Date: 2005-09-15
From: Montebello, Va.

To: Montebello, Va.
Miles today: 20.5

20.5 miles todaySleeping in a real bedDutch Haus B&BMontebello, Va I never seem to get enough sleep when I'm not in the woods. It's not that I don't sleep good, I just seem to stay up too late getting things done. I wasn't ready to get up this morning, but Landcruiser and I decided last night to get an early start. Breakfast was at 6:15am. I woke up about half an hour before that and got my stuff together that I needed for the hike today. When I walked downstairs at 6:15, I had coffee waiting on me. :-))) Pretty soon Landcruiser showed up and we were served some very good stuffed french toast with blueberries. I don't eat like that very often. In fact, I don't ever eat like that for breakfast. It was delicious. Lois said we needed to get going because she drops her son Phillip off at the bus stop several miles away. I hopped in back of the pickup until Phillip got out, then they let me sit up front. :-))) Lois dropped me off first at Three Ridges Overlook where I got off the trail at yesterday. I started walking south and came to Reeds Gap real quick, then started climbing. There was a 500 foot bump that I went up and over before I got to Maupin Field Shelter. When I walked up there to sign the register, I saw Gantz was still there. We talked a while before I hiked on. He thanked me in advance for knocking down all the spider webs for him today. Gantz said the water there wasn't all that great, so I didn't drink too much of what I packed out with me. I climbed The Three Ridges next. I remembered it being a little more difficult last time I climbed it, but I had just gotten off the flat Florida Trail then. This time it was a piece of cake. The views from several places along those 3 mountains were very nice, but I didn't linger too long. The descent was fairly steep in places and there was lots of stinging nettles. As I walked up to a nettle, I would swing my hiking pole ahead real fast and clear them off the trail. That worked until I realized that pieces of the nettles were landing on my arms and making them itch, so I went back to just pushing them aside with my poles. I got to Harpers Creek Shelter and signed the register and tanked up on water and filled my water bottle. The stream was still flowing, but not real heavy. I walked on down to the Tye River which was 3000 feet below Three Ridges. There's a really nice suspension bridge there that I bounced across while I was watching some small fish swimming below me. That 3000 feet that I just came down, well, I had to climb back up 3000 feet to get to the summit of The Priest. It was a well graded climb, but it was stil 3000 feet. The trail has gotten me used to 500 to 1000 foot climbs lately. This climb really felt good though because it gave my legs a nice workout. My legs always feel great when I'm climbing mountains. I stopped on the way up at Cripple Creek long enough to get water, then kept going. The temperature wasn't too bad...probably in the low 80's, but the humidity was very high and I was soaked by the time I got to the top. I walked along and passed by the Priest Shelter without stopping, then descended about 800 feet. In the next 5 miles there was just 3 little climbs of about 300 to 500 feet each. I got to Fish Hatchery Road which you have to walk about 1 1/2 miles down the hill on loose gravel before it turns into pavement. It was another mile to a little country store which I knew always kept a pot of good homemade chili hot. I walked in and got a Powerade, a coke and a large bowl of chili and sat there and had a snack. I resupplied with a few items before I left and walked another half mile to the B&B. I got to the B&B before 4pm and no one was there, but Lois said she'd leave a door unlocked for me. I went in and got a shower, answered a couple emails and fell asleep for about 30 minutes before I heard a truck coming up the driveway. It was Lois who had picked up Landcruiser at Tye River today. I asked about my shoes, whether UPS brought 2 packages today. They did!! I'm going to get to walk through the woods tomorrow with brand new shoes. Woohoo!! It felt like Christmas when I sat downstairs and opened the boxes. I got a brand new pair of Asics Gel Trekkers and 6 new pairs of my favorite socks, Wigwam ankle high ultra lite weight socks. I had to buy 6 pairs though...that's the only way Zappos sells them. I'm tired of going through other brands of socks that wear out so fast. I guess I'll carry 6 pairs with me until I get to my bounce box in Pearisburg, Va. They should fill up my stuff sack that I use for a pillow at night pretty well until then. My old Asics Gel Trekkers have over 1450 miles on them and I could have kept hiking in them, but I'm not. I got the shoes and socks online at Zappos.com. They are really a great place to buy shoes online and I always get the shoes within 2 days after I order them with no shipping charges. My other box came from Travel Country Outdoors. It's my local outfitter in Florida. I couldn't get my Superfeet insoles from Zappos, so I ordered them from Travel Country. I just ordered everything 48 hours ago and I didn't think there was anyway that it would all come together while I was here, but it has and now I can hike out of here tomorrow in new shoes. :-))) This is a REALLY hard place to leave though. Lois takes very good care of you while you're here and it's very affordable. We had 6 at the table tonight for dinner. Lois's mom made her famous meatloaf and it really was the best I've ever had. Lois said she has tried making it using her mom's recipe and it never turns out the same. I have that same problem when I try to make potato salad like my mom's...mine is just normal, but mom's is famous. Well, tomorrow I'll hike out of here and I'll look really good except for my shirt. I still haven't replaced that, but I should be in Daleville in a few days and they have a good outfitter there. I've had a good time here and I'm really glad I got to know Landcruiser.