Date: 2005-06-12
From: Troutville, Va

To: Zero
Miles today: 0.0

June 4:I watched Waterboy which was some more welcomed humor, which has been running rampant lately, followed by Super Troopers, And O¢ Brother, and so, even with the prompting to stay in town for another night, me and sunflower convinced ourselves to finally leave for the trail again. We made some killer hummus, spinach, and pesto, burritos with cheese first that were awesome, and got out of town around five o¢clock after trying to hitch for an hour, we finally got a ride from a really nice guy our age who we tried to convince to do the trail when he graduates. We stopped at Dq before we left town for some blizzards and a shrimp basket and then we headed out and actually started hiking around 7:00 which is my latest start ever. It was really funny to walk past a wate plant since we are on the scenic AT and I got a pic. The night hike was awesome and provided some sweet views and some good hiking. We got to the awesome shelter really late at around 11:00 and ate a cold dinner and hit the sack exhausted, but elated to be on the trail, and at least it was dry. I can¢t believe that Sunflower actually made it up the climb since her food bag was as big as my entire pack. It was crazy. Go Nesthead¢¦.Rice field shelter was awesome and beautiful...June 5:Ummm¢¦Late morning¢¦Didn¢t even wake up until almost 10:00 and didn¢t leave the shelter until noon, but oh my, it was beautiful, what a gorgeous hike, thousands of feet high, through a grassy field, and the weather was awesome. Summer has officially hit as the days are steamy and the nights aren¢t requiring full sleeping bag cover¢¦I crossed a trail called the Allegheny that runs to Pennsylvania and I joked about hiking it¢¦We stopped short of our goal after realizing that it wouldn¢t effect any time tables, and we camped at the pine swamp shelter, and crashed early, after building a fire in the shelter¢¦It is weird finally finding empty shelters as we creep further into VA¢¦Oh Yeah¢¦I got to get some good Pig Greek (egg language) in today, but I won¢t bother explaining that one¢¦. June 6:Wow! That was first time I have ever been able to sleep in a shelter without having to share! Me and sunflower got to spread out and sleep without listening to random snoring! Usually I have to tent to avoid the loud conditions but last night was sweet, sleeping unfettered, after watching a fire I built in the shelter die¢¦ I love the great people I always meet in shelters, but it is nice to finally escape some of the huge crowd as I hike further into Va¢¦I was peppy upon awaking and started making ¢the most annoying sound in the world¢ (from dumb and dumber- it sounds like a sheep bah mixed with a yell mixed with random guttural bellows), it was a very funny morning, filled with laughter, dorkiness, and random song being belted out by sunflower and I¢¦.I couldn¢t believe it was almost 70 degrees last night! Summer is definitely here, thank god! In the shelter registers everyone is talking about seeing rattlesnakes and bears, but I have seen no poiseness snakes and no bears either¢¦We heard that the bridge a few miles ahead was out and that there was a route to walk near a road instead, but Sunflower and I felt hardcaore and so we took the hard way and forded the river, it was exciting, and I decided to do it multiple times, and I fell in later, luckily without my pack! We saw cold feet who gave us a beer and a awesome sub sandwich and it was good to chat with our friend¢¦ Sunflower braided her hair and then we started hiking after playing in the chilly river for a while¢¦We heard thunder but escaped the rain all day long, and hold a fantastic hike, filled with great conversation and scenery¢¦I was really happy to realize today that I would be on schedule to arrive in Cawtaba Va on Thursday which is the town that holds the famous ¢Homeplace¢ restaurant which is known as the one thing on the trail not to miss, and we were hitting it on the nest night, thursday¢¦Dinner that night was great after our night hike into the shelter, I had pesto tortelinni with cheese and garlic¢¦YummyJune 7:Wow¢¦I gotten eaten alive last night. The hours from midnight to 7:00 were the most annoying and painful of my trip, as I got munched on by no see um and my eye swelled shut¢¦It was horrible¢¦One of the high school kids from the hostel in P-Burg was at the shelter, and when he was walking out, his pack was so heavy, he lost balance and fell straight backward, it was hilarious¢¦We ate lunch at a blue blaze trail to Kelley knob which was awesome and these huge birds sat next to us for an hour, it was crazy¢¦The knob overlooked our next few days of hiking¢¦It started raining and we hiked out, singing and being goofy in the rain.. I heard some people yelling and I asked sunflower about it and she heard no one, and then we found this old abandoned house, it was erie¢¦Especially since tonight was the supposed haunted shelter at mile number 666, which a couple was killed at years ago¢¦It was spooky, but then the rain cleared and I was in this beautiful field full of tall grass and breaking clouds and rolling hills and cows and deers hopping over the fences, with the mist rising up¢¦I passed the Keffer Oak and ¢pondered the loss of old growth forests¢as wingfoot puts it¢¦ hahahaha¢¦¢¦At the shelter that night was another abandoned spooky house, and another thunderstorm rolled in, but I slept GREAT!June 8:A conversation this morning led me to thinking about how to change to world and I was thinking deeply about my place, and once again realized that I should do what I am passionate about, which is nutrition and sports medicine, where I can make bigger difference, sometimes I feel like I should take on the problems of the world and end drug use and depression and find an answer for definite happiness for all, but I can¢t do that, so I do what I am good at¢¦.This entry could go on for hours, but I¢ll just cut it off abruptly¢¦We got some trail magic and Nesthead got a mountain dew and a gota dr. pepper and it started raining for our huge climb of the day, but with our caffeine buzzes, we got soaked joyously in the rain, and flew up the hill and found an awesome bench to sit on at the top, when it quit raining¢¦The sun came out for our hike down, and we entered beautiful terrain that was full of open pine and rocky croppings, and it was so peaceful, I hiked in my crocs, and we had some great conversations, rolling into the awesome shelter late, and tenting it after a filling dinner¢¦.huh uh huh, Roast Beef¢¦.Roast Beef¢¦..Roast Beef is funny¢¦.June 9:Thursday has arrived! Time to haul it to the homeplace restaurant! We booked it into TheHomeplace wicked fast, (yes, I said wicked fast), and stuft our faces¢¦A nice man offered us a ride back to the trail head since we still had a few miles to do and it was nine o¢clock at night¢¦He was so kind and was happy to hear I went to FUS and we talked about a lot¢¦He offered so many kind gestures, but me and sunflower needed to start hiking, so we took off in the rain and darkness after a great meal, and it was one of the most amazing nights on the trail¢¦.We found another empty shelter and set off to the waater source 12 mile away which is very far for water at a shelter¢¦While walking, we entered a field with trees surrounding it. In the trees were millions of fire flies, and it looked like flashing x-mass lights.I can not ever possibly explaing this natural beauty, but it one of the most magical things I have EVER seen, standing there watching millions of flashes, right after a rain storm, God it was awesome¢¦.That night was great, and we didn¢t fall asleep until midnight¢¦.