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Sunday, June 08, 2003
We left Pearisburg early this morning. We know we were the first hikers on the trail because we drained all the water from plants over hanging the trail into our shoes. We picked up the trail in knee-deep grass. We were soaked in just a few steps.
We spent the night in the shelter. The weather acted like it was going to shower. It never did. At least we got a quick get away the next morning.
Monday, June 09, 2003
We walked through sun kissed pink and white bowers of Mountain Laurel that are so delicate that they looked ready for June brides. The flowers that have fallen to the trail look like the scalloped metal disks on a tambourine. Seventeen year cicadas are out and all whir on one constant pitch. The sound is almost white noise and we can hear them for a long distance. Cicadas are huge flying black insects with red push pin eyes and orange wings. They emerge from the ground and we see hundreds of holes in the trail. Sun on the trail is drying the duff which emits a resin smell...lots more pleasant than smelly mud. The taste beyond all comparison came on a huge climb near the end of the day. A former through hiker left a cache of Pepsi! Nothing has tasted so good!
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Another day that thrashed us with hard long miles, but with sun. Noon found us on an escarpment of rocks tilted 30-45* to the right with a straight drop down on the left. We scooted along near the top for a mile before we decided to stop and eat. We had a great view of a wooded Virginia valley and its few cleared cleared farms.
All the rocks made hiking slow because of the large up and down steps. We collected water that trickled across the trail and walked a little farther and set up our tent in the trees so we did not have to walk a half mile off trail to the shelter. The cicadas were noisy all night. I have never heard a whippoorwill, but a bird called non-stop, moved a short distance down the trail and started the same three pitches repeated a million times. We saw so many deer right before camping that we were careful to stow all gear in the tent so that the deer did not chew on anything for salt. We heard that deer even chew on trekking pole handles! Tenting is so cozy and everything has a place in our tiny tent. We always sleep well.
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
We needed water for dinner and the closest was at the next shelter so we ate dinner at the shelters picnic table and put up our tent. Some shelter occupants were asleep when we arrived! We zipped the tent door and lightening, thunder and deluge arrived. Our yellow tent really lit up in the lightening! If we camp in the trees, drips from the trees prolong the rain sounds on the tent. That makes me sleep well.
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Another day of hard miles. It seems like we hiked more miles than 15.4.
Showers and laundry are wonderful and we are at Best Western. PO will be our first stop in the morning. Adam has uploaded pictures from Ken's digital camera. You can view them at: I guess you will have to supply captions for the pictures. We feel like we are inside the forest trying to look out, but can't see a lot for the trees. Consequently many of the pictures are of flowers, leaves, and plants.
Friday, June 13, 2003
A big storm was dumping rain last night at dinner time. We were snug in a motel and smug that we were clean and dry. I ordered pizza delivered from across the street. The pizza delivery man gets paid to get wet. Post Office chores took almost an hour and then the market was even farther away from the trail. We bought a slice of delicious watermelon and ate it before going back to the trail. Terrain is more of the same. We crossed a ridge and met a thunder shower. Flash, crash! We hurried down the ridge with the thunder and lightning overhead. What a downpour! It was soon over. Slackpackers passed us moving quickly because they paid a driver to drive their backpacks to Black Horse Gap. This is the intersection of the AT and the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we got to the road they had set up camp and looked, to me, like Peter Pan & the Lost Boys and Never Never Land. As we walked past they offered sodas. Yes! We are camped on a ridge just above the Blue Ridge Parkway. A sunset is peeking through the trees and we are getting re-rain. I am sure that we are having more fun than the riders in the cars passing below us. Goodnight, Dick.
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A vivid red cardinal with its top knot was our first wildlife sighting.
Dozens of moths and butterflies of every color fluttered past us all day.
Unfortunately, mosquitoes joined us and we were forced to use DEET for the first
time.
I have been waiting years for McAfee Knob. Every AT hiker has a picture of
himself sitting on a slab with feet dangling into space. We were to arrive late
in the day. Of course, rain beat us with a huge downpour when we were within a
few miles of the knob. We sloshed up the trail that was a river in a couple of
minutes. A shelter called Boy Scout Shelter was 1 mile away and we dashed there
planning to sit out some of the rain. There was no shelter, just a stack of
charred wood! What a surprise that we had not heard of a shelter burning, so it
must be recent. We plodded on and the rain diminished to light showers. We were
satisfied with that and took off packs and ponchos for pictures. The knob is a
beautiful area.
Trail was so muddy that we both fell. Ugh! No injuries but I really hate to
get mud on me, my clothes and my gear. I always stop at the first running water
and clean up as well as I can.