulation......can¢t fully express how happy i am to be in and ready for bed at 7:42!.....it was amazing today, how that even in these adverse conditions, our Creator ¢lifted our heads¢.....even in the fog we had views into the springtime woods which blossomed defiantly against the wintry day.....serviceberries were everywhere to cheer us up!....and, of course, (as i am always a sucker for snow), a brief look at the blanketed mountaintop when i went out here made me forget our rather serious condition....my goodness!...how the wind is blowing!....hope the roof doesn¢t come off this shelter!....there are supposed to be excellent views from up here, but our views this evening are these 4 (yes! 4!) walls (and whatever we¢ll be allowed to see inside our hearts and heads and dreams)....this is a strange shelter......there are beam-like studs supporting the high ceilings (which might be otherwise charming on a cheerier day).....the windows are plexiglass.....the walls have a good coating of plaster (cold!).....there¢s a ¢medieval¢ wooden door with a dreary, rather ominous creak .....a plastered-over fireplace mocks our longing for warmth and a picnic table in the center of the room looks as if it¢s held a spread of everything but a picnic.......there are ¢up¢ and ¢down¢ sleeping bunks and platforms, and a MOUSE that looks perfectly happy in this ¢netherworld-of-a-shelter¢!....if it hadn¢t been for pepper, standing there in the doorway when we arrived (in his bathrobe!)*, i would have thought this place almost unbearably sad!....it reminds me more of alcatraz than a shelter on the appalachian trail!but just the fact that it did indeed have 4 sturdy walls that shielded us from the weather made it SEEM like heaven!it was a real challenge getting out of our wet, cold clothes when we arrived...pepper respectfully faced the other way (sweet boy) while we stripped down and numbly tried to slide our icy skin into dry clothes.....soon, though, paw-ee and i were snuggled in the top bunk under our quilt.....after about an hour i was finally ¢comfortable¢ enough to get up and try to cook our supper.....but oh!....how thirsty we were!....on difficult weather days like these, we don¢t take as many breaks to rest or eat or drink (ironically, the hard days are when we need these things MORE)....but seems like we just try to hurry and get to shelter.....anyway, there isn¢t a water source at this shelter*.....we may be forced to melt some snow....at the next grocery we come to, i¢m gonna have a big ol¢ sprite, a giant size lemonade and as much grapefruit juice as i can possibly hold!.......(i swear!....this place has the feel of a hovel in siberia!)......maybe just a tiny sip of water will help me feel better......normally this is my kind of day, but i¢m prayin¢ (as i¢m sure are all the other hikers in these mountains) for the sun and more spring-like temps to return!...Father....could i be so bold to ask you for a good night¢s sleep here in this less-than-comfortable place?....and for your help in drying out our clothes and shoes?.....and please, to give us your strength and protection as we head out tomorrow?.......and pepper, too, Lord....grace and strength for pepper, too....i read from your Word this a.m., that i should simply ¢FOLLOW YOU¢......show us what this really means.....help us to think clearly with our ¢spirit minds¢, even as we are distracted by these hardships.....help us to ALWAYS see You and to find the ¢good¢ in everything......======2006====== friday, march 31, day 48 (zero day!....arrived yesterday afternoon at the rendezvous motel in pearisburg)march was ¢in like a lion, but out like a lamb¢!...the last couple of days have made us think spring might really be here ay last!.....we even saw a few hepatica and one bloodroot blooming as we came down off of angel¢s rest yesterday!....how that boosted my spirits! (i¢m really doin¢ fine....just SOOOOO needing a day off!)we were glad to get to the motel, though we had to wait for the proprietors who were heading out as we arrived for an emergency in town.....they apologized and promised to be back shortly....so....we just sat on the front porch and enjoyed the nice, WARM sunshine and a little MORE of our trail mix (we were anxious for something a little more palatable!).......but oh!...what a heavenly experience to FINALLY get showers! (our last one was in damascus....10 DAYS AGO!)....i don¢t think i¢ve ever gone that long without a real bath, but the weather for the most part (or should i say the ¢conditions¢) have made showering in camp* impossible...well....actually the last 2 days we probably COULD have showered, but we figured, "what¢s the point?....to put smelly clothes on barely clean bodies when we¢ll be in a motel room soon?....NAH!¢.....besides our shower head was broken and fixing it in camp just to wash off seemed more trouble than it was worth....we knew we¢d be able to get it fixed here in pearisburg.....BUT!....the first thing we did before getting showers (believe it or not) was go EAT ! (guess we figured since it was past the lunch hour that we¢d be safe to go into the pizza place and not offend anyone!....wow!....have we gotten laid back!)....anyway one of the ladies here graciously gave us a ride up the hill to the little restaurant where we ordered a salad and pizza, breadsticks and sierra mist.....we STUFFED ourselves! (though it wasn¢t quite as good as the pizza hut in town where we pigged out in ¢03).....we sat and ate and made fun of the soap opera that blared from the tv on the wall........then we walked down to the radio shack/hardware and the food lion for supplies and more food, and then back down the hill to the motel (i remember thinkin¢ how much easier walkin¢ around town was for me this time as opposed to our ¢03 hike when i sometimes couldn¢t bear the thought of another step.....strollin¢ around here this time was actually pretty pleasant!).....and paw found some netting on the side of the road that he may be able to use to repair his pack.....ah! the joys of being homeless!....we were like two ol¢ ¢hoboes¢ walkin¢ around all dirty and smelly with our little shopping bags full of ¢treasures¢!....what a life!.....to be perfectly content when everything¢s not so perfectly ¢acceptable¢.....(actually.....this was very good for us..... ¢walkin¢ in the shoes¢ of others who really do try to survive this sort of life day to day....NOT because they choose to, but because it is ¢forced¢ upon them)....only they don¢t get to go home after 2000 miles.....anyway, we were happy to bring back a few ¢goodies¢ here to the motel....i¢m tryin¢ to keep the OJ and lettuce cool in cold water in the sink (that¢s the way our grandparents kept things cool, right?...in the springhouse?)....guess you dream up all sorts of alternative ways of doing things here in the hiker life!.....i think folks around here must be used to seeing and serving hikers.... ....i often feel self conscious and out-of-place when i come out of the woods, but (as happened in one store yesterday) people know immediately that you¢re hiking and usually do all they can to help you out!....they want to know about you....where you¢re from, etc.....you meet some of the BEST of humanity out here on the trail!WHOA!...our room is a WRECK!....we¢ve dumped everything everywhere! ...(i always tease paw-ee about havin¢ a ¢pack explosion¢.....i have a ¢system¢....he has NONE!).....anyway, i wanted to wash my pack and get it drying in the sunshine....and, of course, we had to do laundry, so we¢re sorting everything out....it will take two loads!...(i¢m having to ¢pre-wash¢ my socks and shirt in the bathtub because they smelled like something dead!).....it¢s 9:30......we¢ve had granola earlier this mornin¢....but now we¢re lyin¢ here like ¢white trash¢ making notes and store lists and checking our schedules and eating POPCORN! (food! food!....always food!....food in....food out!....your system moves so fast in the hiking life!....no wonder we¢ve lost so much weight!).....and speaking of that, i¢ll have to admit, it really was wonderful to look in the mirrio and see my ¢new¢ body i don¢t know exactly how much weight i¢ve lost, but it doesn¢t matter i guess, ¢cause i look and feel trimmer and healthier.....hope we can control our appetites, however, when we get back home....i¢m actually tryin¢ to practice that now (just a little0....i¢m proud to say that i¢ve passed through TWO trail towns without begging paw to stop for a burger!....and yesterday at lunch, i actually DID stop when i was full (which took a while)...but i didn¢t go BEYOND ¢full¢.....so we¢ll see.....(after eating this whole bag of popcorn, i¢m not sure it can be done!)....paw, too, is trimmer (really...he¢s SKINNY!)....he¢s lost all of his tummy, but i¢m a little worried that he¢s TOO thin.....too soon).....maybe as the warm weather comes, we¢ll feel more like eating our lunches during the day as we take little ¢picnic¢ breaks....up till now, it¢s been too cold, or frozen, or snowy, or wet....(paw says 28 of our first 48 out here so far have been snowy)....that makes takin¢ breaks either difficult or just impossible....we¢ve usually just crammed our pockets full of snacks and have nibbled as we¢ve hiked....so....who knows....from here on out we may get FAT!....let¢s see.... i wanted to write about our clothing so far....how we¢ve been dressing for this winter weather (for future reference)....on the very coldest of days, ive usually been able to manage with my long-sleeved gray t-shirt (duofold), my green breathable hooded shell jacket, my green fleece hat, fleece neck gaiter (the small one i made with velcro, my nylon shorts under breathable nylon pants (lightweight), gortex (?) gaiters and fleece gloves.....on a couple of those days where we went out into the ¢teens¢, i wore my ¢poofy¢ vest, too (i have usually just packed it on the outside of my pack, so that it was handy to throw on if we did take a break ....i LOVE that vest!...paw made it....simple ....lightweight...warm....velcro fasteners)....the vest has been one of my favorite items of clothing!....i¢m able to put it on in the morning after i¢m dressed and stay good and warm while i¢m packing up all my other gear.....then when we¢re ready to ¢saddle up¢ and head out, i just slip it off and slide it securely under the shock cords on the back of my pack!....it¢s also been a good little ¢prop¢ between my knees when i sleep at night!*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS------* ¢pepper¢ standing in the doorway when we arrived....i may have mentioned already how that pepper, standing there in that robe (that someone had left), with his long dark hair and beard, looked for all the world like ¢JESUS¢....(ha ha!...i don¢t know if it was the fog or if i was partially hypothermic....but i thought perhaps i had died in that sleet storm and was being ¢beckoned¢ through the pearly gates!)* no water source at chestnut knob.....actually there is (down the hill a good ways south)....but it may not be dependable in warmer weather....headed south, you go down the hill and then turn left down a little jeep road a ways.....nobos can collect it there on your way TO the shelter so you don¢t have to come back...* showering in camp...i¢m pretty sure i¢ve also mentioned this, too.....but we had a shower bag we enjoyed....it¢s lightweight and a shower feels really great after hiking all day....even in winter!....the icy water helps get your circulation going and you actually FEEL warmer after bathing....it¢s great!