Date: 2004-04-16
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

(cont. from previous entry)4/11/04 SundayBecause I hiked past the shelter yesterday, my hike today was shorter than planned - and for the best since the light rain I walked through for three miles before the shelter turned to hard rain once I got here.The terrain changed this morning, and the Trail passed through some cow pastures and rolling fields. It made for easier walking, except for the innumerable stiles I had to cross at the field boundaries. I'd started hiking at first light, so I was walking through the fields and past farms by dawn.Along the Trail in a wooded section I came across the second carcass of a deer in two days. Both had been picked down to the skeleton, but this skeleton was oddly intact, holding its shape as it it were a resting, insubstantial, deer. It was also lying half in a stream, a reminded to hikers to treat their water.The Trail then climbed several miles up and up, through a field/bald along an old farm road, until it reached the shelter at the top of the mountain. And this is an impressive shelter: built of stone and enclosed, it's huge. There used to be a fireplace inside, but it's been sealed over (too bad, since it's a little chilly with the rain). The old foundations of a firetower are beside it, so I'd imagine this used to be the home of the fire warden.I'll have to see if anyone else shows up - I caught Pilgrim and Lulu as they were leaving after lunch. Since I'm here so early, I might have hiked on some more later, but since it's raining I think I'll just stay here and think warm thoughts....Ahh, after dinner, and the shelter is filling up - which will keep it warmer, too (and smellier, with everyone's wet gear). There's a group of three section hikers from New Jersey, a section hiker named Mr. Coffee from Washington, Mello, and Tell It Like It Is. Brer Rabbit showed up after dark, as he is wont to do. With more people in here, it's actually cosy!4/12/04 MondayCold and rain, cold and rain. Woke to impressive noises of wind, rain, and wind-buffeted rain on the shelter roof. After dragging my feet I got a late start. Brer Rabbit and Tell It Like It Is were going to stay later at the shelter, but I don't imagine it'll get much better in the next day or two.I left the shelter to discover it sounded worse than it was - or rather, the wind was as bad, but the rain wasn't. Once again, there were no views, with the clouds close by and obscuring everything beyond the first row of trees. I passed a sign labeled "Vista" and shook my head at the irony.After stopping at the lext shelter for lunch and discovering the joys of doing simple tasks with fingers that don't respond, I came to a section of trail which crosses the same winding river twelve times in two miles. I'd blithely ignored the "High Water Trail" detour earlier, so after two days of rain I discovered that high water means wading through the same river twelve times, all stepping stones submerged. At least once your feet are wet it becomes easier (mentally) to slosh through the river again the next time you come to it.The Trail followed a road for about a mile, so it could cross a bridge over a highway. I never feel out of my element more than when I'm moseying along and cars and trucks are zooming past. Two worlds colliding.I got to the shelter to find it full of Boy Scouts, so I chose to hammock. The boys were very nice, and had a lot of questions about thru-hiking. During the night the skies opened up, and there was lightning and thunder, but I stayed dry, curled up in my hammock.4/13/04 TuesdayCold and rain, cold and rain. Oh wait, I've already used that line. Today, it rained even harder than it did yesterday, the Trail running fast with water. For a while it hailed as well, pea-sized beads of ice piling up in the woods. I'd managed to dry out my socks last night (by putting them in my sleeping bag with me, and let me tell you, there's nothing like sleeping with wet, week-old hiking socks), but as they got soaked again within five minutes it hardly seemed worth it.I stopped for lunch after ten miles, and crawled into my sleeping bag to warm up while I cooked, and that at least allowed my hands to warm up enough to write. I took a nap, and then...It stopped raining! Just like that, the clouds cleared, and he sun came out. A most amazing transformation, and really as sudden as that. It made the hiking much easier, since when it rains every little problem becomes magnified. I find myself getting mad at the Trail for being wet, or having a stream crossing, which is silly, of course. I need to remember that the Trail simply is, while I'm the one who chose to be out here on it.Because of the rain, the Trail was running with water, buth with streams and rivulets crossing it, and also on the Trail itself, because of poor drainage. I kept thinking I'd missed the next shelter, because the guide book gave landmarks in the form of streams, and that was impossible to follow.I finally got to the shelter, and had no sooner built a fire (with wet wood, no less) to try and dry out my shoes and socks when it began to rain again, then hail just a little for effect. The rain let up enough so I could cook on the fire, but I couldn't leave my shoes out. Guess I'm walking with wet feet again tomorrow.I'm the only one here tonight. I think people stopped in town at one of the road crossings, so they could dry off. I figured I'd keep walking, since I'm planning to get to Pearisburg tomorrow anyway, and if it rains every day it's not worth paying for a hotel to dry off. Hmm, maybe no one's here because I hiked two twenty-four mile days in a row.... Didn't I say I need to slow down? Well, I'll take a zero day in Pearisburg.4/14/04 WednesdayWhat strange weather we're having. Woke to rain, then snow, then to the sun peeking through the clouds, all before I got out of my sleeping bag. True to form, the snow came back, and after half an hour there was three inches of snow on the ground, the wind gusting ice into the side of my face. Why does this happen when I go into town? At least I'll be warm and dry tonight.Stopped at the last shelter before town for lunch, where I found this gem written: "The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious." See, the woods brings out the poet in all of us.The Trail dropped two thousand feet to come into town, so the snow gradually diminished. As I got lower, suddenly there were trees with leaves on them. Spring is here - maybe someone should tell the snow that.I'm staying tonight in the Holy Family Hostel, run by the Catholic church in town. With a hot shower, a kitchen, and a wood stove it has all the amenities of home. I hit Super Wal-Mart tonight for dinner and breakfast, but I'm waiting for the AYCE Pizza Hut buffet tomorrow for lunch.4/15/04 ThursdayZero day in Pearisburg. Stuffed from lunch. Blurg.