Atkins to Pearisburg

The format of this post is slightly different. All the pictures are in a single album at the end. It's much easier to just upload them in one shot and embed a single album rather than doing it inline with the post content. The pictures have descriptions so hopefully you can piece it together after reading the full post. 

The day we left Atkins was somewhat hectic. We needed to do laundry and resupply before hiking out of town. The nearest laundromat was in Marion, VA, but fortunately a shuttle service ran between the two towns. We stopped at the post office to send some things home then took the shuttle to Marion at 9:30am. When we arrived in town, we noticed that the stop lights were off. As soon as we got to the laundromat, the owner was putting a sign on the door that read, "no electricity". She told us that the power company didn't expect the power to come back until 1:00pm. This posed an issue to us because we needed to be done with everything by 2:30pm so we could take the shuttle back to Atkins. We decided to wait it out in front of the laundromat and within a half hour of arriving, the power came back on and we were able to start a load of laundry. We bought enough food for a few days and waited for the shuttle to come back. We only hiked 7 miles that day. The next day we hit the one fourth point of the trail, which meant we had hiked 547 miles at that point. Soon after we ran into some trail magic and got to eat some fresh strawberries! We continued hiking into a pasture with some cows and got some amazing views of the mountains of Virginia.

The next day was spent walking a ridge that we thought would be easy terrain. Unfortunately, the ridge was super rocky and the trail kind of rollercoastered up and down along the top, which made the day more strenuous than we had planned. We did get one good view from the shelter we stopped at for lunch. 

So far, our challenges have been primarily physical, due to tough climbs up and down mountains or battling cold and rain. This lady Friday we encountered our greatest challenge yet. The mental strain that a trip like this takes is not to be overlooked. We found ourselves beginning to get burned out of constantly being in a state of discomfort (going a week without showers or shaving and doing your business in the woods). We decided that we are going to take a few days to go to Washington D.C. for our two year wedding anniversary once we get to Harper's Ferry, WV. We hope that getting out of Virginia and taking a little time off will reset us and give us a boost to finish the last half of the trail. Planning it now gives us something to look forward to. We also decided that we completely hate Virginia. It has beautiful mountains but we really don't like the small towns we have been stopping in. The towns offer very few services so it makes it harder for us to enjoy our zero days when we have to walk around town or find rides to get to places that have laundry or food stores. 

Anyways, the same day we both admitted that we were getting mentally exhausted of hiking everyday, a new type of obstacle appeared. Caterpillars began descending from the trees on silky lines and getting into everything. It made for some miserable miles of hiking. Every once in a while, a caterpillar would fall on our heads our drop immediately in front of us and stick to our clothes when we walked through their safety lines. Fortunately, after two days of misery, the caterpillar apocalypse ceased. On the second day, we saw three snakes. One rattlesnake, one HUGE black racer, and a small garter snake. It was a terrifying day. I actually walked right past the black racer and it was Leap who noticed it. When I looked back, I began to question whether I need glasses. It was less than two feet from where I had stepped and was probably around 4ft long. My current theory is that we went from seeing no snakes to seeing several in one day due to the sudden influx of caterpillar food on the forest floor. Could be coincidence too!

Going back to the day before we saw the snakes, we needed to get to Bland, VA to get more food to make it to Pearisburg. The town is 4 miles from the trail so we had to hitch a ride. A tow truck with a large flat bed offered to give us a ride so we rode in the back with another hiker named Timewarp. It was quite the experience! We got our food and then hitched back to the trail. The guy that picked us up was on his way to pick up his wife from the trail. He is driving to her destination each day so she can carry less food and hiking items. That is a setup I would not mind! We hiked another couple of miles and setup camp and attempted to make spaghetti. I bought a 6oz can of tomato paste but had no can opener. I used a tent stake and a rock to mangle it open. I would not recommend this technique to anyone. 

The day we saw the snakes, we hit the 600 mile marker, which gave us a small mental boost. At the end of that day, we hiked a half mile off the trail to Trents Grocery. The owners of this small gas station / cafe / grocery store also offer a camping area nestled in a camper graveyard, surrounded by a pasture for their horse. There is also a small building that has a washer and dryer as well as a bathroom with showers. We did our laundry in the mornings but neither of us were brave enough to get in the showers. They were way too nasty. The place was surreal. 

We got back on the trail by 10:30am and kept hiking. It was kind of dreary day and probably our lowest point, emotionally, yet. However, as the day progressed, our moods improved. We met some friendly weekend hikers at a shelter and talked with them for a while. We read through the trail journal and found some good trail poetry (contains strong language). We found a good stealth campspot and settled in for the evening. In the morning, the sun was out and we were in high spirits, as we usually are the day we hike into town. The prospect of having clean clothes and a shower is enough to motivate us to get going early in the morning. We did take a small side trail to catch an amazing view of the valley between a couple of ridge lines. We were about 1000ft above the clouds and it made the valley look like a lake. We had several good views that day which can make the day go by very fast. The day ended in our motel with fresh fruit and a strong wifi signal. 

We miss home very much but we have no intentions of quitting! Our next stop will either be in Daleville or Troutville. They are at the same mile marker on the trail, it just depends which one has more services (or an all you can eat buffet). 

Until then,

Leap and Frog

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