Date: 2008-04-17
From: Keffer Oak (2240')

To: Pickle Branch Shelter (1845')
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

I slept in a little and ate an oatmeal thing that Uncle Tom had given me. You just add boiling water to the pouch it comes in which was convenient and it was more filling than I expected. I was the last one out and I had an oatmeal to go bar as well which are turning out to be pretty good although I need about 3 to get me going. There was an initial climb which wasn't bad because it was still cool out and then a walk along a ridge. VA seems to have a lot of these ridges where you hike up 1000-1500' and then stay up on the ridge walking along flat ground for a while and you can normally see parallel ridges on either side. I'm assuming they were formed by plate tectonic action and their pretty uniform and nice to hike along on clear days. We descended to Niday Shelter where Strides, Spruce, and I took about a 50 min lunch and got water. I had a tuna wrap and then a peanut butter wrap again which along with 2 liters of water are pretty filling. There was some trail magic not too far afterwards which consisted mostly of instant coffee. There was a hamburger bun when I ate. I headed back up another ridge and this one was much longer and it was a lot warmer out. The walk up was nice with good scenery but the heat really made you work for it. There was a bench right at the top of the uphill which I thought was funny. It was acknowledging that someone would need rest after that walk. There was a memorial for the most decorated WWII soldier who died in a plane crash nearby and I took a 15 min break there and aired out my feet. The bottoms of my toes are starting to wear thin. I don't know if its the heat or there is dirt in my socks but that along with my leg still hurting bad is making the walking tough. My leg doesn't hurt as bad on uphills just flats and downhills which I normally cruise on and the pain slows me down. The rest of the walk was nice though and I ran into Chatter and Sandlewood on the way down who are both Canadian and have been out hiking for about a month. I saw a lizard soaking in the sun on a tree right before the shelter but when I tried to get a picture he kept moving away and into the shade. The shelter was a long walk from the trail and the water was even further. I rested for a while and my toes were really bothering me. There was some ramen left in the shelter which I cooked (first time on the trail) and I added some stove top from Spruce (also a first on the trail) and it was a good mix. For my second course I had instant potatoes with gravy and beef jerky and of course hot sauce. Chatter and Sandlewood showed up as well as Piglet and Smokey who had hiked a section in 2002 but didn't know Bob or Quade from that year. Chatter gave me some jalepeno seasoning which I'm psyched to use and some dried apricots that were really good. I ate a bunch of candy and peanut butter as well. Hershey's special dark with creamy honey peanut butter might be the smartest thing I've ever done. Everyone else is in bed and tomorrow I'm looking forward to dinner and the Homeplace all you can eat. Hopefully I won't repeat the Erwin Chinese all you can eat incident where I felt sick afterwards because I plan on hiking a couple miles after dinner.