Over the Counter with Binjali: May 2015

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Pictures - Jenny Knob to Pearisburg

The blue dot is my location. 600 miles done!

The long green tunnel

Coed at Kimberling Creek

Hiker Tribute near Wapiti shelter

View near Pearisburg

View from Pearis Ledge

Jenny Knob to Pearisburg

5/21/15 - It rained over night a little, but held off mostly until this morning. And then the rain really started. So I got wet anyway. At least I didn't have to hassle with a wet tent. We left Jenny Knob shelter about seven thirty and started for Trent's Grocery at a road crossing two ridges ahead. The rain was light, but pretty steady. Fortunately it was cool, so although I sweated some I stayed merely damp, and my shoes stayed mostly dry.

We got to the road behind Goose, Spice and Cap, who have a thing for collecting garbage. It's a noble thing they're doing, and they hike fast enough they don't lose much time.

Trent's Grocery isn't much, just a little country store near a sawmill. But, it knows hikers come through yearly, and stocks hiker preferred food stuffs. They also have a small grill. Fresh hot bacon cheeseburgers for lunch!

Wild Turkey and a couple other hikers came in while we were eating and announced they were camping three miles uptrail at Dismal Falls, which is named for the area (the falls are a favorite local swimming area), and would be having a beer fest this evening. I'm hiking not drinking but thanks guys.

5/22/15 - It rained overnight at Wapiti, which was a surprise since it looked to be clearing yesterday. And then it got cold. And Wapiti shelter is down near a creek, so it is also humid. We woke up to a temp of about 48 degrees. I had to pull my down hoodie, which is normally now my pillow. It was the last thing packed today. I left camp with my short sleeves rolled down, and hiked fast to get warmed up.

It stayed cool all day, but the sun was out and the day was basically perfect for hiking. The trail was good too, so Coed and I decided to skip our planned short day to Woods Hole hostel and marched 19 miles to Pearisburg. I got to town and called for a shuttle ride as I have terrible luck hitching. I ended up at the Holiday Motor Lodge as my intended hotel, the Plaza (right next door) was full. Both places are older motels but clean and being renovated. It was good to get to town. Supper was the AYCE dinner buffet at the Chinese restaurant.

Laurel Vreek trail camp to Jenny Knob shelter

5/20/15
I left the creek side camp for Jenny Knob shelter this morning just after 7am. Coed and Coyote weren't far behind. There's very little water on this section so we had to shoot for a twenty mile day. It's hard still to hike that long. I bypassed Bland; Needmore went in as his family is there for a visit. Chipmunk is back somewhere, we'll see him again I'm sure. We got passed by several folks as we stopped for the last water for twelve miles just north of Bland. Kinda worried me as I wanted in the shelter tonight as rain is coming. But most decided to pass on and tent. In the end, the shelter did fill up but I had my spot. A dry night!

I met Mellow and Slouch, father and daughter, Tribute from Stephenville, TX and Coyote from Parker, TX. Several fast movers coming from Jenkins shelter restarting after being at Trail Days also passed me.

Chestnut Knob to trail camp

5/19/15 - It can be fun sleeping on a mountain like Chestnut Knob. If it's a clear night. The views are amazing, before and after dusk. On overcast or rainy nights it's a pain. In the morning, you are usually in the cloud until halfway thru the morning and it takes a while after that to get dried out. I didn't make it on trail today until nearly noon.

The elevation profit for today made it look like the day would be okay, not many changes over one hundred feet. What the guidebook doesn't mention is the rocks! The trail today ran the ridge tops. Rocks, rocks and more rocks. Still, since the afternoon was clear, I made Jenkins shelter at ten miles by four thirty. So I fixed and ate supper, filtered a couple liters of water and headed out to my original planned stop next to a creek at mile fifteen. Made it by seven thirty. And, hit Trail Magic as we got to to Laurel Creek at VA 615. Some nice folks left canned sodas in a cooler!

Met Neemore, Coyote, and Chipmunk has caught up with us! Tucson was with us but he didn't make it here, I guess he's back at Jenkins shelter tonight. Tomorrow we'll bypass Bland and try for a twenty mile, and a dry, day to Jenny Knob shelter. There's a shelter at ten miles but it's water is 0.3 miles one way off the trail.

Pictures - Chestnut Knob area

Leaving Atkins, VA

Busy woodpeckers

Snake on a trail!

Looking back down the trail from Chestnut Knob

Looking towards Burke's Garden, VA

Chestnut Knob shelter

Pictures - Trail Days and beyond

Parading through town

Almost to the vendor park and end

Spring in full swing

Lindamood schoolhouse (1894) near Atkins

And you thought your teachers were tough!

Trail camp to Chestnut Knob

5/18/15 - I had a visitor to camp at Crawfish last night about 2am. Whatever it was was rustling the leaves and cracking twigs under my hanging food bag. By the time I'd get the tent open it was gone but it hung around for an hour. Between that and the whippoorwill I didn't get much sleep.

This morning I woke up to heavy humidity at 6am. It took quite a while to get going. As I stepped onto the trail, Coed came around the corner. He had camped just 0.1 miles back. Tucson slipped by I'm the rain about 6pm, wanting to make more miles. He ended up doing almost 20 miles. I caught up as he was breaking camp around nine thirty.

Chestnut Knob shelter is 17.1 miles from my camp at Crawfish. The last five involve a 2100ft climb, the first part of which is very steep. Today hit 81 degrees with high humidity so I knew there'd be a storm sometime. Sure enough, as I started the climb, splat! The rain came down on fat cold marbles for about a half hour. Everything got soaked, including me. My pack stayed reasonably dry, everything that matters is in multiple layers of dry bags. My mood was soaked thru. I also knew I'd be tenting tonight since I got passed by folks coming out of Trail Days. Many were near here last week and caught rides back to Damascus. Since they got late starts today they headed for the first shelter for an easy restart. There's a front coming tonight, hope it blows through before dawn.

I had dropped my blue bandana shortly after seeing the snake yesterday. Tucson was kind enough to bring it forward. Chipmunk has finally caught up, he's here tenting too. Blackout, Kiki, Wolfbite and Tink came through but didn't stay here.

Pictures - Trail Days

Denali and Diane trying on handmade caps. Free Trail Magic!

Some people have waaay to heavy packs!

Thruhike ® Crazyhorse - I first met him in 2007

Waiting for the raffle results

Vendor park

More vendors

Locations of hikers when Trail Days started

Trail Days

5/15/15 - Trail Days

This year was the 20th year for Trail Days and it was a good weekend for a festival. I met hiker Forrest Gump, and went to a talk given by Jennifer Pharr Davis. She holds the current record for the Trail, a bit more than 47 days. Her husband provided daily support, so she didn't carry much beyond water and lunch. We also went to Chris Galloway's movie about his 2013 thruhike.

We toured the vendors, Denali got her pack repaired for free. The crowds was thick but happy and peaceful. It was a good time.

Tucson and CoEd, Sublime, and several others were down at the vendors. I had hoped they would catch up, I've been camping with different people every night and it's good to see familiar faces.

5/16/15 - We stayed in Damascus long enough to attend the parade. Denali walked with the 2007 group, I with the 2015 group. Then Diane and Denali dropped me at Partnership shelter. We didn't get there until after four, and it was raining a little so I hung out at the shelter and ate my Subway supper. The rain stopped a bit before five. There were some hikers who stopped to order pizza before pushing on into the woods. I decided to spend the night in the shelter and catch Tucson and CoEd in the morning.

It started raining in earnest about 5:15pm, so I made a good decision to hole up in Partnership. I'll restart in earnest tomorrow.

5/17/15 - A group from further south on the trail got to Partnership shelter about six. One of them had a dog, which she invited into the shelter proper to sleep. A couple found a ride into town and got beer, and proceeded to stay up and noisy until after nine. The dog owner spilled beer on another hiker's gear in the shelter. Apparently not the first time she's done that, I heard later. And I was awakened several times during the night. So I woke at five this morning tired and depressed

I made the first seven miles by ten thirty or so and stopped for a snack. That got my energy back up a ways and I made Atkins at one, a little less than 2mph. I stopped for another snack at the Sunoco store. The Relax Inn has been painted, has a new road sign and the burned out restaurant has been removed. The owners are apparently trying.

About a half mile from where the AT intersects the Crawfish Trail, I was interrupted by a familiar buzzing rattle. Right there next to the trail was the biggest rattlesnake I have ever seen! He must have been close to three foot and was nice and fat with a three or four inch rattle section. I backed off and after a bit he uncoiled, and slowly crossed the trail and disappeared into the bushes.

I made the Crawfish Trail intersection, 17.9 miles, about 5:30pm. And the humidity proved prophetic as the rain started. Fortunately it was just a short shower, and I had the tent up, supper finished, bear bag hung and water filtered for tomorrow by 7:30pm. Unfortunately, I lost my blue bandana; probably back near the snake. Hope someone brings it forward.

Just after nine pm, a damn whippoorwill started up. Ooooh, I hate those birds!