V is for Virginia

My friends, we have reached our fourth state…rather, commonwealth, of Virginia. We have 500+ miles to walk in this state and I am hoping for some better terrain in a few hundred miles. The rumors are that around Pearisburg things start to flatten out until somewhere in PA…and by flatten out I mean, not a lot of steep climbs—not Florida flat.

Let’s see, when we left Erwin over a week ago I thought I’d get a chance to write again at the Kincora hiking hostel in Hampton, TN. No computer, so no writing.

The climb out of Erwin wasn’t too bad, mostly pleasant along a nice stream and then up to a shelter and some contour walking around the mountains. We had to climb up to Beauty Spot, a bald, and then to Unaka Mountain. Unaka was semi-difficult but it was beautiful at the top with a bunch of spruce trees that reminded me of what Washington state looks like. The next day we took a .6 each way detour to the Greasy Creek Friendly hostel to get ice cream and discovered that the owner made burgers as well. I highly suggest taking this detour if you have the time in your day or if you are going to be near there in the evening, take a nice stay at her hostel. She has some friendly cats and the owner is super nice herself. I was glad we went and did that even though we had to climb half of Roan Mountain that night.

As for Roan Mountain it was our last climb over 6,000 feet until Mt. Washington in the Whites. And it was a steep climb. No switchbacks and gaining about 2,000 feet of elevation over nearly 3 miles. We stayed at Ash Gap which is about 3/4 of the way up and broke it up that way. The last part wasn’t nearly as difficult as the first section. There was still some ice and snow on the top of the mountain, mostly in the shaded sections of the trail. Not bad—not Clingman’s bad—but still annoying.

That day was for crossing over a bunch of really tall balds, which offered beautiful, but windy views. We also missed our first bear sighting by a few hundred yards when another hiker in front of us spotted two cubs and a mom near Little Hump Mtn. Little Hump wasn’t too bad, Hump Mtn was more difficult and it was super windy, windy enough for it to push you around. Then it was down to the Apple House Shelter which is about half a mile from a road and we’d been told that the locals there sometimes booby trap the shelter and we were cautious when we arrived and found Trail Magic instead! Soda’s, chips and salsa, oatmeal creme pies….oh it was devoured!

We’d been told by a few other hikers that a B&B/hostel was .3 off that same road and for $9 you could have the best breakfast on the trail. So, the group that was at the shelter got up and had the best breakfast on the trail! Oh, man, it was like a Thanksgiving morning type breakfast…so delicious. It rained that morning so we had the delayed start and the first half of the day was pretty good, mellow and enjoyable, but the last six miles to the shelter was a beat down. There is nothing I hate more than a series of PUD’s (pointless ups and downs) and in the book it appears that the trail goes down, but it is really just a series of ups and downs that just left me frustrated and crying. It was a 19 mile day too.

The next morning we breezed down to Kincora where we took the rest of the day off. My friend Amy (AB from the forum for my forum friends) took us to Mexican food and the grocery store in a nearby town where we spent a relaxing afternoon. Thank you so much for doing this Amy! It was good to meet you!

On Monday we left Kincora and had another beat down on Pond Mountain. The switchbacks were good for awhile but there were some more straight up sections that left me crying again. This mental thing is such a difficult thing to master. We did nearly 18 miles that day and the rest of the day was much easier. On Tuesday we planned a shorter day, 14.5 miles and with the threat of rain we ended up doing the last 3 miles in 50 minutes…a record I think for us! We ended up enjoying the afternoon in the shelter, reading and relaxing while it rained. A few other people came too, so it was nice to socialize.

Then, yesterday we got spoiled by easy trail and did 18 miles by 3pm and rolled into Damascus, Virginia. We had planned to come into town today in order to spend less money, but lemme tell you, the scent of town really gets you going! A burger…a soda. mmmmmmm yeah! We thought we’d hoof it out of here in the late afternoon but we decided to do a full zero since we hadn’t  done one since Fontana Dam. We’ve been doing a lot of ‘nearo’s’ into town, but a full day in town hadn’t been had in awhile.

Our hiking friend Missionary has been found again. We caught up to him or he caught up to us, not sure which yet, but he’s in town and we’ve gotten to chat with him, but he took a tumble yesterday and may have torn his rotater cuff and so he’s going to a bigger city for an x-ray. We haven’t seen some of the folks we left back in Hot Springs so I am wondering if we will see them again.

My dad is set to be here in two weeks in Pearisburg. I am really looking forward to seeing him and maybe he can ease some of the homesickness. While waiting for the computere here at the library I picked up Nimblewill Nomad’s book, Ten Million Steps, and started reading the preface. It made me start to cry because it talked about all of the steps, the Three Wise Men he calls them, out on the trail…the physical, mental and spiritual. The physical, is the easiest, the mental if you can conquer it will get you to the spiritual. The mental is by far the toughest.

The trail is thinning out already. Though there are a lot of people behind us, the mass of people who started the trail later than us, we’ve all definitely noticed that things are not as crowded as they were.

Slowly I need to change my thinking on the tough sections. Take it easier on myself, be nicer to myself, not to frustrated. It’s a way of life—and it is sometimes day in and day out the same thing over and over again. We have been enjoying the spring wildflowers coming in, trying to learn some of them in town.

I did get to talk to my niece Zoe on the phone. She’s becoming much more of a jabberer and asked to ‘talk’ and then said “T” (for Misti) and “what doin’?” and “hi” and apparently waved at the phone afterwards. That is what breaks my heart. It is so much the people I miss, the interaction with my family and friends, even though I do call my family every couple of days, used to be daily when we had signal all the time, I miss people the most. Sure, using unlimited amount of toilet paper in a restroom is nice, and hot showers, and a bed, but it is people that I miss most.

We will get to Katahdin.