Date: 2013-06-28
From: Pearisburg, Va

To: Home
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: clear sky

6/26/2013 19.3 miles todayFrom Pearisburg to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter95.6 miles back on trail.650.1 total miles on ATSo I woke up late and enjoyed having AC and a bed. Then headed over to Food Lion to get supplies for the next couple days. Got back in the trail around 10:11am, and was kinda dreading the climb out of Pearisburg.On the way up I meet another NOBO, Fast Eddie. 60 yr old guy who is very slow. Also meet RoboHippie. RoboHippie took off and left me and Fast Eddie taking our time going up. I passed FE, then about 15 min later I was dying!!! Lol so I stopped to get some water, after running out the other day I'm kinda scared of running out. Finally made it up the mountain.... It sucked really bad!!! Prob the worst climb to date. Made it to Rice Field and the view was wonderful, but storm clouds were rolling in, as I mentally dealt with the fact that my feet hurt from the blisters, which could be getting infected?? And they need to dry out, I turn toward the trail and there is RoboHippie waving at me from the woods. The shelter isn't .3 miles off the trail like the books say! It's like .05 off, just over a fence. I headed over and me and RoboHippie waited out the storm in the shelter. It was nasty. We then headed out, but due to the tall grass all over the mountain my feet still got soaked!!! UGH!!!! Oooo well on the the next shelter. The next 10 miles seemed like forever! And the last 2.5 down to the shelter had to really be 3.5!! LolI did take a really bad fall on some slippery rocks. So on top of wet blisters that needed to be dry, I have now hurt my hip and twisted my ankle a little. Yay!!! Doesn't look like I'll be getting to the 100miles back on the trail mark today! When I got to the shelter I was shocked to see so many people here. 5 other people. 2 decided to tent camp. There is a couple Marshel and his girl (I think Angela) - She is ready to be off the trail, RoboHippie, and Braids. It was hard putting the alcohol and Pouroxide on the blisters!! If it wasn't for everyone being around I might have cried!! I really don't want this to get me off the trail again. :-(Well so I ate, and took my place in the shelter on the top bunk over Marshel and his Gal. Not easy to climb up at all, especially with blisters and a hurt hip. It was not very comfy at all. But hey, much better than being wet and cold. Well time for sleep....Later!!!! 6/27/2013 Zero MilesPine Swamp Branch Shelter.Well everyone left out this morning. Braids headed south, and everyone else headed North. The couple that tented and RoboHippie are trying for two shelters away. Where I wanted to hike to today. Marshal and is Gal are just headed 3.8 miles north to the next shelter. I'm taking a zero cause my feet still look pretty bad and I don't need them wet all day. It's raining!!! UGH!!! Enough with the rain!!!! So I cleaned my feet up this morning and took some antibodies for infection. Lucky I have some my doc gave me. Going to rest today, and see how they are by tomorrow. Hoping the rain lets up.Braids friend Becky came by, long story short, Braids has a bad knee but is trying to do the whole trail in sections. Becky helps out. She said that if my feet don't look any better tomorrow then she can pick me up from Captians place about 1.5 miles away. We will see tomorrow. They are not hurting as bad, and seem to be a little dryer, but they still look bad!! Oooo well whatever happens is meant to be. Maybe this journey will be section hiking after all. Now gona watch movies and sleep all day cause there is nothing to do at the shelter, and with no WiFi or cell signal I'm kinda bored!! Fast Eddie showed up, and guess what?? He's a Dr! Wow!! He looked at my blisters, and as I feared I need to get off the trail again. It's very infected, and the trail is not going to just magically hill my feet. :-( So tomorrow ill head to The Captain's and get Becky to come get me and get me fixed. I'll have to leave the trail until next year. But hey!! I'm sad, I'll def be back tho! Later!!!! 6/28/2013 1.3 milesFrom Pine Swamp Branch Shelter to The Captain's.Well slept on Captain's porch until Becky came. She got my message which I'm very glad of. The 1.3 miles today hurt so bad!! Got my ticket back to ATL. Meeting some great people at the Happy Family Hostel in Pearisburg. Return to ATL Tomorrow, to start a new journey!! Until Next year when I plan on doing more of the AT. Later!!!