Date: 2007-04-07
From: Troutdale, VA

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 205.0
Weather: overcast clouds

After another nine days on the trail, I am back off again. Nita picked me up at The Barn Restaurant off of Interstate 81 in Virginia on 4/5/07. I will stay with her in Boone, NC until she takes me back to the trail on 4/10/07. During these 5 zero days in Boone, I will go back to the dentist's to have the temporary crown removed and the permanent crown put on. Hopefully this will be the last trip to the dentist's office while I'm hiking the AT. So far while hiking, I have lost about 17 pounds! I really packed on the weight in the gym prior to leaving, but after not lifting a single weight for a month and hiking 500 some odd miles, I've lost everything I put on! I probably couldn't bench 200 pounds right now, but I could run you a marathon in 3 hours flat! I plan to pack on as much weight in my belly as I can while staying with Nita!   I was able to put the pedal down and cover 200 miles in the last nine days. This put me over the 500 mile mark! I have now hiked 535 miles, with about 1,640 still to go. With roughly 25% of the trail finished, I am still on track to finish around July 1st. I woke up this morning to about 2 inches of snow in Boone. I was happy to be indoors, but missed the feeling of being in the woods just after a snow. Never is it so quiet out there than just after a snow. When Nita takes me back to the trail on Tuesday, I will have 20 days to get to Harper's Ferry by May 1st. In order to make Harper's Ferry, I will have to cover 25 miles a day for 20 days straight. Some doubt that I'll be able to cover that kind of distance, but I like a challenge and enjoy proving doubters wrong. After May 1st, I will take another break of about a week or so to travel back to Boone to watch Nita graduate from her Master's program. After graduation, we'll ride back up to Chantilly together and get her moved into the house in Chantilly.   After Nita dropped me back off in Erwin, TN, I stayed the night at Uncle Johnny's Hostel and left early the next morning. From Erwin, I hiked 23.3 miles to Greasy Creek Gap. Along the way, a crawfish attacked the hose to my water filter while filtering water from a spring.   My 22nd day on the trail I hiked over Roan Mountain and some amazing balds, covering another 23.5 miles. I saw half a dozen deer early this morning. Roan Mountain was a tough climb in the rain, but coming down the other side of the balds and walking into the hostel at 19E was great. The hostel was located over a working barn. We could hear the horses and goats moving around under us in the night. It sounds rustic, but the sleeping quarters were actually very nice and comfortable.   The next day I covered 23.8 miles and stayed at the Kincora Hiker Hostel with several other thru-hikers. It was nice to catch several people that I had been hiking with before my last zeros and meet up with them again.    The next morning, I left the hostel and went through one of the prettiest sections of the whole trail, the Laurel Fork Gorge. I got lots of sweet photos of waterfalls etc. along the way. I hiked 17.5 miles and stayed at Vandeventer shelter, which has one of the best views of any shelter along the trail.   On the 25th night of the trip, I hiked 32.7 miles into Damascus, VA. I was excited to have crossed into my fourth state and reached a milestone town along the trail. I stayed at "The Place", a free hostel run by a local church in town, and ate at a local pizza place.   Over the next 4 days, I covered 75 miles. I walked through the Grayson Highlands, an area populated by wild ponies! The ponies were just as friendly as I had remembered them. They were a highlight of my 2003 trip. After taking photos with the ponies, I rounded a hill and was faced with a forest fire! The forest service was performing a controlled burn of the highlands area. This prescribed burning helps keep the balds bald. The fire fighters gave me an escort right through the burn zone. I got to watch as a helicopter flew over and dropped incendiary "ping pong balls". When the balls hit the ground, they would ignite the surrounding grasslands and burn off the excess growth. It was pretty cool. I actually thought that perhaps it wasn't safe to be walking underneath the helicopter with grass burning all around me, but the fire fighter comforted me by saying, "just stay in the black and you'll be fine! If it's already burned, it won't burn again!" I got some excellent photos from all of this. That night, we had a big thunderstorm with some fierce winds. I was thankful to be in a shelter that night. Nita picked me up Thursday off of Interstate 81 in Virginia. It was great to see her again!   Over the next few days off, I will lighten my load by about two pounds, dropping my base weight to about 10 pounds. As it warms up a bit more, I'll be able to drop about one additional pound off of that. When I get back on the trail next week, I'l be pushing hard to get to Harper's Ferry. I'm not sure when I'll get to update this journal again, but I will update as often as I can along the way. The next town I will stop in will be Pearisburg, VA, about 90 miles from I-81. I hope to get there Saturday evening. Pearisburg is as far as I made it in 2003. It will be a good feeling to push past this point and burn the ghost of Pearisburg. After Pearisburg everything I see will be brand new as I haven't seen any of the trail North of there.    Thanks to all those who are reading this journal! I appreciate all the words of encouragement. I look forward to catching up with everyone soon!