Date: 2013-05-30
From: U.S. 60 -- Buena Vista

To: Spy Rock Road/Fish Hatchery Road
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: clear sky

O. B. & Candypants were two women who joined us in the hostel. One of them was having a birthday, celebrating with an extra Zero day. We had a good breakfast in the cafe, met some locals who are there every morning, then got shuttled out to start on the Trail by 9:20. It was a long hike up from the road, on a trail lined with poison ivy; so I was proceeding cautiously. I let everyone pass; it then gets very quiet in the woods. Actually, there are different levels of quiet -- often a given place has its background noise: it may be running water from waterfalls or streams, it may be train whistles, a couple of days ago it was a rock crusher across the James River, yesterday it was the Cicadas. I didn't actually see any (except a couple of dead ones in my tent) or their effects, but the sound was pervasive. It was a very hot day, & we spent a lot of time on balds or places with only small trees. The Trail was easy to walk fairly fast on (tho I passed Double Nickel going very slow). I kept looking for a place with both bigger trees & more breeze for lunch & Siesta. Finally, I got to such a place & fixed lunch. While stopped, I was passed by Fun-Size & Bottle Caps & then by D. B. & 2-Sox. Shortly after lunch, I had my accident. At first, I would have called it a "Face plant" -- that horrible feeling when you are falling forward with the full weight of your pack behind you. My face touched the ground for sure, & my glasses got bent, but there were no injuries there because my primary landing was on my elbows & rib cage. The elbows got first attention because they were bleeding; it took a lot longer for the rib pain to register, actually over several days! I had been making good time over some smooth trail. I went back to see what had caused this ¢ apparently, a dark rock that stuck up a couple inches in just the right way not to be seen but to firmly pull my foot out from under me as I came along.The mottled sunlight coming thru the trees in the afternoon leaves a variety of very light & very dark spots that obscure dangers on the trail-bed.It took a little while to recover, but it didn't slow me down too much as I proceeded to Fish Hatchery Road (now Spy Rock Road), then down the very rough road to the shuttle to Dutch Haus hostel. It's a very nice place with excellent food. And they do your laundry too!Obviously, I first wanted to get cleaned up. Then I joined the other guests for dinner. It seemed that everyone there was slack packing: a couple from Germany [Turtle & Snail] soon going to Maine for a "flip-flop" to avoid the heat (but not the bugs!), Violet (who comes from Maine),Jacko & Invisible Man (Australians)Little Sass & Navigator. An enjoyable group. I thought all my bleeding had stopped, so I was a bit embarrassed to find that my elbow had bled onto the soft chair I was sitting in after supper. I had to do some clean-up & put on a new band-aid. I was somewhat careful how I slept, but the ribs weren't bothering me too much. Two consecutive nights in hostels! Not intentional. Just how they are they are located. I enjoy most of them but don't plan to do this again for a while.