Date: 2015-04-20
From: Laurel Creek Shelter

To: Pickle Branch Shelter
Miles today: 22.5
Weather: moderate rain

We woke up around 5 AM. We had half-heartedly discussed the plans for the day during yesterday evening: 12 or 22 miles? We came to the unspoken concensus that we should try to reach the shelter situated 22.5 miles away. As we slowly packed up our still dripping wet gear, I concluded that, deep down, I must hate myself because why else would I force myself through this? Small fading stars were still visible in the sky which meant that the rain clouds had, at least temporarily, dissipated. This cemented our decision: we need to push on today.We ate, as usual, our Clif bars and breakfast drink mixes. Clif bars have "motivational" quotes on the back of their packaging. This morning, mine read "Get your feet wet". You shut your damn mouth, Clif bar! (Spoilers: the prophecy was accurate.)We hiked for a few minutes and came across a stream. In normal circumstances, a couple of stone hops would have sufficed to get across to the other side. However, due to the intense rain, the stream had swelled up and transformed into a rapid current. We took a few minutes to calculate the easiest passage. Shrugs, with his long legs, manages to get across. I slowly crept forward on a very slanted rock but when I set my foot in the fast flowing stream, the current swept me away. Luckily, I managed to break my fall on a big rock, sparing my pack of an icy bath; only my feet and legs got soaked.We got across and the Trail zig-zagged for a few minutes... and finally swerved right back to THE SAME STREAM. This time, as my feet were already wet, I decided to ford it. The cold water came up to my thighs; the water was so cold, my skin felt as if it were burning. It took several minutes to navigate through to the other side as I was proceeding with extreme caution, inching extremely slowly, my aching muscles resisting the strength of the fast-flowing waters.The picture above shows the state of the Trail. In the back, you can see the engorged, rapid stream we had to cross. The small shallow stream in front is actually the Trail which had been flooded. Get your feet wet, indeed.Once we made it across, we had to take a break to wring out our socks and shake our boots. While I was doing that, I was suddenly startled by a scream: "AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!" It was Shrugs! I thought he was in danger, but he had only been caught off-guard upon discovering that a large wiggling millipede (~8 cm/3") had taken up temporary residence in his sock. It was still alive, what a tough little thing!The Trail continued onwards through the mountains to finally lead to pastures and a stretch of farmland, quite typical of the Virginian landscape thus far. Thick patches of fog were still present though they were lifting away as the sun had finally made an appearance. A few cows were grazing in the distance. A few planks of wood were laid out to help hikers cross marshy, boggy areas but the land was flooded and the planks were submerged. We waded across the grassy fields.We saw the Keffer Oak, an old, over 300 year-old tree. I wonder how much rain it has witnessed through the years.The profile elevations showed a steep climb to access a mountain ridge. We thought that once we hit that ridge, the Trail would be flat and easy and that we could make up for the time we lost this morning. This is not what happened. That ridge was composed of massive boulders that were angled at 45 degrees and, of course, the Trail went right ON them rather than around. We treaded carefully, our toes mashed against the front of our boots as we advanced along the rocks, tiny steps at a time, praying that we would not slip and tumble down the harshly steep cliff. This segment was around 3 miles long yet it appeared as an endless stream of rocks. As you would climb one, thinking it was the last, a new wave of rocks would appear. I was so thankful that it was not raining; going through those rocks in the rain would have been suicide or hiker seppuku (when hikers throw themselves onto slippery, jagged rocks instead of katanas).Moral of the story: one should be wary and suspicious of any seemingly "flat" profile elevations depicted in the guide books. We arrived around 2 PM at Craig Creek where Fresh Ground's Leapfrog Caf© was set up. Highlight of the day! Fresh Ground had an amazing pasta salad ready for us, in addition to his usual fixings. Shrugs ate 5 hot dogs!!! Thank you Fresh Ground!We left at around 3 and still had over 8 miles to do. I despise these long, never-ending days! The climb out of the valley was long and difficult, our heavy bellies slowing us down. We saw the Audie Murphy memorial. Murphy was apparently the most decorated WWII veteran. At this point, Not Yet had caught up to us so we hiked with him a bit, which was pleasant and a very nice way to pass the time. Large, menacing clouds blew over and unleashed short bursts of strong rain but, as the final drops tapered off, we saw a great rainbow.We arrived at the shelter after sunset. My feet were aching badly and I could barely walk through that last mile. The skin on my toes has been permanently wet for the past couple of days, causing it to wrinkle; the skin seemed chapped and blistered. We didn't have the energy to cook so we ate more energy bars and candies. It rained on us again.- Axon