Date: 2016-06-08
From: VA 635 - Stony Creek 

To: Narrows Road
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: clear sky

Today, Sherpa hiked southbound the entire day. In the morning, Porter dropped him off 4 miles north of town and he walked back to the place he had finished yesterday. The morning hike was smelly. We later found out that it was beside dump. At least there were signs warning not to use the water. The highlight was a graveyard with a revolutionary war veteran buried there. He saw several hikers, including "Prov" and "the hostel hores (that is how they spell it)". We came back to our hotel and made lunch. We are staying at the MacArthur Inn. The owner's name is Allen Neely. We really like him. After lunch, he told us that he would take care of our dishes which was really nice of him, so we left them in his kitchen. After lunch, she drove further North so he could continue to walk southbound back to the spot she had started him at this morning. This was going to be a harder hike then it would have been to just walk Northbound because there was a large elevation gain. He chose to walk that direction to see the friends they had run into at dinner. The highlight of the afternoon hike was a doe with her fawn that were sitting on the trail. When Sherpa approached them, rather than running into the woods, the pair just walked along the trail about 5 yards ahead of him. They did that for several minutes. Eventually, he got to a switchback and climbed up to the next section of trail to get around them without disturbing them anymore. The trail followed the West Virginia border briefly in this section before turning more East. The saddest part of the hike was that the caribeener securing the Deuce of Spades poop shovel fell off of his super awesome fanny pack. He found it on the trail, he lost it on the trail. He also lost the remote for the camera yesterday off a caribeener. Perhaps the moral of the story is that he needs better caribeeners? He saw "the hostel hores" and Prov again in the afternoon which of course confused them. Prov suggested a different running shoe, called the La Sportiva wildcat. We will keep an eye out for a pair. While Sherpa was hiking in the afternoon, Porter went back to the MacArthur inn and got some good stories out of Allen. Her favorite was his account of an attempt to get home from a busy downtown after taking home first place in a mustache competition. He told her that it was late at night, there were a lot of one way streets, some of which he went the wrong direction on. After at least 30 minutes of this aimless wandering, he was pulled over by a police officer. After getting his information, she said to him, "Mr Neely, what on earth do you think you are doing?!" Apparently, she had been following him for some time. He explained that he was just trying to get home from a mustache competition that he had won. She let him off with a warning, but required him to sign it, "First Place." He then followed her out of the city. Porter also chatted with two hikers named Derby and Kryptonite who were taking a zero. Derby had gotten sick (possibly Noro Virus or Giardia). Porter shared her theory on diseases spreading by the sharing of pipes used for drugs on the trail with them. She also learned from Kryptonite that the hiker who was bitten by a bear through his tent back in the smoky mountains a few weeks ago may have been wearing some type of lotion on his legs that had a coconut scent. This does not bode well for Sherpa, since he is always storing food in his mustache and beard! Last night, we stayed at the MacArthur Inn in Narrows Virginia. It was such a highlight that we decided to stay again tonight. Porter had checked in before picking up Sherpa, and when we returned, the owner asked if he could upgrade us to a room that did not have a shared bathroom. We gladly accepted, but informed him that we needed to pick up our bags from the closet of the other room. Apparently, when the Delaware rowing team showed up, someone working the desk had given our room to them. We didn't mind and enjoyed chatting with them. They are biking across the country to stay in shape during the summer.Allen upgraded our room after taking liking to her