Date: 2017-03-24
From: VA 601, Rocky Gap

To: VA 630
Miles today: 6.3

I drove to Narrows, Virginia yesterday to finish the remaining two short sections of the AT between Bland and Catawba, Virginia that I missed in January. I¢m staying at the MacArthur Inn, a 1940s-era hotel named after General MacArthur. It now operates more like a bed and breakfast. On Thursday nights it serves dinner, and locals gather for an old time music jam. I arrived in time to attend. A man eating at the same table told me he¢s a retired dairy farmer from Monroe County, West Virginia. It turned out he¢s an excellent mandolin player. About 20 people played ¢ guitar, bass, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, piano, and ukulele ¢ and lots of folks listened. Today was a lesson in taking the trail as it comes and not having expectations of it. The weather forecast was for sun and 70 degrees. I had my mind set for a short, sunny, easy hike. A local shuttle driver took me to VA 42, to the footbridge at Sinking Creek. Everything we passed on route 42 looked familiar, but the parking place didn¢t. Neither did the trail on either side of the road. My first thought was to check my AWOL pages to make sure I was at the right place, but I had left it on the night table at the hotel. So I left my car there and had the driver drop me off on VA 601 at Rocky Gap. I started up the hill a few minutes before 10. It was 45 degrees and overcast.This was the same hill with wet mossy rocks that I¢d been hiking in January as darkness descended and someone shot a gun nearby. The continuation of the trail across the road, however, was a wide, smooth dirt trail that was not very steep. I headed up and got to the top quickly. I was trying out some new gear: new hiking boots, new lightweight carbon trekking pole, and new daypack. In less than a mile the right boot started rubbing the top left part of my ankle. I stopped to untie and tie the boot several times, but nothing helped. It hurt. The trail at the top of the mountain alternated between small rocks and smooth dirt surface. I passed through areas with large lichen-covered boulders, bare deciduous trees, and occasional mountain laurel. About a mile into the hike there was a side trail to Kelly Knob. From atop a rock outcropping there I saw receding ranks of steep mountains to the left and a high, completely flat, long mountain ridge to the right. From there the trail started to descend. About 10 minutes later I noticed that the basket on my new trekking pole was gone. I turned around and headed back up the hill to look for it. I decided I¢d only go as far back as Kelly Knob because I¢d set the pole down there.   I figured I would have noticed the basket¢s absence when I picked it back up. About half way back I found the basket and screwed it back on. I realized that I¢d only screwed it halfway on when I put it together at home. I tripped and stumbled several times as I continued on. Then, as I was moving quickly, I stepped on a pebble that slid out from under me. I fell very hard on my hands and right knee, and both water bottles flew off my pack. I felt a strong pain that left me momentarily breathless. I sat there for a minute to collect myself. The fall left two scrapes on my knee, but they were clean because I was wearing long pants. They didn¢t seem to be bleeding, so I got up and continued on at a slower pace. Soon I felt blood trickling down my leg, so I stopped and got out my first aid gear. I swabbed the scrapes with alcohol wipes, smeared on antibiotic cream, and covered them with bandaids. While I had the stuff out I put some tape over the place on my ankle where the boot was rubbing. By then I was feeling really out of sorts. I wasn¢t getting the warm sunny day I¢d been expecting, my right ankle was hurting, and everything about the hike was turning out to be difficult. I decided to take a break to see if I could dispel the terrible mood I was in. I sat on a log and ate a pear. At 12:30 the sun finally came out, and I sat down on a log to eat lunch. While I was eating I saw a hawk and a really tiny chickadee, and I heard chainsaws. Not too far past there I came upon a side trail to Laurel Creek Shelter, where two men were working with chainsaws. I didn¢t stop to see what they were doing but continued on. I saw my first butterflies of the year ¢ an orange one and two blues. About 2:00 I emerged from the woods, and the trail took me through pastures, with views of neat farmhouses and black cattle. I reached my car at 2:30. I crossed the road and walked up the trail a bit to see if it looked familiar. It didn¢t. Momentarily I considered hiking on until I came to something familiar, then turning around. But I didn¢t know whether it was one mile or ten. So I got into my car and headed back to the hotel. I took a shower and looked at the AWOL guide. I had indeed gone to the wrong road crossing. I should have ended at VA 630. The missing section of trail was .9 mile. It was only 5:00 so I headed back to where I¢d just come from, parked the car, hiked the .9 mile to the next road crossing, then turned around and hiked back to the car. I got back to town at 7:00 and headed to a restaurant to eat. By the time I finally got back for the night I was absolutely exhausted.What a difficult and frustrating day! None of the things that went wrong was very important, and all of them were fixed in the end. But my expectation that the day would be pleasant and easy colored all that happened. In the end, it was my own mind that made it such a hard day.