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Day 6

Mon July 27 8mi After it rained all night long, I woke to a clear sunrise. I made my oatmeal while still bundled in my sleeping bag (cooking in the shelter is a big no-no.) I got to hiking and soon knew that it just wasn't going to work. Every step my left knee felt like it was tearing apart. I climbed 1700ft to an amazing view at Kelly Knob where I fortunately had cell reception. I came to the decision that since I'll probably be leaving for a big hiking trip to Colorado this weekend, it's a good idea to get home and let this knee heal up. I hiked (limped) to the first paved road crossing and hitch-hiked down to VA-Tech. Sad to leave, but feels good knowing I knocked another 75miles off.

Day 5

Sun July 26
12mi
Come to find out my tarp is not exactly waterproof. However, it did keep me plenty comfortable through the rainy night. I woke to drizzle and decided to go ahead and pack up my stuff. As soon as I took down my tarp, it started raining hard, getting my gear pretty wet. I relaxed there at The Captain's place waiting for it to stop raining, and when they offered breakfast, I couldn't refuse. Again, I jumped to do dishes before anyone could say differently. I then took the opportunity to take a shower and got my gear ready to go. I was really hoping my knee was healed, but the 1000ft ascent at the second mile told me differently. So much for trying some big miles today. I did pass Mtn Lake Resort where supposedly "Dirty Dancing" was filmed. I'm staying at War Spur Shelter tonight because of the rain. Of course I have it to myself as I've yet to see any other hikers. Talk about solitude.

Day 4

Sat July 25 12mi This morning started out perfect. There was no rain last night thankfully. I grabbed a quick breakfast and got all my gear bundled. My blisters have all but disappeared and my muscles are feeling pretty good. My left knee however was still hurting pretty bad. I was forced to start using a hiking stick and take the downhills very slow. To ease the pain I wanted to keep my pack as light as possible. I decided to carry only enough water to make it to the next water source. Little did I know that this source wasn't flowing at all. It was little better than pond water. I had no choice because the next source was at least 7.5mi away and I was traveling much slower than normal with the bum knee. After filtering it through a bandanna and giving it a double dose of the UV, it still tasted like swamp. The next 7.5 miles took me 5hours, quite a bit slower than my usual 2.5mph pace. I was forced to keep my left leg straight as if I was in a cast. No pain at all when I did this. Unfortunately, that's impossible while you're hiking up and down mountains with your house on your back. But, I did see a bear cub. I wanted to keep it, but it ran away to quick. I made it to the next shelter in perfect time for a rain shower. I cooked a big bowl of rice, unable to decide if I should be cooking dinner or just grabbing a snack. I had plenty of daylight and needed more miles so I decided to continue on. I had read about "The Captain's House" and was pretty curious. The Captain has a house just across the river from the trail and lets people camp out on his lawn. My knees were killing me and I really wasn't looking forward to climbing the mountain to the next shelter. As I got close, I heard a stereo blasting. I saw about 6 tents pitched and a big group of people huddled around the picnic table. Of course I had to go check it out. The coolest part was taking a zip-line over the river to get there. When I pull up and introduce myself, I find out that this was a family reunion of sorts. The immediately tell me to have a seat and put a beer in my hand. I thought I was in heaven. They loved telling me their lives' stories and I told them all about mine. Before too long, I was shucking corn and getting the grill ready for steaks. I insisted for them not to cook anything for me; I'd be happy with leftovers. Of course they cooked plenty and I stuffed myself on an amazing steak dinner. I spent the rest of the time doing the dishes and offered repeatedly to help out with anything else. Definitely a great night. If only my knee can heal up for tomorrow, I'll be doing pretty good.

Day 3

Fri July 24 14 miles I never realized how much I was missing out by sleeping in the shelters every night. This morning I awoke to a beautiful sunrise straight over the cliff from where I was atop the ridge. After an hour of hiking I came to an overlook where I watched the clouds and fog roll through the valley a thousand feet below me. Upon reaching Prearisburg, I gave up on the idea of hiking to the closest food joint and charged my phone and refilled my water at the Rendezvous motel close to the trail. The man taking care of the place was incredibly friendly, and I didn't end up leaving until 1pm. I really wasn't feeling well for the next bit of hiking so I laid down for a nap and awoke quite refreshed. The climb up the mountain was killer, even though I know it shouldn't have hurt so bad. After reaching the top of the ridge, I came to a powerline with at least 5 varieties of wild flower in bloom. I laid down there in the sun and before I knew it, I was asleep again. Later, I continued hiking, but my joints were hurting too bad. I stopped for dinner and stuffed myself full. About .1mi later I was treated to an amazing sunset from atop a wide open bald at Rice Field Shelter. I've seen a thousand sunsets, but this was by far the reddest orb I've ever seen. I hiked another 40min to the next water source so I could wash dishes and have some drinking water. I was exploring for the spring and somehow stumbled right upon it as I was looking for my way back to the trail. I'm sleeping out under the stars hoping the weather report is correctly predicting no rain tonight.

Day 2

Thur July 23 15miles Having been on a horrible sleep schedule, I could wake myself up until 9:30. My boots were still wet from the previous days rain. Midday I threw on a fresh pair of socks, but the boots just got them wet too. Being wet the whole time, my feet hurt pretty bad and are threatening to blister. It was a gorgeous day despite the forecast's 50% chance of thunderstorms. I started the day low and realized exactly where I was when I crossed a suspension bridge over a stream. The next couple miles to Wapiti shelter seemed to take forever. From there I climbed and spent the rest of the day on ridgetop. I got very few views, but the ones that were there were beautiful. I trudged on stopping every hour until I came to Doc Knob shelter. I felt like an idiot for wasting a bunch of energy trying to find the spring when it ended up being a hole at the base of a tree right near the shelter. My water purifier has been working great but decided just to drink this straight to save on batteries. On one charge, I only get about 5gallons. From there I continued about 3miles as the sun was setting. I had to set up my tarp on top of the windy ridge because the sides are to steep. The stars are out and it's looking like it'll be a beautiful night.

Day 1

Wed July 22
10 miles
Finally, I hit the trail again. James and I drove on up to Lickskillet Hollow near Bland, VA. Debating how much food to carry, I just decide to stuff my pack full so I don't have to resupply any time soon. Unfortunately this meant turning a nice comfortable weight into a bit more of a burden. I realized I forgot to bring an extra cell phone battery causing a bit of frustration. As soon as we hit the trail, it starts downpouring and continues on and off for the next hour. We didn't mind much though. After an hour and a half of hiking it was time for James to head back to his car to head home. Soon I came to a road and took a look at my guide book. I thought I had left the trail at Trent's grocerie and had 8 miles to the first shelter. I soon realize that I was standing at the road that leads to the store and had another 8 miles to the shelter after the 6 I had already completed. So I continued on as it was getting dark, taking the opportunity to take a side trail down to a waterfall. It added half a mile to my hike, but was well worth it. I wasn't expecting to make it to the shelter anyway. I continued on with my diminishing daylight until I hit a creek where I stopped to cook dinner. Stupid me managed to loose my only spoon after eating having been on the trail for only a couple hours. It's only 20 miles to Pearls, so I think I'll be able to manage. I dawned the headlamp and hiked for another 45min until my knees started hurting and set up my new MSR tarp. I absolutely love it so far. I'll be getting some more rain tonight so we'll see how well it works. I'm thinking the dental floss as tie lines might have been a bit too extreme.