Date: 2012-04-23
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: light rain

Oh My God. It is snowing. Seriously snowing. In Virginia. In April. Seriously.Seriously.And it's sticking to the ground. Huff gleefully announced that there was 2 inches of snow on the ground. we all called her a liar and then went to the windows to take in this beautiful and dreadful sight. I apparently went into the stages of grief and spent the first hour of the morning in denial. I seriously cannot remember the last time I saw snow in VA in April. Seriously. So normally snow is something I enjoy looking at. not so much when i have to hike in it. the best part about today is that we were scheduled to come into Atkins today so the debate of to stay in a hotel or not is decided for me. luckily I was able to get one bar on my cell phone and make a reservation at the only hotel within walking distance of the trail. We cooked breakfast in the bottom portion of the shelter watching the snow continue to fall and build up to 3 inches. Seriously three inches people. In VA. In April. (Still in denial here, creeping toward anger. nope nope denial again.) I ended up eating the pasta dinner I was going to have before pizza last night as I really just wanted something warm. Slowly people started to hit the trail all with plans to get into some town somewhere and as there were a few options in the next stretch there was a good chance this would be goodbye for a little while. I love the community we have formed on the trail as we said our goodbyes and the resounding departing quote was "Be Safe". Snow can be a very dangerous thing to hike through, especially on rocky sections, cliffs, or crossing roads with crazy untrained southern drivers. (don't take offense. We all know it's true). So I headed out behind everyone else again making a pit stop in the heated visitor center for a last little bit of warmth and modern electricity. Once I'd crossed the road and headed out I started to enjoy today a little bit more. It was beautiful with a good 3 inches covering the tail and all surrounding trees. The new spring green leaves were covered. And the wind was blowing all the snow sideways so looking to your right you saw tree bark. to your left nothing but white from root to limb. Of course when the dirt path you are following looks the same as every other snow covered bit of ground and snow is covering the trees vertically. what you now have is a new game of Find the White Blaze! Where's waldo has nothing on this. So mostly I just kept my head down following the footsteps ahead of me and hoping that they were on the right trail. We had a few hills today but they were smallish compared to some I've climbed. I did have a fun time when I absolutely had to go to the bathroom and my foot started to slip on the snow covered rock beneath me. Bad things almost happened. Very bad comical things. But fortunately all was okay. over the last hill I came around a bend where there was a view into the valley below. And in the Valley it was all green! I have this great picture where we are surrounded by snow looking into this green oasis and there are snow covered mountains across the valley in the distance. Very cool to see the contrast here and the difference elevation makes. I could also hear the roar of all the trucks on 81. Familiar things people. by now I had reached acceptance and was enjoying my trip through the snow. mostly because it hadn't killed me yet. I ran into Huff and Puff at the shelter coming down the hill where they stopped for cocoa. I was warm from hiking and didn't want my body to cool so I kept going getting lower and lower in elevation. the snow was melting down here with large slush bombs falling off the trees down my neck and all over my head. my raincoat was only so much use at this point. And then I was lear. out of the woods, out of the snow. As if it never happened. In the valley the trail runs right past a local museum exploring settlement of the area. There is a little house here that was the one room school house that is open for the public to tour. apparently the public mostly consists of hikers as there were all these signs posted welcoming us to explore. I thought a lot about my kids out on Frenchboro who still go to a one room school house. Love you guys! I took a lot of pictures that I will post for you to see what I'm talking about. It had a very similar set up to all those old pictures of Frenchboro school. And on the walls hung the list of rules and punishments that were given for breaking them mostly this consisted of lashes. For girls playing in the boys play area or vise versa it was 4 lashes. 1 lash for each foot climbed in a tree. 3 lashes for calling each other liars. 5 lashes for a boy being mean to a girl. 7 lashes for fighting. etc. etc. so be nice to each other guys!Only 1 mile to go and we had to cross under some huge humming and rather scary power lines. I'm sure that is how I am going to die on the trail. Startled some dear coming through the fields. And then the trail dumped us unceremoniously out into "civilization". So glad I had a reservation as the hiker just before me got the last room. Huff and Puff joined me shortly and we headed out for a great meal at The Barn. Very filling. I did have a moment of pure embarrassment for my home state when we all had to walk past the house flying a neo nazi flag in it's front yard. It made me so mad I was seething all night filled with disgust. Seeing things like this makes me understand why there are so many stories of minority thru hikers who race to get out of the south and maybe why the trail is predominately white. Showers and warmth tonight and then back on the trail. No signal strength or internet here so no reason to linger. Hope tomorrow is warmer.