Date: 2019-04-16
From: Narrows, VA

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: moderate rain

We Spent last night at Woods Hole Hostel, one of the oldest on the trail.  The main house and the bunk house are original log buildings with loads of charm and character.  This property has been in the family for 3 generations and Neville, the grand daughter, adds to that charm and runs it as though it were a B&B.  The food is organic and homemade with ingredients either raised on the premises or supplied by her organic neighbors.  For instance, the salad was picked from the raised garden boxes that surround the grounds.  The bunk beds were rather short and I Had to sleep diagonally, however the Mayor was forced to sleep on the futon in the main living area.  At 1238 this morning, I got up to ¢go see a man¢ and found the Mayor wide awake staring at the fire.  At 610, I again had to ¢see a man¢, walked into the main living area and saw him in the same position, looking at the sunrise though the window.  (That sunrise is featured with this post.) He said he did get some sleep, but what a sight to wake up to and what a beautiful day for a hike was promised us.One of the hostel¢s guest is a hiker going by the name of Hugs.  This is Hugs second stint on the AT, this time with the companionship of his guide dog named Fecteau.  Hugs aim is to help raise awareness of PTSD, a former serviceman and victim himself.  His dog by the way, is named after a Vietnam vet who tragically never returned home after being held POW. I understand that all guide dogs receive the names of fallen service men.  The organization that Hugs is working with is called PAWWS,  Paws Assisting Wounded Warriors.  Hugs agreed that I put this in my journal along with a link to his Facebook page, FECTEAUANDHUGS.  Please follow his hike and show your encouragement and appreciation for all that he and millions of other others are going through. After our goodbyes, we loaded into a local shuttle and were driven to the point at which I exited the trail last summer.  We scheduled a short hike of 6.9 miles, which turned out to be a GREAT idea.  It was mostly up over a terrain that was mostly rocky and rooty covered with dead hardwood leaves and sticks that had fallen due to recent heavy rains and high winds.   The larger debris had been cleared by local trail maintenance teams, even the white blazes were a bright white from a fresh coat of paint in anticipation of the hundreds if not thousands of people that will enjoy Virginia¢s Appalachian Trail.Today¢s hike proved to be challenging for both of us and most certainly me.  The Mayor is 6¢3 and has a pretty decent gait, so it made sense that he take the point.  His knees seemed to hold up to the challenge today, though there weren¢t many descents.  I seemed to have lost both my trail legs and lungs while I fought to keep up.  Probably because of me, we were passed by several hikers, mostly in they¢re twenty¢s, but a few recent retirees as well.  For some reason the ¢kids¢ did only 7-9 miles as well and are camping with us here at Rice Field Shelter, but tomorrow are looking to do around 25 miles.  I mentioned to the Mayor and a young lady that¢s here now and stayed at Woods Hole last night, that based on today¢s performance, I should change my trail name to ¢Keep Right¢ since I was so frequently passed.Small world.  Just shy of this mountain top and camp site is a piped spring.  (The trail maintenance people insert a black pipe into the ground and fresh mountain spring water flows freely.  When you find one fill all your bottles because nothing¢s as good as fresh, clean and cold spring water.)  Anyway, the Mayor took off and I waited for a hiker I saw coming up the trail just behind us.  After introductions, he is ¢Lone Star¢ from Greenville, TX, he stopped in mid sentence, repeated my name, Lorax, and asked who I knew that worked at L3 in Torrance, CA.  I know several, or at least did, but the name Bob Tobin jumped out and that¢s exactly who he was thinking of.  Bob mentioned to Lone Star that I was out here and directed him to this sight.  Thanks Bob and congratulations Lone Star on your recent retirement and good luck on you AT adventure!The sky now plays host to an early full moon that currently out shines the stars, as it¢s still rather early. But our day ended with a sky just as beautiful as the one we started with.  We¢re both exhausted from the day and am certain neither of us will have trouble sleeping tonight.