The word for today was magical. Everything just fell into place for an ideal day on the trail. I didn’t get in the miles that I may have hoped for but it’s not all about the miles. As usual, I had plans. And as usual when I have plans, they change. It was my goal to get to Pearisburg in two days to try and narrow the distance between Stickers, Lady Bug, and me so when Bunny gets back on the trail, we will still be around people we know.
When PC walked into the shelter last night, we could hear him having a conversation with someone but couldn’t tell who it was. He arrived at the shelter all alone. This morning when Gnome and I got going right after Detail had left, we saw some gear off to the side of the trail that we recognized—it was Little Blue. He was on the phone with his dad and said he’d be a few minutes behind us (we heard the same thing 4 days ago and this was the first we have seen him since). We climbed on ahead knowing we wouldn’t see him again today.
Up on the ridge, we heard voices behind us, but not Blue’s. This turned out to be a couple of women we hadn’t seen before. They had a couple of dogs with them and were not overly talkative. They went on ahead while we waited for Blue. We finally caught a glimpse of him and decided to push on since he was on the move—he might catch up, but he was still on the phone.
Other than making it to Wapiti Shelter which is just about half way to Pearisburg, I had the other goal of making it to Trent’s Grocery for a resupply box Bunny and I had sent forward from Marion and a greasy burger (after all, I am wasting away to nothing—I should be down to my target way before New Hampshire). Gnome and I decided to take the plunge and try hitchhiking the half mile to town. I reluctantly put out my thumb at the first passing car AND GOT A RIDE! I am now, officially, an accomplished hitchhiker.
The couple that picked us up was Bob and Tammy Young. They had been further north for a wedding and were returning home. They still live south of where we are, but they were not in any hurry. They were dressed very well and were just returning from church. We talked with them much longer than it would have taken us to walk into town, but they were so nice to us we had a hard time leaving them. They have the desire to hike the AT at some point in the future (I think Bob would go now, but Tammy is not quite ready). If Bunny had been here, she would have been able to convince them the time was right.
Other than the mail drop and burger, I was hoping to borrow a cell phone with a signal so I could call and check up on what was happening with Bunny’s dad and when she is coming back. I ordered my burger, but they were out! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? How can they be out of burgers when that’s what they are known for? I settled for a couple of chili dogs instead—heaven knows, healthy foods were not an option either way; they are a gas station and I’m a hiker.
While waiting for our food, Little Blue and PC walked in together. The girls we had passed were outside as well as some other hikers we hadn’t met. Blue came in to order a burger—ha ha. Next he tried chili dogs—ha ha. I got the last ones. I told him how great they were and showed the “loser at pony love” the pictures of me hugging the ponies up at Thomas Knob Shelter (just in case he had forgotten the other three times I showed him).
We were all sitting at the tables talking and eating when I asked to borrow a phone so I could call my wife. Everyone graciously offered their phones for my use since they all claimed to already have the number in their favorites list. I borrowed Blue’s and dialed the number—an entry came up labeled “Easy Bunny.” He claimed that it was just a mixture of our names and not a description of my wife. When she does get back to the trail, we have to talk.
Bunny’s dad is doing much better and is his old self once again. I’m assuming that is a good thing. He didn’t have a stroke but was sleep deprived which caused the dementia he had been worried about to flare up out of control. They cleaned up his CPAP, put him on sleeping meds, and he’s doing well. There will be more testing in the future, but as long as he gets proper rest, he should be fine. Bunny will be coming back this week.
PC was advocating not pushing on to the next shelter and taking the side trail to Dismal Creek Falls to camp for the night. He can be quite persuasive and is a lot of fun to hang around with, so we all agreed to the plan. We all bought some party favors for the night (mine being a 12 pack of Busch Beer—its a gas station not a liquor store). We only had two miles to hike in so I could handle the extra 15# of alcohol and resupply weight I gained.
I was getting a bit cocky with my earlier hitchhiking success. I noticed two pickup trucks in the parking lot and waited for the winning driver to appear. When the first guy out that approached his truck came up, I asked if he would be so kind as to drive me and my three friends out to the trail head. I played up Blue’s recent ankle problems and Gnome’s obvious elder status, but I pointed out the benefit the rest of the community would feel by getting PC out of town ASAP. One look at PC and he said climb on in.
He dropped us off at the parking lot, and, could things get any better? Sunshine’s family (one of the hikers we had just met at the gas/grocery/fish tackle/alcohol/deli/tanning store) was set up in the parking lot giving trail magic. We were all full and carrying too much weight, but FREE FOOD! We were in and they were pushing it. I got another pound or two of protein bars, crackers, jerky, and fruit. They had to take off to meet another sister driving to Atlanta and we needed to get going to set up camp and reduce our pack weights. If we didn’t get moving, there was danger I was going to pop a beer in the parking lot.
It was two miles to the turn for the falls. I thought we were making decent time, but not great. I had read in one of the log books that the sign for the turn had been torn down so we would need to be careful to not miss the trail. Blue said let’s wait a little longer because there was no way we had covered two miles, going uphill (in the snow, both ways) in just 45 minutes. As Bunny will attest, when I get my anal on, I’ve got to see the map. We stopped 50 feet shy of the trail to check the map.
Heading down the side trail, we ran into a work crew cutting the rhododendrons back and clearing the path. It was les than a half mile of easy walking to the falls. Just before we got down there, we ran into Dicey sitting in the woods. We tried to talk her into coming down with us, but she looked shell shocked. She said there were too many people there and she wasn’t going down. Blue explained that she is very introverted and has just started talking to him after he had been trying to get her to loosen up for the last month. We continued on down and there were over 10 day hikers, but they were soon gone.
We set up camp below the falls then went up to soak our feet in the water while chilling with some beer, wine, and strawberry Kool aid shots Blue had procured. After a bit, we returned to our camp to cook supper and enjoy the campfire Gnome had built. I did hang a bear rope, but everyone convinced me we were safely tucked away out of bear territory. Any bear that would get me would have to get by all the other three before it could get to me—I was surrounded by Gnome to my left, Blue in front, PC to my right, and a cliff to my back. I discovered the greatest danger of keeping the food bags in your tent at night is not bears, but late night munchies can now be satiated.
EFG