Date: 2006-04-14
From: Wapiti Shelter

To: Pearisburg, Va (Plaza Motel)
Miles today: 16.6
Weather: moderate rain

9:20 p.m. Two interesting days to write about. Yesterday was really nice. Well the morning wasn't that great. Once again it seemed to take forever to get to the lunch spot. I saw a snake, though, which was cool. A big black snake that was larger than my hiking pole. Anyway, after lunch we headed 6.6 more miles to a road that had a store .4 off the trail. The food wasn't good (my grilled cheese was basically cardboard and I maintain that Lockjaw's corn dog contributed to his illness) but I was very dehydrated and so just having two chocolate milks, an OJ, a Mountain Dew and a Powerade made me pretty happy. After going to the sotre, we went for a swim in the nearby river. It wasn't really all that clean, but then again, neither were we. It was "refreshing" (extremely cold) but I was glad I went in. It was maybe the hottest day yet. Team Steve, Lockjaw and I left the river later. A couple of miles up the trail we took a .3 blue blaze to a beautiful waterfall. It was probably one of my favorite spots on the trail so far, and if we had know it was there we probably would have gone swimming there instead. It was getting late, but we were content to just sit there. Team Steve took off about quarter to 7:00 and Lockjaw and I departed around 7. Six miles to the shelter, so we nknew we'd be doing some night hiking. It was supposed to be a full moon though and the night was beautiful and a much better temperature for hiking than the day had been. As it turned out the moon didn't rise until just about when Lockjaw and i pulled into the shelter about 9:15. The last hour or so of our hike, therefore, was really really dark. We used headlamps but it was still kind of scary and slow going. I was quite glad I wasn't alone. Sunshine and Kaptain actually came looking for us, thinking we'd be lost. Psh. Whatever. Actually it was really sweet of them to care enough to come looking. They probably walked a half mile, too.Team Steve got the last shelter spot, so Lockjaw and I cowboy camped. Once the moon rose it was very, very bright out, but other than that it was a splendid night to cowboy. Lockjaw got up during the night to puke, though, so that sucked. He's really really sick. When we woke up, I knew right away he was significantly worse. Today was "only" 16.6 miles, but that still seemed like a stretch. I wasn't feeling too hot myself, but there was no point having multiple sickies in the group. I offered to go slow with Lockjaw, just to make sure he didn't die. I guess we didn't walk all that slowly, but we made numerous bathroom stops. Poor Lockjaw. We also walked straight through a thunderstorm. Ther was lightening seeminly right on top of us. I was drenched. Eventually it passed, and we reached Doc's Knob Shelter for lunch. It was slow going after lunch. At least, that is, until Lockjaw got a cell phone signal and talked to his parents, who had reached Pearisburg. From there it was - as it so often is - a frantic foot race to town. It was wonderful to get there and have Lockjaw's mother, father, and sister waiting there with a car and a cooler with drinks and a big basket of snacks. My ankle has been really bugging me the past couple of days, so town is really awesome. Taking a zero tomorrow will be nice too; we haven't had one since Hot Springs. Hopefully one day will be enough to sort out my ankle and Lockjaw's fever and crap. I'm really tired so that's all for now. If I remember anything else I'll put it in tomorrow if I write. In the last 5 days we did just under 100 miles. That included two 24 mile days that were too much, I think.