Date: 2005-05-19
From: Sugar Run Gap

To: Pearisburg, Va.
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

Started @ Sugar Run GapDestination: Pearisburg, VaMiles today: 10Total Miles: 623.9Stayed in MotelDay 70I awakened this morning thinking that we really should hike today. Tillie said she was coming in to town today so we called her and asked if she could pick us up to take us back out to the hostel when she is finished in town. She picked us up at 1 P.M. and we were on the trail by about 1:45. One reason for me wanting to hike today was because I did not want Mike to have to drive back up that road--I was too afraid the car would be damaged by the rocks that stick up in the road.After walking the half mile up the road we were on the trail. It was not too bad of a trail at first with gentle ups and down. The trail alternated between lots of rocks and boulders to a fairly smooth trail for the first few miles. After we got up on the ridge it got cloudier and finally did rain. It had held off until later in the day. We donned our rain gear and began to wonder if we were ever going to start down the mountain. There was one place on the mountain where we¢re supposed to have a view but all we could see was a thick white cloud. I took a picture of Toto standing on the rock with the clouds in the background. By the time we started down, the trail was getting pretty slippery from the rain. Much care had to be taken to keep from slipping and falling. Mike was having trouble with his knees and he had never had any problems before. Also he had some ankle twisting from stepping the wrong way on rocks, roots, etc. It was a long difficult day. It was dusk when we got back to the motel.At the shelter (Doc¢s Knob Shelter) where we stopped to take a break, a hiker from Australia, Bluey, was there. He had lost his rain jacket that morning and was backtracking to see if anyone had found it.   He hoped to get into Pearisburg in the morning and take the rest of the day off. The shelter was pretty muddy all around it due to the rain last evening. We met 7 women that were out for 3 days and told them that the shelter area was pretty messy due to the mud and told them about the hostel about 2 miles past the shelter. Some of them felt that it was too much further to hike and some seemed anxious to go on. After seeing what a climb up the mountain they had and the ups they had even after they got up the mountain I was able to understand how they felt. We were definitely going the right way--DOWN!There has been a lot of poison ivy along the trail in the lower elevations. I must be very careful because I have in the past been very allergic to it. My pant legs and hiking sticks cannot help but get next to it along the trail. We felt that the trail in the lower elevation as we were coming down the mountain had a lot of vines and overgrowth in the trail.      We saw a garter snake today. It was the first one we have seen.As we were walking to the motel after coming off the mountain we stopped at Hardees for our evening meal. Then all we had to do once we got to the motel was shower and relax. Tomorrow I am taking a day off since I will start off Sunday hiking again and Toto will be going home.