Date: 2015-05-07
From: Woods Hole Hostel - mile 623.8

To: Campsite at Mile 639.2
Miles today: 8.5

Still woke up early at 6 am but enjoyed a leisurely morning sorting through my mail drop box and the food Short Stride thoughtfully dropped off at the hostel before she drove back to Charlotte. I repacked my bag and put some of my warm clothes and extra food in a box I plan to bounce to Waynesboro, VA in 240 miles. Because I could, I took another shower. At 11 am, a Crafty and I left the hostel and headed back a half mile to where we left the trail. We climbed and hiked an hour before stopping off for a view and I had cell service! Then proceeded on. We have 32 miles to cover by Friday night but since we had hiked 48 miles in two days we decided to try to Nero today if possible. The key would be whether or not we could find a campsite before Pearisburg or if we would have to keep hiking. Water was once again another driver because there were a couple springs and then no water for another 10 miles. The first spring we came to looked sketchy ... Muddy and shallow but flowing. We weren't sure if this was spring 1 or 2 since apparently we had passed another trickle before which I didn't notice. We decided to keep going and hope this was spring 1 but if it was 2, we would have a water issue again. And we would definitely have to hike further and possibly detour a mile each way into Pearisburg. We finally came to an even smaller trickle which was even less appealing than the last one. We dropped our packs and hiked a third of a mile further and determined based in the terrain that had to be 2. So we returned and tried to clean out the water where it was deepest and flowing some. It stirred up a lot of sediment so we sat on a rock and ate a snack waiting for the water to clear up which it did. I then pumped 3 liters of water with my filter which took a long time since the source was so shallow. But we had water and then we started to hear thunder. So we set off trying to get to the power lines where we might have service and could check the weather forecast. Possible thunderstorms until 9 pm with 30% chance precipitation. A typical forecast. The thunder kept grumbling. So we hustled to the top of the mountain, pausing for a snake and a view at mile 631.9.   If we didn't find a campsite on the way down, we would again have to choose between hiking further or going into Pearisburg, especially if it were raining. As usual, campsites and water mess with your distance plans.We then started to descend and saw a campsite just off the trail. It was around 5:20 and the rain chances were higher after 6 so we set up our tents and started to clean out the fire pit which was full of trash. Crafty found a salamander under one of the rocks so we decided to leave him alone and create a new fire ring. We then walked one third of a mile or less ahead on the trail to Angels Rest so we could enjoy the view of Pearisburg. We saw a bunny on the trail who sat and allowed us to take his photo and creep even closer. After the view, we then returned to camp and cooked dinner. It started to sprinkle and stopped. So we decided to pack it up for the night. But not before another half hour ordeal hanging the food bags.