Post #22 Water

Following an evening dessert of pie and ice cream to celebrate my birthday, Steve Schmitt drove me from their home in Blacksburg, VA, and returned me to the Wind Cliffs trailhead on Sunday morning. Due to the location where I started hiking and the scarcity of spring locations around there, I carried extra water at the end of that day. This enabled me to camp at a stealth site on a mountain ridge. I set my hammock’s rain fly so that the edge facing the wind was closer to the ground, and the lee side was higher. This allowed me easier access in and out of the hammock. I enjoyed the crimson sunset, which promised fair weather, while I talked to Jordan who called to wish me a happy birthday. After reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” for about an hour, I drifted off to sleep. When I awoke at 3, I found the wind had changed and a dense fog was now blowing into the least protected side of the setup, wetting my hammock, down quilts, and jackets which were hanging under the fly. So at 3 AM I was out in the cold, adjusting the rain fly to keep the blowing fog out. It reminded me of why this trip is called an adventure.

Late on Monday afternoon, after a three hour descent (which my left knee was not happy about), I found myself in Pearisburg for a resupply and another night in a real bed. I walked through town and headed toward the hostel where I was hoping to get a private room for the night. On my way there, a guy in a van called out to me, “Hey hiker!” He asked where I was headed. He then waved me over and gave me a ride to the hostel where he works. We learned from our conversation during the car ride that we had met each other in Georgia back in March, when he was hiking with Pappy (see post #3)!

My brief stay at Angels Rest Hostel was very enjoyable. It was entrancing listening to how these other hikers got to where they are and it was comfortable being with other people who had something in common with me. After thinking about this, I was reminded though, of how dangerous it can be to surround myself solely with people who agree with me. It is like getting my news from one single source simply because I agree with that particular view.

The hostel shuttle returned me to the trailhead at 9 on Tuesday morning. Even though it was only about 45 degrees outside, I removed my down puffy jacket before starting my hike up the mountain. Fifteen minutes later I removed my gloves and pants legs. (They do zip into shorts!) I soon removed my micro fleece shirt, and then eventually my hat. With clear skies and the temperatures in the high 60s, the early morning fog quickly burned off and it made me glad that I was outdoors. Around lunch I found a sunny rock overlooking the Pearisburg valley, and had a pleasant phone conversation with Anita, talking about the logistics of her planned trip to join me in hiking a section of the Jefferson National Forest. On this particular day, the trail led me past several vistas and through several azalea tunnels. At the shelter that evening, I enjoyed the conversation with Six Pack, Pack Animal, Poncho, and Green Bean. I learned that I had briefly bumped into Green Bean and Poncho last week at the Howard Johnson motel in Daleville. I exchanged contact information with Pack Animal, another 62 year old, who invited me to join him next fall for a canoe trip in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Due to a lot of ridge walking, there was one day this past week when getting water was a bigger chore and more adventuresome than usual. I stopped at a shelter at lunch time because there was a water source there. I followed the .3 mile trail to the water source only to find it dry, so I followed the dry bed downhill for another quarter mile before I found a small trickle of water. While trying to fill my water bladder, I finally noticed the source of the foul odor I had been smelling- a dead deer in the dry stream bed, 25’ uphill from where I was trying to get water. So I quickly moved further down the valley to find another source of water. I found another small pool, filtered it into my bottle, and began the arduous task of trying to find my way back up to the shelter and my pack. I followed the wrong dry gulch back up the hill and soon realized I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I was thankful for the gps function on my trail app as I followed the little arrow and took the scenic route back to the shelter. This water trip must have required me to walk 1.25 miles. And get this: Other hikers found another source of water only 100 yards from the shelter! Now where’s the adventure in that?

I would continue to run into and occasionally hang out with Green Bean, Slip, and Poncho throughout the rest of the week as they continued their LaSH (Long assed Section Hike) from Hanover, NH, to Springer Mountain, GA. Most of the hikers I met this week are section hikers and most of them are of a more mature vintage.

At the end of the week the big conversation on the trail was where to take shelter from the remnants of hurricane Delta. Some were going to hang out in a trail shelter for a couple of days while others were heading for a local hostel. As for me, I was going to be with Anita, who was just arriving for our trek together. But instead of hiking and then taking a couple of days off, we decided to spend the rainy weekend at a hotel in Blytheville, and heading out Monday when it is predicted to be better weather.

  I am looking forward to spending the next week hiking with the love of my life.