Date: 2004-05-22
From: Parisburg, Va.

To: Bailey Gap Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: few clouds

5/22 I left Pearisburg well rested today and got a ride with a local retired guy who did it to keep him busy and possibly to earn the few $ in tips that people offered. He said he was a reformed alcoholic who always had visions of hiking the AT. I got dropped off 2 miles out of town where I had stopped to go to town. I had hiked past the town because the town wasn't well marked and I kept going thinking I'd soon walk into downtown. The trail went on the town outskirts and I kept hiking until it was obvious I had missed my landmarks. Oxymoron and Ruth, who were brother and sister-in-law hiking together, were dropped off at the same spot explaining it wasn¢t critical to them that they hike every mile. Oxymoron was married to Ruth's sister who had died of cancer and I had the sense that the hike was at least in part a tribute to someone they both loved. They, as well as many others, also slack-packed [had someone leave their pack at a predestined spot] so they only carried a light day pack on the trail and got their regular pack at the end of the hiking day. Another way hikers made things easier for themselves was to reverse the direction of their hike which is usually called a flip flop. This used to be done mainly by necessity when someone couldn't get to Katahdin by mid October when they won't let you go to the top of the mountain because of bad weather. So hikers would hike from the south and at some point go to Katahdin and then hike south and finish where they had previously stopped. It now seems more hikers are reversing the direction of their hike over short distances to take advantage of the terrain. So they may get a ride to the top of a mountain and then hike backwards so they don't have to climb as many mountains. I like to call this wuss-flopping. So if you get a ride to take advantage of the terrain and also don't carry a full pack, I've been calling those hikers slack-packing wuss-floppers. There are no rules for hiking the AT and everyone can hike it as they like or as they say "Hike your own hike." The traditional way is to carry a full pack past every white blaze that marks the trail and the people who do that are called "Purists". I hope to be a purist and not start making compromises.I wound up making it to Baileys Gap. The day was raining off and on which left the trail messy but the weather also made for cooler hiking. I was about 1/2 mile from the Pine Swamp Branch Shelter when I saw Crash Bang, who had been ahead of me, headed towards me. He said, "You're going in the wrong direction." Since I knew I was going the right way I told him he was going the right way if he was headed back to Georgia. He admitted he must have gotten turned around at the shelter and so hiked an extra mile for nothing. I had several streams to cross in the rain, which means you usually jump from rock to rock to keep your feet dry. On one of them I jumped on the 3rd rock in the middle of the stream which was wobbly and as my foot slipped I fell and landed right on my back in the middle of 20 inches of water. With a 40 pound pack on my back I couldn't get up so I scooted up the bank out of the water and took the pack off before I could get up myself. They call this turtleing since you can't roll over much like a turtle has trouble when he is on his shell. I fixed the rock so it wouldn't happen to someone else and then went to see what damage was done to the pack. It was amazing that with the pack cover on my pack was completely dry and there was no damage to anything. I was very lucky.I finally finished a 23-mile day at the Bailey Gap Shelter. Crash Bang was also there and during dinner spilled some of his stove fuel on the picnic table which caught on fire. Crash Bang hurriedly put out the fire with his handkerchief, which then burned large holes in the hanky. So it turns out that Crash Bang picked a good name for himself since he seems to be prone to accidents and mishaps.