Date: 2004-05-25
From: Jenkins Shelter

To: Helveys Mill Shelter 
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: broken clouds

The rains came last night! What a thunder storm we had last night. Lightening, thunder and lots of rain.Finally I pitched my tarp correctly and it shed all of the rain and I stayed dry. Things did get pretty damp from the rain and humidity, but at least it wasn't a river like I had at Trail Days!!The plan for the day was a simple 13.8 miles to the next shelter. A welcomed change as I wanted to get my stuff dried out. The tarp must have weighed an extra pound or more since it was soaked from the rain last night.Ladybug bolted out of camp pretty early. I was soon to follow her up the trail. The trail led up over a small 1000 foot climb, then followed a stream for something like two miles. It must have crossed that stream a dozen or more times. That started to get annoying. Even more annoying than the crossings was the muddy trail. I swear at least one of the two miles was a mud bog. That made a nice mess and slowed things down. At the road crossing (VA615) someone had left some Trail Magic. Juice in a trailside cooler, that was so cool.The trail climbed from there up onto a ridge that was really level and it was able to make up some time. Soon I found myself at the US21/52 road crossing, which leads to Bland and Bastian, VA. Soon I was accompanied by Bear. A super spot for lunch. And the sun was out as well. That offered us some time to setup our tents to dry them out. I even pulled out my sleeping bag to let it dry and air out.Ladybug was quick to arrive as well. True to form, she was up for a hitch into Bland for soda. Both Bear and I decided to stay since our gear was everywhere. Again Ladybug had a ride to town from the first car which passed. He even offered to bring her back. Wow, what luck!!Soon there was a constant flow of hikers arriving at the road crossing. It was like a hiker party at the road. Red who is a thru-hiker and is taking a couple days off showed up with his truck to shuttle some people to town. To make our lunch stop even more enjoyable, he had cold beer.After two and a half hours we packed up and headed up the trail. That is so rough with a full tummy and a long break. The climb up to the ridge from the road crossing was a little rougher than the map made it look.When I got to the shelter turn off, there was a note fro Ladybug saying she was moving on. It was still kind of early in the day to stop hiking, but moving on wasn't Bear's or my agenda for the day. Today was our lazy day. On top of that it's 9.8 miles to the next shelter with no designated campsites or any water between the two. So Bear and I are tenting at the shelter and Ladybug is ahead somewhere. Hope she's OK, as there is some serious thunder rumbling and a weather warning too.Tomorrow is a 16+ mile day, followed by another, then a short 7 mile day on Friday to take us into Pearisburg. I'm looking forward to a zero day. The feet are starting to hurt everyday now. The rocks are brutal on the feet.Oh, other things to note are, the leaves are out now (of course we are at much lower elevations now), and the rhododendrum are starting to bloom. There are plenty of rhodies in southwest VA, so the forest should be really nice in anothr week. Ah, the beauty of the trail.