Date: 2013-05-12
From: Pearisburg

To: Rice Field shelter
Miles today: 6.8
Weather: few clouds

Holiday Lodge is certainly not a fancy motel, but it is making a real effort to cater to hikers (maybe moreso since the Rendezvous down the hill is gone).First order of business was to get my stuff cleaned up: lots of mud in addition to the usual dirt from hiking. They have TWO sets of washers & dryers for guests, so there was no waiting line to wash. Then I packed up & got out of the room -- they let me keep my stuff near the office till after church. I tried using the computer, but it was frustrating: they only allow a short time for each person & the mouse wasn't working very well. I met Fiber 1, another older hiker, who was planning to go to church. I told him where the churches were that I had discovered -- mostly out on the far end of town from the motel. He decided to go to the Episcopal church with me. It probably wasn't the best choice for him, since he's basically a Baptist; I tried to help him thru the service, but I'm not always the best at jumping between Prayer Book & Hymnal myself. It's a pretty " low church" parish, compared to some I've seen. Visiting with the priest beforehand, we were told that most of the young families would be gone because of their kids' soccer game (modern priorities, you know!) & that we'd be singing a capella (They only have an organist occasionally). The congregation of about 15 did quite well with the singing & was welcoming to us. I then wanted to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet at the oriental restaurant across from the motel; it wasn't open till noon & then filled up fast with big Mother's Day groups. I met a couple of other hikers there (Noodles, for one). It's a place that isn't much into oriental spices; so I'd say it was better for quantity than for quality. Bright sunny day as I started out (hoping it would stay that way). I met Bluebonnet & Yank at rhe motel just as I was leaving, & Doodles on the road to the Trail. Etch-a-sketch, with her dog & her Dad, passed shortly after getting on the Trail. It was not exciting trail at first because it goes thru a residential area without walking on the road (much).The New River is pretty wide at this point & separates the twin communities of Pearisburg & Narrows. Celanese Corp. has a big plant on the North side, & there are double RR tracks on each side of the river -- no wonder you hear train whistles all the time (except when the highway noise drowns them out). The first mile after crossing the bridge had a lot of ups & downs thru.  It's a rather disturbed woods ¢ that's where poison ivy likes to grow. Box elder likes to grow there too, & sometimes the leaves look similar. Also, today the wind was blowing, letting the ivy come toward you even whole you thought you had avoided it. I was happy to get into the more established woods up the hill, with less of it. You may think I have a preoccupation with poison ivy. I had some bad reactions to it when I was younger, so I have learned to be very careful & recognize it in all its forms. I've sometimes said I can spot it along the trail even in the dark. That's not quite true. Last night, coming down the Mtn in the rain, it was SO dark I couldn't see it at all. Every time I'd grab a tree for support & feel a hairy vine growing on it, I'd hope it wasn't poison ivy. Today the first half mile or so continuing where I left off last night thru very similar woods, all I saw was Virginia Creeper, so I felt relieved. Soon after, I did start seeing poison ivy too.This is fairly new trail, to eliminate a road walk past the chemical plant; so it winds around in weird ways to give hikers only brief sightings of the factory while still avoiding the hazardous landfills.I came to a place with a big pine tree down across the Trail. People had tried to get around it in awkward ways by going up the hill or down , either way difficult going & causing erosion. I got out my saw & cleared out the branches so that all they have to do is step over two main trunks. This time I even took before-&-after pictures [Click on this picture, then on "next" to see the "after" photo]! Cyclops passed while I was working & thanked me for my work -- that's the second time I've been thanked, but no one has volunteered to help. Once I got to the actual climb up the Mtn, I was going pretty slowly, so I decided not to go any farther than the first shelter, even tho it will make a longer day tomorrow. I had the place to myself -- Cyclops had gone on to camp. After supper, a couple of young section hikers came running up -- one said his dad & 2 friends were behind them. Soon we had 6 in the shelter, which worked fine, as we prepared for a cold night (the dad was concerned about frost back home in NC), the shelter being in a rather exposed location.