Date: 2005-05-18
From: Va. 606

To: Sugar Run Gap
Miles today: 13.9

Started @ Va. 606Destination: Sugar Run GapMiles today: 13.9Total Miles: 613.9Stayed in MotelDay 69At 6:15 I arose and packed up as much as possible except the tent. There was a lot of dew on the ground and on the tent, and it was foggy, so decided to wait on taking the tent down until after I went to the store to eat breakfast. It opened at 7 and Jersey Fresh and I were waiting on a bench outside when someone came to open up. I ordered 2 bacon egg and cheese biscuits and had a bottle of tomato juice, a banana and a cup of coffee. It was wonderful!! Then I went to pack the tent which was fairly dry and then back to the store to ask for a sandwich for my lunch. She put the ham and cheese on the bread, put the onion, lettuce, pickle, and tomato slices in a zip-lock bag, and gave me 2 packets of mayo, all of which I placed in the top of my pack. This was a day of 8 miles of level walking on a lot of pine needle covered trail after climbing up a little ways off the road. It was wonderful! There were many flowing streams and dry creek beds that the trail crossed--most of them with wooden bridges. At the 8 mile point was Wapiti Shelter and I thought I surely must have passed it when I came to a sign that said, Doc's Knob Shelter (which is the shelter AFTER Wapiti) with an arrow pointing north. I back-tracked a little to make sure I had not missed it. I did not see it so I went on, thinking I had maybe missed it farther back. I had planned to stop there and eat my sandwich but instead I found a nice log along the trail to sit down and eat. Finally I came to the wapiti shelter sign and saw it a little off the trail but since I thought I must have surely gone further than 8 miles by this point I was disappointed that I had not--meaning I still had 6 miles to go. Soon I started going uphill and I met a hiker, Garcia, that was on his second day out, heading south. He has 6 months to walk and he said if all went well he would probably see me up in New England. Well, the next 6 miles were all uphill, it seemed. I thought I would never get to the top. Finally, when I did, the trail was up and down before going down. The trail from the time it started up was as rocky as the first 8 miles was smooth. I was anxious to get down to the forest service road and to get to Woodshole Hostel because Toto was meeting me there. I had run out of water on top of the mountain and there was nowhere to get more-- the stream at the bottom was dry so I had to wait until I got to the hostel to quench my thirst. And dry I was because of all the sweating I did.The hostel is 1/2 mile down the road and when I got there at 6, a volunteer, Hi-Pockets, came out to introduce himself and to show me where everything was in the bunkhouse. I was more interested in the water, which was from a hose beside the bunkhouse. There were sodas and candy bars in the refrigerator as well as a cup for the payment of them. A sign-up sheet for a light breakfast was on the table for anyone that wanted to eat for $2.50.Tillie, the owner of the hostel, came out of her cabin to meet the hikers that had come in. She said that the rent for the night was to cut a few THORNY weeds around the place and she picked up some long pruners and showed us what to use. She showed us a stone wall that was built by hikers after she asked each one to place one stone on it. She said the deer had torn it down, however, and a hiker last year named, Smokestack, stayed a day and put it back up. The deer have not bothered it since, she said. Tillie is an amazing woman at 87 and loves to talk about her cabin, the area, and the history of how she and her now deceased husband came to be there in the 1940's.When I arrived I told Hi-Pockets that my husband was meeting me there and I was afraid he would get lost. He was quick to tell me that Toto had called this morning and that he had given him directions. While I waited for him several hikers came in--Epic-Flop, Free Radical, Patch, Mr. Sweepers, and 2 others whose names escape me at this time.It did rain today, but it did not start until after I reached the hostel. The next day is supposed to be rainy, also, and as much as Toto wants to hike I do not know if I am up to it. When Toto got here at 8 P.M. and he met Tillie and we visited a little with her as she told us a little about the cabin and some of the things in it we went in to Pearisburg to a motel. We had a mail drop at the Rendezvous Motel but they had no room so we took a room at the Holiday Lodge and ordered a pizza after picking up our mail. The road down from Woodshole Hostel was bad and I hate to have to drive back up it to start hiking from there. Our car is low and did drag once but it could have been much worse had Toto not taken such care to avoid the worst possible damage. It is good to be with Toto again and as far as hiking we will just have to see what the weather brings tomorrow.