Date: 2008-05-08
From: Campground near Trents

To: Holy Family Church Hostel in Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 24.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I don't have a paper entry for today, I'm writing this from a library in Pearisburg.Honestly, not much happened today, I got up and walked the 24 miles, Daniel REALLY making good time and widening the gap between us. 24 miles felt like a lot today, for some reason...my feet were sore afterwards. Well, they are pretty much always sore. But there was also the fact that there was hardly anything to see today, pretty much just looked at my feet the whole time. It was also sorta rainy all day.When I got into Pearisburg I picked up a package my parents had sent me, then walked to the Dairy Queen and suddenly it started to absolutely pour. It was a torrential downpour. I was so happy to be inside, eating hamburgers and just waiting it out.I got a hitch to the hostel and met up with Daniel (he had already got a half gallon of Neopolitan from the grocery store), and went to sleep early. I was pretty worn out. The mats at the hostel are quite comfortable, actually...I slept well. Just looked at the weather - YIKES - no getting around it, we're getting wet. Into the wild, my friends...Oh, I also want to say hi to Mrs. Hoosier Ben! She is apparently following my journal. Your husband is behaving himself on the trail, I can attest, and outwitted all of us youngsters with his ability to quickly solve all the word problems in the newspaper.=====Thought I would describe some trail terms for you guys, in case you read my journal and sometimes have no idea what I'm talking about:-Register: Generally just a college ruled notebook inside a ziploc bag with a pen in it. They are at every shelter. People write little things and sign their name so the people behind them can read it. It's cool because you often follow someone for days or weeks in the register, then finally get to meet them. Often the register entries are factual ("Just stopping here for lunch, then on to Jenkins shelter"), but sometimes people leave poetry, or jokes or riddles, or drawings, or newspaper clippings. All kinds of stuff. The registers are hubs of information on the trail.-Shelter: Just a small, wooden structure with three walls and one open side that you can sleep in. Spaced usually about 5-10 miles apart. They are the most commonly used waypoint on the AT.-PUDS: Short for "pointless ups and downs"...sortof a feeling induced by going up and down steep mountains all day-AYCE: Short for "all you can eat" and pronounced "ace"...the much revered style of eating often found in trail towns-Blue blaze: Both a noun and a verb...a "blue blazed" trail is one that branches off the AT. Often goes *around* the mountain rather than *over* it (as the AT does)...sometimes blue blazing is looked down upon as cheating and most thru-hikers stick to the official trail. Often blue blazes mark water sources as well.-NOBO and SOBO: Northbound and southbound-Flip-flop: A style of thru-hike where you, say, start from Springer, hike to Harper's ferry, then get off the trail, go to Katahdin, and hike back to Harper's ferry to finish the trail.-Slackpack: A style of hiking where, say, a hostel, will drive you to the trail with only a daypack, then pick you up somewhere else at the end of the day so you can put in big miles with no weight except food and water.-Trail magic: Seems like it takes two forms: organized and unorganized. Organized trail magic is where people, usually former thru-hikers, set up near a road with free food and drinks, and surprise hikers as they come through. Unorganized trail magic is the phenomenon of fortune seeming to smile upon you in strange ways all through your hike.