Date: 2007-11-23
From: Pearisburg VA

To: Pearisburg VA
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

mi. 20sleep hoteldest. Pearisburg day 134 Today I had to get the miles I skipped to get into town. I was feeling really antsy about being ahead of where I was on the trail. In the end like I said I'm not a purist, I just want to keep it a foot path. On that subject I have finally found a way to put it into words why I am not a purist. I may or may not have said it, so I will just in case. I am out here hiking to travel, see nature, visit places I have never been be it towns or outdoors, meet people, just to have experiences I never would have had otherwise, and there is that whole learn about myself and physical stuff. The AT is just the main way I am doing this. Too me it is more the adventure than saying I did this or that. I wanted to get an earlier start, but I was still hiking by 8:30 am with the drive. My dad walked a little to start, but not much. The first shelter was just a little up. It was the shelter where a tree had fallen onto the roof. Can't say I missed anything by not staying here. The tree has already been cleaned up and the roof piles up next to the shelter. It had fallen sometime this spring or summer. It would be a killer shelter. It has a good flowing stream close for water. It has a rack (bunk style) on each side. It is the old stone style, not the milled wood new ones. Best of all it has a fireplace in the middle of the back wall of the shelter. You could hang a tarp over the opening and make it toasty warm inside. I heard there are plans to fix it, hopefully. I did meet someone headed north. He said he started at Springer and is hiking north to PA. He also thru hiked the CDT this year. He might have already hiked the northern part of the AT, I can't remember for sure. He said his mile total will be somewhere around 4500 this year. That's awesome. He only said it as part of the conversation, not to talk himself up. The hiking today was a little chilly. Chilly enough for the water in my hydration tube to freeze. The thermometer on my watch said 29 degrees. I will add that I like the fact my watch has a minium temop of 12 or 14 degrees. When it gets lower than that I really don't want to know. It'll be freakin cold regaurdless. I ended up with a nice section to slack. Other than the little up to get on the ridge, it was a ridge walk all the way until the down to get into town. The terrain was also not bad at all. Which was nice after dealing with all the strange rocks or little annoying things just to slow me down. I talked to more people today hiking than I have in forever. In addition to the hiker early on, I came across 5 different hunters. I think I talked with all of them. Nice people. Usually the hunters I meet don't want to chat. Today all looked to be done hunting for the morning. None of them said they seen any deer. I think they are laying low in the cold temps. I got to the shelter just north of town to take a little break to find a hunter doing the same. He hiked up to hunt in the morning and was waiting until the evening to hunt again. We chatted for awhile. I offered him some sips of my beverage to warm him up. In return he told me that I could get a beer out of the cooler in the back of his truck at the trailhead. A nice unexpected treat for the day. This looked to be a nice shelter to stay at. The shelter itself looked typical. But it was overlooking a meadow that would have a great sunset. Weather permiting it would be a great cowboy camping spot on a clear night. Oh and everyone's buddy Warron Doyle signed in here. For those who don't know of him, he slack packs the trail a lot. He said he was working on his 14th or 15th hike. I personally haven't met him, but I'm not impressed by him. It seems like he is hiking to get another notch on the belt instead of to enjoy it or to hike for the sake of hiking. Anyways, that should put some comments in the guest book. I was crusin back into town. I used the cell phone, while hiking I might add, to let my parents know I was going to be at the first road crossing in about 2 to 2.5 hours. The plan was for my dad to hike north and meet me. Right at about 2 hours I got to the trailhead. I got a beer from the hunter's cooler, thanks again. I glanced at the map and it looked like the trail went to 460 and followed that across the New River. I walked along the road to rt. 460. I even saw a blaze along the road. I got to the main road and called again. At that point my parnets rooled up. My dad got out too hike a little. Originally we were planning a night on the trail. The lows were in the low 20's in the valley. So he talked himself out of it. Which is fine with me. It just means more nights in a warm place with lights. I love staying on the trail. The long nights and the cold are starting to get old. My dad actually pointed me back to where I came. Appartmently he talked to someone who told him it just crossed the street. I got the map back out to see I was lookig at the wrong road. Driving around and looking at trail and road maps has me all turned around. It was nice to hike with him for awhile. We only walked a mile or so, but it was nice. Although it seemed to be close to a road for most of the way. Somehow I missed a turn again and we ended up following more than we needed. My Zen was off and I was all screwed up. We got to the road for town. Originally we were going to walk up to Dairy Queen and meet my mom there. But we decided to save ourselves the road walk and called her to pick us up. While we were waiting along the road, a guy pulled up. He was wearing a BSA shirt and asked us if we were hiking and needed directions or anything. I told him no thanks we were slacking into town and had a ride coming. He than called me a wuess for hiking down the climb going south out of town. I told him that I hiked in the other way and would see that soon enough. He chimed in how hard a climb it was something like 1500 feet or so in a mile. Another example of a local thinking their section is the hardest, nicest, or best whatever. I just smiled and said thanks for the offer for help. A few mintues later my mom picked us up and it was ice cream all around. I was freezing, but not too cold for ice cream. From there it was hotel and a shower. It feels great to wear non hiking clothes again. My parents brought some fro me to wear while they were there. Then it was off to a local hole in the wall resturant for dinner. It's kind of comical. I eat slower than I used too, but still fast. My dad eats fast. My mom wasn't too hungry. I think they are not used to camping out after eating. I like to relax and chat. 3 or 4 cups of coffee later we finally left. I could have stayed longer, but they looked antsy. From there it was more relaxing in the hotel, tv, and food. I was snacking most of the night.