Date: 2015-05-22
From: Damascus, Virginia

To: Pearisburg, Virginia
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Hello from Pearisburg, Virginia on May 22, 2015This post is random thoughts, plus some trail news. I am at Pearisburg, Virginia public Library.   Northbound milepost 635.   Zero day today, meaning no trail miles today. I wanted it, and No Worries needs it. Here are some figures¢¦.since I was an engineer. Today is day 44 since April 8th departure.   635 miles / 44 days = 14.4 miles per day average. (That includes all ¢Nero¢ and the four ¢Zero¢ days we have taken. 2180 miles total of the trail / 14.4 miles per day average = 151 days start to finish.= 5.04 months, or finish approx Sept 10th.   Of course a lot can happen until then, but that is faster than I expected. In the pictures I have posted, you can see me or the signs of the 500 mile mark, at the Tennessee / Virginia border, and at the 1/4th completion sign.   It¢s a sorry thing, but through hikers really do pay attention to the miles.   Since things look the same on the trail, its the only sign we have that we are making progress. Bugs Dave B asked me about presence of insects.   There are some, but not many.   Mostly flies. But not too many of those.   Very few mosquitos. Probably because there is very little standing water.   I have yet to see a swamp in these parts.   There have been a few episodes of gnats. A few days ago, when it was warm (80 degrees) and high humidity, there were gnats. I almost wore my mosquito head net, but refrained and the bugs went away in few minutes. WeatherWeather has varied.   A few days ago it was warm and humid.   Yesterday it was rainy and cold. But mostly it has been dry.   I wear my rain jacket in those conditions, merely to keep warm.   The rain jacket does not keep me particularly dry, but dry enough. It keeps me warm however. Yesterday morning both of us wished we had our rainproof glove liners.   But by 10AM I was fine.      Diane said it was 40 degrees in Minnesota a couple days ago.   We have had that cool weather now.   But we¢d rather have cool weather than hot weather.   We assume the 90 degree + days are ahead of us. Those will be tough, so we enjoy the cool weather while we still have it. Trees have leaves - The Green Tunnel is ONSo we have shade most of the day.   This we love, even if the temps are cool. If the temps are above 70 degrees, I hike without my hat or shirt, and I can get away with that because of the green tunnel effect.   The green tunnel does mean that we are looking at trees and leaves constantly. We don¢t see many views of the mountains.   But already I¢ve seen a lot of view of the mountains. They really ARE all the same.   Same as viewing Lake Superior on the Superior Hiking Trail.   The first 12 dozen times are nice, then you say to yourself, I¢ve seen that before, no big deal.   I hope the green tunnel lasts until Maine, and expect it will. Horses at Greyson Highlands State ParkThe supposedly wild horses at Greyson Highlands State Park was a highlight. The authorities have intentionally kept a few hundred horses at this state park to keep the tops of the mountains cleared of trees and brush. So it¢s just grass.   The supposedly wild horses are quite tame, and I posted 12 dozen pictures of one of them licking the sweat off of me.   Even though there were signs that said the horses bite, I still let it lick me.   And the horse did not bite me. Visit by wife, sister and brother-in-law at Damascus May 11 & 12My wife Diane, my sister Mary and my brother-in-law visited me at Damascus May 11 & 12, where we took ¢Double Zero¢ days - Two days with no AT hiking.   However, whereas Brad did nothing on Tuesday, we rode bicycles on the ¢Virginia Creeper¢ bike trail, as well as a walking tour of the town, plus a few hundred yards of the AT, to show them what it looks like. While that was fun, doing nothing might have been better for me. Damascus Trail Days May 15-17. That is the biggest trail festival on the entire AT. Neither Brad nor I went to it.   We heard conflicting statements, that between 3000-4000 people were there. Others said 30,000-40,000 people were there over the four days Thur through Sunday.   I can¢t verify either. But I have talked to some of the youth that attended, and they confirmed my suspicions that the trail festival is mostly a means for the younger crowd to drink a lot of beer.   Brad says he may go to it next year.   I likely won¢t ever.   Unless I come back to revist with my fellow through-hikers. But I doubt that. My weight is stable. I weighed myself the other day and was 158 with my clothes on. So I¢ve dropped less than 10 pounds since starting.   I am trying to both carry more and eat more food on the trail. Even drink milk and eat fruit when in town. I feel fine. No have significant physical issues. My knees remain fully operational. I had two minor problems recently. I got a blister on my heel.   Odd that that would still happen after 600 miles, but it did. I treated it with moleskin and it seems fine now. I have this really complicated backpack, with seemingly dozens of straps.   I had a couple straps at the hip belt, so I recently tightened them.   Seemed like a good thing to do.   But a day later I noticed some bruise marks on my hips. I have undone the straps. Perhaps the bruises were merely due to the heat.   Anyways. I am now using my camp towel as extra padding for my hip belt.   That¢s a surprise to me, since my hipbelt is extra padded and adds to the extra weight of my backpack.   Anyways, I shall manage. I seem to be sleepy - tired in the afternoon.   A few times I have succumbed and taken a 12 hour nap in the afternoon.   After all, nobody told me I can¢t. However, the net result is some long days on the trail.   A couple days I have begun hiking at 7AM (6AM wake up), and hiked until 7PM or (one day) 7:45PM. Brad has been in camp 1-2 hours before me. Trail distance each day. Today is zero miles, but, when we hike, we typically hike 16 to 20 miles per day.   Most often 18-19 miles per day.   We try to stay at the shelters, which have privy, water, plus the shelter for cooking if it is raining.   The number of times I have slept in a shelter is now THREE. Just 3. I prefer the comfort and quiet of my tent. I am a Yankee in Rebel territory.   I will take a picture today on my way back to the motel of the umpteeth statue I have seen at the county courthouse of a rebel soldier on a marble or stone pedestal, with the years 1861-1865, and the tribute ¢To our confederate soldiers¢.   I¢ve seen only one memorial (in Damascus) to all USA soldiers.   I've seen no memorials to USA Revolutionary war soldiers. (Perhaps there are none, anywhere.)   The people here also talk like southerners, because, well, this IS the south.   People are friendly, both on the trail and in towns, but I¢m never quite sure that they know I am a Yankee and am a foreigner here.   I think I will feel slightly more at ease when I cross the Mason-Dixon line, at PennsylvaniaBrad/No Worries ankle trouble¢No Worries¢ HAS worries. His ankle has swelled.   It has happened on this trip, but it got worse yesterday.   He is glad not to walk today. He will ice it today, and evaluate his situation tomorrow, and decide what to do then. He may resume hiking on Saturday 05/23 (as I will), or wait another day, or rest at home for awhile. I told No Worries that I have gotten the better of our partnership, as he has typically gotten to camp or town before me, figured out where to pitch a tent or got the motel room, where the water is, etcetera.   I¢m glad we got this far together. We¢ve seen none of the others we started at the Hikers Hostel April 8th, presumably because we are ahead of them. I/we wonder if we are going too fast.   Those that know me know that I don¢t dawdle. I told those that asked that I expected to finish late September to early October.   At this pace (per above), it would be Sept 10th. But I have nothing I need to be back for. It¢s also apparent that Brad and I have moved from the back of the NOBO ¢bubble¢ (due to our rather late April 8th start date) to in the middle of the NOBO bubble.   Although the shelters south of Damascus were temporarily nearly vacant a few days before Damascus Trail days (per a previous post), the shelters have resumed being mostly full.   So Brad and I may in fact be going faster than the average thru-hiker, as far as miles per day.   The previous statement I made about the speed of the youth remains true - They zoom past me while I¢m on the trail as if I¢m standing still.   But I am walking by 7:15AM, while they sleep in until 9AM.   They still get to the shelters 1-2 hours before me.   Still no shelter justice. But such is life. If the shelters ever get uncrowded, it apparently happens north of Virginia, past Harpers Ferry, WV, past NOBO mile 1000, I now guess.   It¢s not a big problem though. I¢ve learned to live with it. OK, enough of this rambling.   I have been working on the reasons I hike the trail, but it¢s 3:40, the library closes at 5PM, and I have 1 hour to try to swap out the audio books on my .MP3 player, so I expect to do that.