Date: 2004-06-09
From: Holiday Motor Lodge, Pearisburg, Va.again

To: Along Stony Creek, Va.
Miles today: 22.0

22 miles todayAlong Stony Creek, Va.Stealth tentingI got up this morning and showered and went to Hardy's and got coffee and 2 sausage and egg biscuits. I sat there and ate and then refilled my coffee {since I won't be getting any more for a few days} and went back to the motel and packed up. I played around with the digital voice recorder and got it figured out. I checked out and on my way by Hardy's, I picked up 4 more sausage and egg biscuits...2 for lunch and 2 for dinner. 8:45 I'm heading back into the woods and I'm looking forward to it. The blackberries at this elevation will probably be ready in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to start eating some berries during the day. There is no better feeling than getting back to hiking after taking a zero day...it's fantastic.I went to an old almost abandoned cemetary that was just 100' off the trail. Capt. George Pearis is buried here. Hummm, I wonder if that's where the name Pearisburg came from. He was born in 1746 and died in 1810 and served in the Va. Mil. and the Revolutionary War. There is also an awful lot of infants buried here. I also saw the headstone for a Mrs. Blackburn who died at the age of 23.9:10am I just crossed the Shumate Bridge and got back into the woods and there was a bag of Cheese-Its hanging on the tree...I took a couple of small bags, thanks. I love trail magic!!I crossed a stream that had a sign that said "Do not drink. This stream may contain naturaly high levels of bacteria." Thanks for the warning, but I don't believe I would get my water from an area that has industrial buildings nearby.I crossed another creek that I crossed last winter, but probably should not have crossed it then because we had a flood here and the water was raging down the mountain. I tried a few times to get a foot planted on the bottom of the creek and I couldn't do it. The water was flowing so fast that it just kept sweeping my foot away no matter how hard I tried to step in. I found a tree that had fallen across and I was able to cross on that. I kept thinking to myself that I hope a log doesn't come washing down while I'm crossing.10am It's fairly humid out this morning and the knats are buzzing around my face. I'm sitting here on a log taking a morning break.Hey Skeemer, I sent you an email to thank you for signing my guestbook, but it got returned. Anyway....thanks.I also want to thank Burn. He called me in my motel room yesterday and we talked for about 1/2 hour or so. He read my journal and figured out where I was at, but didn't know my real name. I think he found it on the web site.10:50am I just found a nice mountain spring and I dumped out that nasty tasting city water and filled up with this cool spring water. It tastes so much better.11:10am I just now got away from all the industrial noise on the north side of Pearisburg. That took a long time to get away from...I'm on the top of the ridge. I've been climbing all morning. Noon I just crossed over a stile and came out of the forest and into Rice Field. This is an open area full of tall grass and I can see a town in the valley below me. The Rice Field Shelter is up here and I stopped to eat lunch and check out the register. There is alot of clover mixed in with the grass up here. The breeze is blowing and it's a beautiful day.About 1 1/2 miles north of the shelter I found another nice mountain spring and drank about a litre and filled up both water bottles because I'm going into an area where water may be a little harder to find.1:35pm I'm walking through an area that the ferns must really like. They are chest high and other than the trees, they are all you can see here. I've been listening to my new radio to see how I like it. I started listening to it right after lunch and listened to it a little over an hour. I just turned it off and it is so much nicer without it. The forest is so quiet except for the birds singing which I really enjoy. I'm not one that can walk the A.T. while listening to a radio. I'll just listen to it at night before I go to sleep.I just caught up to an elderly couple that is probably in their mid 50s that are doing a thru hike. Their names are Spirit and hers is Goose and they are from Nova Scotia.I walked into Symms Field and there is alot of old apple trees and some kind of nut trees. Looks like an old abandoned orchard. Out here in the sun it is pretty warm today. Just to the southwest there is a big thunder head forming and it's just starting to have some thunder with it. I hope it doesn't move northeast. On the north end of Symms Field is a beautiful camesite just under an old oak tree where I'm taking a break in the nice breeze. Today has been a nice easy day of walking so far. I had that big climb out of Pearisburg and I've been on a ridge ever since.4:05pm I'm climbing out of Dickenson's Gap and there are alot of boulders that are the size of a two car garage. A little later I came up to The Alleganny Trail and the sign says it runs 330 miles from the Mason Dixon Line to Monroe County, WV. I think I'll stay on the A.T. Just before I got to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter I got lucky and found another spring. I didn't think that I'd find any water down here that I would want to drink. I followed Pine Swamp Branch down the mountain for more than a half a mile. I got to the shelter at 5:45pm and I met Loon, Scout and Moose. Moose did the hard core trail maintanance the same time I did but I don't remember him. I ate my dinner and at 6:30pm decided to hike on until I found a softer spot to sleep.I ended up walking about 2 1/2 miles farther because alot of the time I was walking next to Stony Creek and it was too noisy. I scared up a mother grouse and some babies just before I stopped walking. I found my home for the night at 7:25pm. Ahhh, it feels good to be home. I set up my tent by a quieter spot next to Stony Creek and I hung my food bag and I'm going to listen to my new radio for a while. Another beautiful day on the A.T.