Well, it's been another five days since I last posted and eight days since our last zero day. We averaged a little over 14 miles a day since trail days. Part of the reason for the increase in mileage is that terrain is easier in Virginia and plus we are starting to get our trail legs!
Our first day out of Damascus was a little dreary but we managed to escape getting rained on. We followed the Virginia Creeper trail, which is similar to the Mickelson trail in South Dakota in that it is an old rail road track that has been converted to a hiking and biking trail.
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Day 2 was very foggy so we didn't get to see much. The fog discouraged us from hiking up to the summit of Mt Rogers, which is the highest peak in Virginia. We did get a cool camping spot right outside of the Grayson Highlands and the fog made for a different kind of beautiful scenery. Another theme the last week has been walking through pastures, so we get to meet cows and avoid their droppings quite frequently.
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The third day was when we finally got to walk through the Grayson Highlands state park, which is something we have been looking forward to since we began planning this trip last year. The reason is that the park is home to wild ponies, which have been introduced to maintain the meadows. As we walked toward the park, Leap and I were chatting and very suddenly a pony appeared out of mist and gently trotted onto the trail in front of me. We followed the pony as he began to walk north ahead of us.
We also hit the 500 mile mark as we walked through the park. We are getting closer to meeting our goal of doing 100 miles a week. I updated our spreadsheet that I shared a while ago so that it shows how many miles we need to do per day in order to get to Katahdin by mid October. I will share the link again at the bottom of the post.
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The next day was eventful in several different ways. In the morning, we both got a large dose of adrenaline when a branch fell very near us (probably within 30ft of where we were walking). It gave us a good scare and then it happened again in the afternoon, but slightly further away. When we hike all day everyday, we zone out if there isn't much to look at (which is 99% of the time), so when a branch falls randomly, it really puts you back in the moment. Also that day, we were startled when a deer appeared on the side of the trail.
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At the end of the day, a thunderstorm rolled in and we got to walk through pouring rain for about an hour. By the time we got to our campspot, we were too tired to cook so we ate some snacks and went to sleep. We discovered that our tent lets in a lot of water from the bottom when it rains hard and one of our sleeping pads now has a leak, so by the morning, one of us is on the floor.
On Sunday, we needed to hike 18 miles to get to Atkins. We hiked at a good pace in the morning and were able to get a soda at a visitor center after 7 miles. Whenever we get some caffeine, we really pick up the pace for the next hour or so. About 3 miles before Atkins, we stumbled upon some trail magic which was held in an old 1895 one room school building. About the time we sat down in one of the desks, a dark cloud appeared overhead and dumped rain for 10 minutes. It then cleared up and the sun came back out. Talk about good luck! We hiked the remaining 3 miles and finally got some good views.
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When we got to town, we stopped at a gas station to try to hitch a ride to our hotel across town. Unfortunately, Atkins is a tiny, but spread out town, and our hotel was 4 miles away. This meant no one was headed that way so it took us a couple of hours to find someone willing to pick us up. Normally I wouldn't have had a problem just walking the remaining distance but a very serious looking storm was looming in the distance and coming our way. By the time we got the ride it was pouring rain. The guy who took us was a former truck driver and I understood about a quarter of what he said but he refused my money when I tried to pay him. We thanked him about a million times and checked into the hotel.
We are going to get back to the trail tomorrow and head toward Pearisburg, VA.
Until then,
Leap and Frog
We are enjoying all your posts...the pictures are awesome!
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