Starting Point: Elk Garden: 491.2
Ending Point: Big Wilson Creek: 500.8
Total Miles: 9.6
After a few days in Abingdon/Damascus we were ready to hit the trail again. Instead of paying for a shuttle to the trailhead about 25 miles away, we decided to embrace the free spirit of the trail and hitch back from Damascus. It didn't take too long before we were picked up by a local outfitter's shuttle taking section hikers out. I felt like a freeloader with a van full of people who paid for this shuttle but they said it was okay and they seemed to enjoy hearing about our experiences on the trail thus far. Plus, he could only take us a quarter of the way to our final destination as they were going to a different trail head, so we weren't getting a full shuttle. We got dropped off about 10 miles outside of town, which meant we were 10 miles away from the city, in the middle of nowhere. Although we were closer, I was questioning if this was a good decision to get dropped off in the middle of nowhere on a street that didn't seem to get much traffic. Thankfully, we only sat there for about 10-15 mins until a local man on his way home from work picked us up. He couldn't take us all the way to the trailhead, only about 5 miles closer. It would take us about 2 hours to go five miles so we took it. So we get dropped even further from town in a more remote location, now I was really questioning our original decision to not take a ride all the way. It only took about five minutes until a really nice couple from Nashville picked us up. They were out doing a small section in the same park where we were hiking. It was nice sharing stories about home with them.
Unfortunately, they weren't hiking from the same trailhead as we were, which we only discovered after getting there. We were 7 miles north on the trail where we should have been. We couldn't ask them to take us to the other trailhead so we thanked them, walked away, looked at each other and asked, "what do we do now???" As we were standing in the parking lot trying to figure out how to get where we needed to be, another older couple came walking out of the trail and asked us if we knew where a certain trail was. We told them we probably weren't the best people to ask as we just got a ride to the wrong trailhead. It turns out he thru-hiked last year and he and his wife were driving up the trail stopping at all of the scenic spots he said he didn't get to truly enjoy while he was hiking and to show his wife the highlights of the trail. So he understood our predicament and offered to drive us to the right trailhead.
Once we were finally on the trail we were greeted and sometimes blocked by the wild ponies in Mt. Rogers and Grayson Highland Park.
Ponies blocking the trail and Jessica clearly not happy about it.
"Hey! That's my wife, pony!!"
Day 44
Starting Point: Big Wilson Creek: 500.8
Ending Point: Trimpi Shelter: 520.5
Total Miles: 19.7
Today was a good, uneventful day of hiking although it was very rocky. Rocks = very sore feet. We did get to see more ponies. They were definitely the highlight of the day.
Day 45
Starting Point: Trimpi Shelter: 520.5
Ending Point: Atkins, VA: 542.7
Total Miles: 22.2 miles
Our original plan was to head into Atkins for a resupply and get right back on the trail. That plan changed when Jessica suggested to stay in a hotel tonight. Given they were calling for thunderstorms that night and we were pretty ripe from the warm weather, I quickly agreed.
On our way into town we definitely picked up the pace and covered our last 7 miles in 2.5 hours. We were also walking in farm fields and over streams which is a nice change of scenery from the usual "green tunnel."
Once we got into town we headed directly to the Barn, a country restaurant located on the trail. I ordered the hiker burger, it was over 1 pound and delicious. We were pretty happy about our decision to push into town at that point.
The hotel was 4 miles away from the trailhead so we were hitching again, only this time we were going to end at the right spot. Jessica went into a gas station close to the trail to get ice cream. She also asked the lady behind the counter if the town was hiker friendly and if we'd have any problems getting a ride. The lady behind the counter asked one of the locals who was in the gas station where he was going, he said, "fishing at the lake." She told him to give Jessica a ride to the hotel. The man thought Jessica was alone and quickly agreed, he also offered to take Jessica fishing. Jessica then said, "I'm not sure if my husband outside wants to go fishing." He was very disappointed I was there but still drove us to the hotel.
Overall, it was a pretty successful day.
Day 46
Starting Point: Atkins, VA: 542.7
Ending Point: Crawfish Valley Campsite: 549.0
Total Miles: 6.3
After the back to back days of around 20 miles we were both feeling pretty worn out so we decided to make it a short day. We found a campsite we couldn't pass up and decided to set up camp around 3:30. We both took naps before dinner and felt much better by the end of the day.
Day 47
Starting Point: Crawfish Valley Campsite: 549.0
Ending Point: Walker Gap: 567.0
Total Miles: 18
It was a beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for better weather. We were also treated to two separate trail magics. One was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which I was extremely excited about and greatful for. The other was Oreo cookies. The best thing about the cookie was they were just before a five mile climb so the extra sugar boost was helpful in getting us up the hill.
We were also greeted and blocked again by animals on the trail. This time it was a large cow that I swear would have charged us if we had not decided to walk around her.
This was her trail, not ours and we were okay with that. It was a very large cow.
Day 48
Starting: Walker Gap: 567.0
Ending: Kimberling Creek: 588.2
Total Miles: 21.2
The night before we stayed on top of a hill that was extremely windy. I accidentally placed the wind shield too tightly around the stove while cooking which resulted in burning the stove and the seal on the fuel tank. Thankfully, we read in the guidebook you could get pizza delivered to the trailhead. Of the almost 600 miles we've covered, there were only two places we knew of where you could get pizza delivered to the trail.This couldn't have come come at a better time. It turned out to be really good pizza too.
Day 49
Starting: Kimberling Creek: 588.2
Ending: Trent's Grocery (VA 606): 606
Total Miles: 17.8
Today we saw our second snake, thankfully it was not poisonous, it was a black rat snack. Even though they're not poisonous, they are very large, they can grow to 8 feet in length. I would guess this particular one was at least 6 feet long.
Jessica saw it first, as she was walking in front. She noticed it after walking by it and quickly told me to stop. It was less than a foot from the trail with its head facing towards the trail (you can see the head in the bottom left hand corner of the picture.) I casually walked by it and said, "that's a black rat snake, which isn't poisonous and typically wants nothing to do with humans." That's not true at all.
I stopped, backed up about five feet and was terrified to walk by it. I had no idea what kind of snake it was and if it was poisonous. So I did what any rugged, thru-hiking man of nature would do and pulled out my phone and Googled, "is a large black snake in Southwestern VA poisonous?" (Thankfully, we've had service on most of the trail in VA as it's typically along a ridge line.) The results said no it's not poisonous. So I put my phone away and casually strolled by it, admiring it's size as I slowly walked past it. That's actually not what happened at all.
Given its proximity to the trail, its size and the fact I couldn't have walked around it off the trail, I stood in place for several minutes trying to work up the courage to walk past it, even though I knew it wasn't poisonous. I decided the only safe way to avoid getting bitten by this snake was to run past it as fast as I can. So I backed up a several feet to get a running start, then I started running as fast as I could and added a jump right when I got next to it. The snake didn't budge. I haven't seen Jessica laugh that hard since we've started. I could only imagine how ridiculous I looked, but I lived to tell the story. :)
Day 49
Starting: Trent's Grocery: 606
Ending: Lane St., Pearisburg, VA 631.3
Total Miles: 25.2
Our longest day yet! As usual, our plans changed on the fly. We originally planned on getting into town the next day but given we had no fuel and our dinner would have been peanut butter sandwiches, the same thing we ate for lunch, the prospect of hot meal got us through the extra mileage.
We ended up each getting a bed in the hiker bunks at the Holiday Motor Lodge. The hiker bunks is an old restaurant at the hotel they've converted into a hostel of sorts. It was a bit nicer and cleaner than most hostels we've been to so far, so we were very happy about our decision to come into town early.
Birdseye view of Pearisburg.
Day 50
Pearisburg/Blacksburg, VA
Total mileage: Zero
We rented a car and headed to an outfitter in Blacksburg to get a replacement stove and resupply. We shipped back our cold weather gear. It was a total of 16 pounds between the two of us, which is huge. We also drove through the very pretty campus of Virginia Tech.
It was a good day off and we were happy to be able to rest. We are planning to make it to Daleville by Sunday to meet up with our first visitors on the trail! Our good friend James and Barbara Evans will be hiking with us Monday-Thursday of next week. We are very excited for the company.
Happy Trails,
Z & G
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