Date: 2007-11-02
From: Dutch Haus, Montebello

To: Pearisburg, VA
Miles today: 87.0
Weather: clear sky

It's Friday 11/02 and I'm taking a zero here in Pearisburg.On Wednesday 10/24 Lois from the Dutch Haus yellow blazed me 20 miles ahead to the bridge at the James River. It was beginning to rain and I decided not to slack pack for another day. The bridge across the James is quite a structure to have been built for us hikers. I believe more than a million dollars was spent. Two miles down the trail is Matts Creek Shelter. "Willy Nelson" and "Dreamer" were resting there and wanted to know if I wanted to go back to Glasgow and get a motel room. I decided to continue on and began yet another rocky assent followed by a nice smooth footpath. Just about then, the skys opened up and it began to pour in earnest. The temperature was about 80 and I got soaked to my skin quickly. I laughed about it all and moved along as I encountered another rocky assent. I realized there was no way I would reach the next shelter so around 5PM when the rain subsided for a moment, I quickly stopped and set up my tent. I took off all my wet clothes and jumped into the tent and doned wool long underwear and socks. The skies opened up again and the roar continued. I was able to make cowboy coffee and a meal reaching out of my tent flap. Just after it got dark, a hiker came by and wanted to know where the Blue Ridge Parkway was. He was drenched. I gave him directions from my map and then settled in for the night. That is about when the tent decided to give out. First a drop or two and then a fine mist followed by water streaming down the inside walls of the DWR fabric. Of course lightning came next and I began to pray. Well, I made it through the night and by morning almost all of my stuff was soaked. I had a pair of leggings and long pants and a shirt that were dry in my clothes bag. I changed into them, broke camp, and headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then north back to Glasgow and the Happy Feet Motel. The skies opened up again. All toll 9 inches of rain fell in a 24 hour period. I walked for 2 hours before the fifth car to pass me stopped and gave me a ride (16 miles out of their way) to Glasgow. I spent the day washing and drying clothes.Friday morning the rain was still spewing forth so I yellow blazed to Daleville with a shuttle from Delwood. I bought a tarp to cover my tent at the outfitters. (For the next time it rains.)Saturday morning 10/26 I hiked 17 miles in to Campbell Shelter just below McAfee Knob. On the way I went along Tinker Clifts and they scared the pants off me because the drop off was on my blind side. Sunday I climbed up to McAfee and enjoyed the beautiful western view with another hiker. We took eachother's obligatory pictures and I moved on to Catawba, VA for an afternoon meal at the Homeplace Restaurant. The owner, Mr Windgate let me tent on his property.Monday morning I awoke to a totally frosted tent and boots. It were cold! I got my mail drop at the Post Office, sent some stuff to Miss Janet, and then began walking on the road around Dragons Tooth. I made this yellow blaze decision because of my eye's sight and because many hikers had said it would be hard for me decending due to no depth perseption and multiple vision. A nice guy picked me up and took me all the way to the next trail head. From there I hiked in past Niday Shelter and on to Server Shelter. Server Shelter is a ways down and off the trail but worth the effort. It ranks in the top five of all the shelters I have seen on the AT. "Leader of the Pack" arrived in the dark and entertained me with good conversation. It took 11 minutes to climb out to the trail and off I went the 13 miles to Warspur Shelter the next morning. It is a difficult little section but I made it by mid-afternoon. "Leader of the Pack" arrived about 2 hours later.Halloween Day found a trail of sharp rocks covered with a blanket of leaves for most of the way. My legs began to cramp up toward the end. I also slipped and dunked my feet into a river I was trying to ford on the exposed rocks. Then I took a wrong turn and walked a mile before turning around and going back. The wrong turn was a smooth little road so I enjoyed the releaf from the rocks. Finally Pine Swamp Shelter appeared. It's roof was laying to the side in chunks because of being nailed by a falling maple some time back. I was only half an hour ahead of "Leader of the Pack" this day.Yesterday I did a 20 mile push into Pearisburg on a much nicer footpath allowing me to do several 3 mile an hour rates. I was happy to arrive at the Randazvous Motel and meet Brenda and Buck. They are great trail people as most AT hikers know.After the rains, the weather has been mostly sunny and in the 50's by mid-day. The temperature in the mornings has been freezing or below. No frost coating up in the hills though. I am still enjoying this hike and continue to meet interesting folks.This probably will be my last entry before I get to Damascus some 165 miles away. I do not believe I'll have Internet access until then. We'll see.