Date: 2003-05-22
From: Pearisburg, Va

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Sweet Ass, Fire Angel and I went into town to hit the PO and to get one last meal at Hardees. Melvin managed to spot Fire Angel from across 4 lanes of traffic and soon had engaged her, filling her ears with such sweet flattery that it is hard to imagine how she resisted. But, with packs on we began to hike out of town. Well, more like through town to get to the grocery store. The trail seemed to lead through vacant lots of overgrown grass in the residential areas of Pearisburg. We finally got to a section of highway (US 460) with white blazes painted onto the power line poles. We took these to the grocery store. We debated for a while about whether or not to leave the packs outside. We had just about made up our minds to throw them in a cart and push them through the store when a kind, man of years who was in charge of the buggies (that is southern for carts) told us that people respected packs there and that they would be safe outside. We spent some time in the store trying to convince each other to take half of this or that so that we could minimize our pack weight and not have to waste anything. Sweet Ass at some point got tired of waiting and hiked out. Fire Angel and I got our usual leave out of town-with barely enough time to get to a shelter before nightfall. We got totally turned around on the Senator Shumate Bridge (spanning the New River), but finally an employee at a nearby factory pointed the way and we were back in the woods. The ascent out of Pearisburg was not as slick as the descent, but it made up for that in its steepness. We made a whopping 6.8 miles from the store to the Rice Field Shelter. The trail rose (more than doubling the 1600 foot elevation of the New River) to a clearing atop the ridgeline. The fog had rolled in on top of us, so whatever views were there to be had were hidden from us. As we neared a signpost we began to hear laughter from the woods¢¦all indicating that the shelter was close. Following the instructions of the sign and a footpath worn in the grass we stole through the fog to the tree line and the shelter just beyond. There I found F-Stop, Journey, Orbit, Retro, Night Fever and Lexi. Raging Joe was tented behind the shelter. The logbook taunted us with tales of the beautiful views that everyone got to see yesterday. We could only hope for a glimpse in the morning. Fire angel and I set out for water and asked if anybody needed any. We were told that people had already tried, but that the trail didn¢t seem to lead anywhere. Fire Angel and I agreed to give it a try and offered to take water bottles with us, but most everyone had made other arrangements for their meals (e.g., eating Raman dry,eating snacks, using what was left of their water from the day and trying to ration to the next water source). Stubbornly we plodded off down the path that led down off the ridge. We followed blue blazes down a pretty wide path, then took a small blue blazed trail that seemed more like a deer run. Finally, our stubbornness paid off. The sound of the trickling in the rocks led us to a pretty good source. Not the fastest, it took a while to fill up my 6 liter platypus and Fire Angel's assortment of containers to bring back to camp, but we returned triumphantly and shared with all who wanted.