Date: 2009-06-11
From: VA 606

To: Sugar Run Gap/Wood Hole
Miles today: 13.9

The plan this morning was to hike 24 miles back into Pearisburg, but Scavenger had injured his calf muscle and decided that it wasn¢t worth the risk to hike, so he decided to take a zero day. I, on the other hand, needed to keep going in order to get at least somewhat close to I-81, as this would be the thoroughfare used to get up to Jill and Zach¢s, my friends in Central Virginia, who would take me to the Charlottesville Airport so that I could fly up to NY for Dan and Kim¢s wedding. Ahhhhh, logistics logistics. Just as I had packed up all of my belongings at the wedding, the rain came pouring down. I could sense that it was going to be another big storm and that I would have to leave later on in the afternoon. Seriously though, from where is all this rain coming? It felt like one of those rainy Saturday mornings, so I climbed back into bed and fell asleep for a good hour or so. When I woke up, the skies had cleared up somewhat and I figured that now was my chance to get moving. I hiked about one mile to the library, where I ordered a hat to cover my head from ticks jumping off trees (I DO NOT want to get lyme disease!) and also some sock liners to absorb the sweat that has been saturating my socks and shoes lately. After finishing up the library, I tried to determine where the best place would be to hitch out of town in order to get back to VA 606 to keep hiking. I knew that I would not be able to hike all 24 miles today, so I decided to split it up and get at least 14-15 miles under my belt so that tomorrow would be an easy 10 mile day into town. I had my thumb sticking out for maybe 10 minutes before a huge 84 Lumber tractor trailer flew by me, slammed on his brakes and the driver yelled to me to hurry my ass up. The driver was a country sort with tattoos all over his body and long greasy hair. He began to share with me some stories from his own life. He said that it was company policy to not pick up hitchhikers, but that he was making the exception for me. I was very grateful. He said that he had always been a truck driver, but before taking the local gig with 84 Lumber, he would travel all over the United States. He loved the road and said that he could drive forever and ever. He also told me of an experience when he picked up a female thru-hiker back in the mid-90¢s who ended up staying with him for several months. I was a little bit puzzled by this as it is kosher to merely stay a day or two with a host. I asked if she was injured, but he replied in a grizzly voice, ¢No, I think that she was just horny¢. I chuckled under my breath and nodded with uncertainty. He then said that he was too fat and too out of shape to actually walk, so he would never do something like hike the Appalachian Trail. But, he said that, each year, he pools all of his money together so that he can go on one big international trip. Last year, he headed to Sydney and, this year, he will be heading to Milan for 10 days. He seemed very excited about it. I¢m glad to see that people are able to get out of their comfort zones to go travel - either domestically or internationally. The grizzly man dropped me off at 42 W, which happened to be close to a very large state penitentiary. I stuck my thumb out again, but was unfortunate to not get a hitch for 40 minutes or so. During this time, however, a man in a truck came on up as he was waiting for/carpooling with his wife. We struck up a conversation and he told me that he was laid off from the Volvo plant in Dublin, VA, which is where Jeremy and Robin lived. He has been collecting unemployment for some time, but still applying for jobs as he doesn¢t like sitting on his bum back at the house. We also talked all about the ACC and I told him that I had been working for Duke University for the past two years and managed to get inside Cameron Indoor to catch many games. His wife arrived and they departed, soon after, en route to Pearisburg. They said that if I had been heading towards Pearisburg that they would gladly give me a lift. Kind folks. No less than 5 minutes after they had left, a young couple in a white pick-up truck pulled off to the side of the road to give me a lift. They were going in exactly the same direction as I was, so I jumped into the back of the pickup and off we went. The fresh air and cool breeze felt wonderful as we took off. The guy was flying pretty fast and I had a great view at the mountain ridge that I would be walking on in just a little while. When they dropped me off close to the trailhead, I introduced myself and vice-versa. He was from Richmond, VA while she was from Long Beach, CA, but had just moved to Central Virginia two years prior. My intention was to hike 14 miles to Woods Hole Hostel, but I knew that I was getting a very late start, beginning the hike at 5:00 pm. Due to the morning rain, the trail had turned into a swamp or bog of sorts and it was very slow moving, especially at first. I hiked a few miles in when I came across the side trail to Dismal Falls, which is supposed to be a great swimming area on the trail. Knowing that I had a long evening ahead of me, I probably shouldn¢t have gone, but I really enjoy exploring, so I headed off anyway. The skies looked grey with impending rain, but I felt the need to go for a swim. After climbing down some steep cliffs, I headed on over to the falls, proceeded to take off all of my clothing, and jumped into the water. It was FREEEEZING! I swam around for a bit and relaxed before finally packing up my belongings and making my way back to the Appalachian Trail. It had been a very refreshing 50 minutes, but I also knew that I had lost valuable sunlight time and that I would probably be hiking in complete darkness for a while. As soon as I hit the trail again, the rain just started pummeling me. I was, again, saturated to the core. I actually thought that I was making some very good time, but when I hit the Watipi Shelter, it was already 8:30 pm and nearly completely dark. There were four hikers already inside the shelter snoring away and I didn¢t want to disturb then, so I kept on going. Bad decision. I ended up hiking in the pouring rain for four hours in complete darkness. To make matters worse, my iPod had become so saturated with water that it completely died. The winds were howling all around me and the rain was coming down almost horizontally. Little did I know that when I would turn on my phone the next day that I would receive a text from Jeremy and Robin warning me that there was a tornado watch in the area and that I may be hit with 80 mph winds and hail. I didn¢t get the hail, but I did get heavy rain and very strong winds. During this 4.5 hours in complete darkness, I couldn¢t help but think about the state penitentiary that was right down below the ridge. I kept turning around to see if anyone was behind me, but I figured that no one was as stupid as me to actually be out there hiking in a monsoon and darkness. My muscles were getting quite tired, I was getting to be dehydrated, and I could barely see two feet in front of me. I must have stepped on about 10 frogs that were out on the trail during this time, but I luckily avoided them at the last second. When I finally arrived to Sugar Run Road at 11:45 pm, I was in the middle of a large cloud and I couldn¢t see a few feet in front of me. The instructions on a map stapled to a tree had said that I was to take a right and then it would be on the left. Well, I took the right, but didn¢t see that there was a fork in the road. I ended up taking the wrong road and walking down about a mile, before turning back around and walking the mile back. I found the other road and walked down it, only to arrive at the Woods Hole Hostel at 1:00 am. I was happy to have arrived. The bunkhouse was upstairs, but as I didn¢t want to disturb anyone, I curled up into the outside hammock and tried to go asleep. But, the darn bugs kept flying into my ear and biting my face, so I really didn¢t sleep too well. I tried to sleep on the couch as well, but I just didn¢t get much sleep. At least I knew where I was - not lost out on the AT.