Date: 2010-04-30
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Waynesboro, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Pearisburg, VASorry in advance for the short update, but I am a busy woman!I met my friend, Meredith Joyce aka Bright Eyes, in Damascus on the 16th and we hiked out around noon on the 17th. It was her first extended backpacking trip but she did an impressive 16 miles that first day. We hiked through the Grayson Highlands, saw 'wild' ponies, and were detoured around a controlled burn- shwacked some bu (bushwhacked) down an old fenceline to a horse trail, then back over to the AT. We really lucked out and had amazing weather for the first week or so. The second week brought a bit more rain, but even that wasn't too bad. I enjoyed her company as well as her food choices. We had beans, rice, cheese, and salsa on tortillas one night and stuffing, mashed potatos, and gravy another. Oh the joy of having two pots to cook in! We camped in a field of wildflowers one night but stayed in shelters for the most part due to the fact that we were both squeezing into my one-man tent when we camped. Met a lot of new hikers and had a lot of fun the last couple weeks. Bright Eyes heads back to Maine tonight, so we're having a final meal at Pizza Plus this afternoon in celebration of a great trip. Looks like it's back to hiking solo for me!Oh yes. I can't forget our night at Woods Hole Hostel! We weren't planning on staying there, but ran out of food and it seemed to be the best option. I highly recommend it to any hikers. We had two amazing meals. We helped cooked supper, then began the feast. I had a bowl of homemade soup, four plates of salad (fresh lettuce, arugula, ramps, chives, carrots, tomato from their garden) with homemade ranch and terragon dressings, homemade bread, a veggie burger with homemade BBQ sauce and cheese on homemade pita pocket type buns, baked zucchini with rosemary, and multiple plates full of potatos with butter, ramps, cheese, and other seasonings. All topped off with homemade cookies & cream ice cream. All of it was fresh, home-produced, and crafted with care. Breakfast the next morning was a baked banana, some grits w/ cheese, some eggs with veggies, a vegetarian sausage patty, a glass of apple juice, leftover potatos, and 15 homemade biscuits with either gravy or homemade peach jam. Again, delicous! And yes... I had a huge plate of food PLUS 15 biscuits.On the topic of food, we Bright Eyes and I also ran into a free breakfast run by ATOM. I can't remember what that stands for, but there is a church in Bastican, VA that does a free hiker breakfast Monday mornings. They picked us up from the trail, rescuing us from the rain, and gave us more food than we could eat. I had 5 pancakes with homemade apple sauce and homemade maple syrup (a rarity in the south), 5 pieces of veggie egg caserole, multiple biscuits with butter and homemade blackberry jam, three glasses of OJ, a bowl of grits, a cinamon bun, and perhaps more I can't remember. They also sent us off with some homemade cookies and muffins. Yum!In the last two weeks, I have been eating well, and it shows. I have put back on almost all of the 15 pounds I had lost. Yay!Well, off to Pizza Plus shortly! Life si good, and happy trails!