Date: 2003-06-13
From: VA 634

To: Campsite
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: light rain

Did you ever have one of those days when your plans changed every 5 minutes? Well, this was one of those days!! :) Bumpkin is finally here...yayyyyy!!! Also, Kinikinic, our AT friend who is also calling herself MG, came to town and graciously offered to support our hike in any way possible. When someone "supports" a hike, it means they slackpack the hikers when possible, or meet them at road crossings so we don't have to carry as much food. It is really a godsend, as far as I am concerned!! MG is just wonderful! We started this morning with a 3 mile hike to make up the little section we had cut off to get into town, and to get a little past town. The thought was that we would slackpack that part (do it without carrying our packs), then come back and check out of the motel and continue on. MG dropped us off and went to the northern end, she hiked towards us, we met up....exchanged keys, and then when went to get her. It worked like a charm!! The three miles flew by and were fairly uneventful. One of the cool things, though, is that here in Pearisburg the AT crosses a long bridge on a highway! So instead of woods and flowers and mosquitos, you have cars barreling by at 55 mph and a river rolling by far below. The town went to a lot of trouble to block us off a pathway out of the traffic, so it is not dangerous....just noisy! :) I thought it was neat.....just one more AT experience!   When we all met back up, we agreed that the Pizza Hut buffet was calling us! So off we went to fuel up before doing another 7 miles. Well, Mother Nature had other plans, and when we got to Pizza Hut, it started to rain so hard that I expected to see Noahs Ark float by! We decided that maybe we should go to Blacksburg instead, to the outfitters! Can you tell we were having motivation problems?! I am telling you..it was really raining!!   Well, after an afternoon of bumming around this cute little town, the sun came out and we decided to let fate decide our destination for the evening. Heads...hotel, warm shower, and TV.....tails....hit the trail for a couple of quick miles before dark. Tails it was! So MG dropped us off where we had ended our hike this morning, and agreed to meet us in two days with the rest of our food. Did I mention that she is awesome?! The difference in carrying 2 days worth of food, and 5 days is substantial! So we really appreciated it!   Did I also mention that when you leave Pearisburg, you have an 1800 foot climb?!?! We literally went up hill...steeply...for 2 hours! Did you know that if the terrain is steep enough, you can almost get your toes to touch your shins?! My calves are NOT that flexible and I will surely pay for this tomorrow!    Near the end of the hike, we had to cross several boulder fields which were wet and slippery. These take all of my concentration, and make me breathe just as hard as the uphills. Let's see....2 straight hours with my heart rate in the 80-85%....I think I worked off the pizza buffet! :)   The sun was starting to go down when I turned the corner and there was Bumpkin building a fire at our campsite. Ahhh...home sweet home! After a quick dinner of Mac and Cheese, (you gotta love those high sodium processed foods!), I retired to my tent for the night. As I lay here typing, something is trying to get into my tent. It sounds like a mouse or a chipmunk or something.....maybe rubbing my feet with Tiger Balm wasn't such a great idea! Do mice like wintergreen? Oh well...at least it isn't a bear! :)   Tomorrow we finish the climb to the top of the ridge and then it is a 17 mile ridge-walk. Now that is the life!!   As a quick footnote....Silver Lining defended her disertation today as the last step towards getting her PhD! At this point, she should be Dr. Silver Lining! Yay! And as one more footnote...As the sun went down this evening, I looked over to see Bumpkin washing out her cook pot and taking care of camp chores. It hit me....I am so glad that she is here! I told her that we were destined to hike this together, and that now, things were as they should be. Welcome back Bible Totin Granny! :)Love, Anna aka Mud Butt------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com