Sunday, May 22, 2022

The Best is Yet to Come

May 15, 2022. Mile 730, Daleville, VA. 


Reunited at Catawba, VA

Greetings from mile 730 -- 1/3 of the distance for north-bounders hiking to Maine. In Canadian terms, Daleville is about 1,175 km north of the southern terminus at Springer Mountain, Georgia.


The Virginia portion of the trail, to this point, is absolutely stunning and more varied in terms of topography than the previous three states.  The mountains may not be as lofty as they were further south, but there are plenty of ridge lines to gaze at, and large erratics to scramble over, under, or between.  The views from up high are spectacular.  My agricultural roots get a stir when I emerge from the forest and hike across a hilly pasture, or spot cattle 2000 feet below from where I happen to be standing.  The  forest has come alive with the warmer weather -- the canopy is filling in, as is the forest floor.


Symm's Gap Meadow, May 8, 2022

 

I left Pearisburg on the 8th (Mother’s Day) with only 73 miles to complete in the following 5.5 days to reach my rendezvous point with Pam. As a result, the pace was not as demanding as what I had been doing previously.  Two days of rain had left the forest floor lush and green.  I made it to a beautiful campsite in Lost Spectacles Gap late in the afternoon on the 12th.


Rhododendrons in Bloom at Lost Spectacles Campsite


This spot was notable for 3 reasons: 1) I had made it down the north descent from Dragon’s Tooth earlier that afternoon without killing myself (the sketchiest section of trail I had seen to date), 2) the rhododendrons were suddenly in blossom here, and 3) I had an experience reminiscent  of an episode of the Flintstones I remember from perhaps 50 years ago.  The Flintstones and Rubbles go camping and score themselves an isolated and exclusive campsite.  When the families wake up in the morning, they find themselves in the middle of a sea of Boy Scouts arrived for their world jamboree.  How 2000 Scouts can stealthily set up camp overnight without making a sound is beyond me, but you can get away with a lot in an animated cartoon.  In my case, as soon as I had set up my tent and got my bedding in order, the skies opened and the rain began to fall.  So I retreated to my tent and cooked my supper in the vestibule.  When I emerged an hour later after the rain had eased, I counted a dozen tents that had been pitched while I dined, and I had no idea this had all gone down.  It was a group of men who were out for three days and 2 nights.  They were soaked and most had little or no drinking water.  I was in no immediate mood to share as I had gone to the trouble to lug 3 extra litres (heavy!!!) almost 7 miles over this dry section of trail.

 

Hikers working up the Nerve to Approach the Dragon's Tooth


I got my first taste of night hiking the next morning when I left camp an hour before sunrise, as I had 7.5 trail miles and another mile of road-walking to get to the post office in Catawba, VA where I would pick up my re-supply box, and more importantly, meet Pam who was getting shuttled there by an outfitter in Daleville.  I arrived at the post office an hour ahead of Pam thanks to the outfitter who slept in and forgot all about the shuttle.  It all worked out in our favour, as I was able to send my tent and winter clothes back with him in favour of the 2-person tent Pam brought, and he (John) drove us back uphill to the A.T. trailhead.



Pam Found her Jamie Fraser* atop McAfee Knob!

In her 3 trail days, Pam hiked a total of 20 miles (32 km), endured her hairy, smelly husband, a full pack on her back, one pounding rainstorm, some serious climbs, rock scrambling, ticks, and trail food. She lost her taste for ramen noodles pretty quickly in favour of instant mashed potatoes with nutritional yeast. Our first night was spent at Pig Farm campsite (no kidding!) and night 2 at Lambert’s Meadow, which was a stunning location beside a creek.  Pam also climbed 2 of the 3 “Virginia Triple Crown” peaks, including McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs.  


Above the Clouds at Tinkers Cliffs

She missed Dragon’s Tooth by a day. We pushed it on day 3 and did over 9 miles, which is a lot for a beginner.  We were prepared to stealth camp, but the topography did not allow for that.  So we pressed on and made it to Daleville late in the afternoon on the 15th, having reached the 1/3 mark in the process.


Just Some of the Rocks We Climbed Under, Over or Between


On May 16, we picked up our vehicle and some re-supply boxes at the outfitter, and then set out on a scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway.


One of the Spectacular Views along the Blue Ridge Parkway


We had a picnic lunch at Peaks of Otter and then drove back to the lovely hamlet of Fincastle, VA and the most amazing accommodation: 25 East Main B & B, owned and operated by Bobbie and Mitch Bowman.  We were absolutely spoiled for 2 days by this lovely couple in their gorgeous home.


25 East Main B&B, Fincastle VA


On Tuesday Bobbie and Mitch offered us the opportunity to drive up to their cottage for a paddle on Craig’s Creek, which we readily accepted!


Enjoying a Peaceful Paddle on Craig's Creek


All in all, those were a couple of days that Pam and I will not soon forget, nor will we forget the breakfasts, and the friendship and kindness extended to us by the Bowmans.  If you are EVER anywhere near Fincastle, do yourself a favour and treat yourself to Bobbie and Mitch’s hospitality.

 

https://www.facebook.com/25EastMainBandB/


TRAIL BITS


Nutrition:  Hiker “Hawkeye” lamented that his pack of ramen noodles had expired 6 months earlier.  He ate them just the same.  None of us figured old ramen could be any worse or better than new ramen.


Watersheds:  I crossed the eastern continental divide on May 11 on Sinking Creek Mountain.  Water draining down the western slope makes its way (eventually) to the Gulf of Mexico, and water down the eastern slope to the Atlantic.


Big Oak: I saw and photographed the Keffer Oak on May 11.  This is the largest oak on the southern A.T., and when last measured was 19 feet in circumference.


The Keffer Oak


Flora and Fauna:  wood thrushes, indigo bunting, pileated woodpeckers, black vulture, five lined skink, red eft (a newt), black flies, eyed click beetle, giant millipede, flat backed millipede, pink lady’s slipper orchid, mountain laurel, deer galore, ticks, nice photo of a timber rattlesnake that I just missed but hiker, Hare (see below), encountered just south of Dragon’s Tooth.


Red Eft

Eyed Click Beetle

Flat Backed Millipede


Pink Lady's Slipper Orchid

Mountain Laurel



Trail Names:


“Effervescent”…the name I gave to Mickey, the dive motel manager in Pearisburg who communicated via grunts and grimaces.


“Oklahoma Tom” …I never quite figured out where he hailed from...


“Moon”…from Raleigh N.C. who was rehabbing a knee injury.  Moon got his name when he bent over and split his pants early in his hike.


“Boost” and dog “Scout” from South Carolina.  I was with Boost at Laurel Creek Shelter on May 10 when she successfully built and lit her first campfire.  Unfortunately her stay soured early the next morning when another camper’s dog, left to roam loose the night before,  caused a ruckus which resulted in Scout exiting the tent thru a sidewall to defend his mistress.


“Tortoise” and “Hare”. Hare was always waiting along the trail for Tortoise to catch up.


“Wilberforce”….who disqualified me from a  particular trivia question around the fire one evening…..”What’s the capital of Canada?” he asked a group of hikers eating dinner.  “Ontario?” NO! “Quebec?” NO! “Ottawa!!” YES “You would have gotten that one, right?” Wilberforce says to me.  “Ya I think so.”


“Determined”…a guy who, like me, had recently retired and was trying a section hike to see if he wanted to attempt a thru hike.  “I’m not really sure I want to do all this” said he, but I reckon he was determined to find out.


“Matrix”, “Strange Brew”, and “Rooster”: 3 absolutely delightful 40-somethings, all recently retired from the military.  Had I been able to keep up with these 3, I would have really enjoyed their company as we became buds instantly, and they were all delighted to meet Pam later on.  "You've got a great smile," Rooster told Pam, "Keep smiling!"


Pam and I met “McLovin” from Boston, who just wanted assurances we hadn’t brought Justin (Trudeau) along with us.  Once assured we had not, we had a nice chat.


In over 700 miles of hiking, I had yet to find a tick on my carcass, and I checked often, as best I could, out of concern over Lyme disease.  In her 3 trail days, Pam found 3…. 2 on her and one beside her.  We therefore dubbed her “Tick Magnet”. 




Epilogue:  Hikus interrupticus


I have decided to take a leave from the the Appalachian Trail and head home with Pam after our time together in Virginia.  I had pretty much made up my mind before we met up in Catawba but wanted her input.  As a Canadian, I have 180 days to be in the U.S.  When I concluded the 20 miles with Pam, I completed 33% of the trail, but used up 40% of my allotted days.  Given my abilities and the onset of hot weather, it’s very unlikely that I can maintain the pace of averaging 17.5 miles per day, let alone increase upon it.  Once that reality set it, the prospect of spending the summer with my immediate and extended family was just too strong.  I did not anticipate this sort of ending.  I knew that it was unlikely I could complete the entire thing before I set out in March, but am a bit surprised to be walking away from it happy.  I am happy to have had the opportunity and the family support to try this, and happy that I enjoyed the journey, both literally and figuratively.  I will miss the simple lifestyle the trail affords, the peace and quiet (no media!), and the ability to just get lost in thought. I will miss the characters I met along the way and the birdsong, but I can always go back and continue in a year or 2, all the wiser from what I have learned about long distance hiking over the last 10 weeks.


I might take up knitting, given that our first grandchild will be here some time in November! 

 

To all of you who followed this blog, thanks for your encouragement and kind words.  If you got a smile or two in the process, then that’s all Pam and I could have hoped for.


Thanks America, for your hospitality, your humour, err I mean humor, and for giving me a good long look at this remarkable slice of Turtle Island.  I hope to return and pick up where I left off. Y’all rock!


Thank you, Pam, for being behind this 100%, for taking care of business on the Homefront, for making these blogs look the way they look, for all of the logistical arrangements and the driving, and for donning a pack and joining me for the last chapter of this adventure.  


Thanks to Alida and Alex for taking care of business in Stratford during Pam’s absences, and for catering to Robbie’s every need. 


It  really has been an amazing experience, and I am glad I have all of the photos and notes to help me recall these times in the years to come.        


Sponge FOB signing off.





* Jamie Fraser is the dashing Highland warrior from the novel and television series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.



Saturday, May 7, 2022

Damascus to Pearisburg VA

Greetings from Mile 637

  

April 25th at 5:45pm


I arrived in Pearisburg yesterday morning, May 5th for a couple of zero days. The descent into town was brief but steep --  a 1500 foot drop from my previous night's campsite on Pearis Mountain. There, I was not serenaded by whippoorwills or owls overnight, but rather by Norfolk Southern locomotive whistles in the New River valley below, to the tune of one about every 10 minutes, no doubt hauling coal to tidewater for export. I had dinner around the fire that evening with 4 other delightful folk in my age bracket. Doug, a 70 year old section hiker and Tampa Bay Lightening fan, was showing me his schedules for where he has to be each day, what he will be eating, and where all of his food and clothing caches are hidden. Forty years in the military taught this man a thing or two about organization!



The weather has morphed from cold to warm in the last 2 weeks. Hikers are starting to send winter apparel home. With any luck, that stuff shouldn’t be required until those of us still at it in July hit New Hampshire’s White Mountains, where weather can be brutal, even in summer. With my current weight loss and feet/ankle swelling, I must reduce pack weight and increase calorie intake any way I can. I will send what I can north with Pam when I see her next week 🧗‍♂️!!! Together we will hit the “1/3 of the way to Maine". 


I just about stepped on a 4-foot grey rat snake 10 or so days ago. Non-venomous but told daughter Alida if I cannot spot a black snake, how am I going to see one coloured to blend?


I came across a small maple bush at a place called Elk Garden on April 25th, on the approach to Mt Rogers. It even had some pipeline.


Many of you are aware that I reached the 500 mile mark near the summit of Mt Rogers on the 25th of April. My MFS “US GIRLS” friends sent me the most clever and appropriate tribute to mark the occasion.



MFS "Us Girls"

Grayson Highlands State Park, most of which is just below 5000 feet in elevation, proved to be as memorable and unique as advertised. It is rocky, windy, at times barren, and otherwise covered with rhododendron groves AND has a resident, fenced-in herd of feral ponies to keep the landscape as it was when cattle grazed extensively until it was purchased by the state in the late 1960’s. Signs warned us that the ponies would bite, kick, or gnaw on our sweat-soaked salty gear, so to please keep our distance. And then it started to pour!



The Wild Ponies of Grayson Highlands

Ever the romantic, I celebrated 38 years of marriage to Pam on the 28th with a phone call from a ridge, once I got a signal! I had to get to a food drop at a post office in Sugar Grove that same day… a 3.2 mile walk downhill, and the same uphill but with 12 more pounds of food on my back. I must be looking a little sketchy these days because hitchhiking was most unsuccessful, and those 6.4 miles don’t even count! There was trail magic in the old Lindamood Schoolhouse on the 29th, and I scored a rain poncho for Pam in the process! This was a lucky find as she was having difficulty finding one at the outfitters back home.


The Old Lindamood Schoolhouse

Around this time, Big Payne, a hiker from NYC, was trying to reconnect with his wallet that he'd lost days earlier (many times, when Big Payne would tell hikers where he was from, they would immediately ask, “Yankees or Mets?!” His reply: “Neither, I like opera”. Good answer!). At any rate, another hiker actually found the wallet, which is a bit ironic given that it had a CAMOUFLAGE pattern on it. They were able to connect via social media. Big Payne could take a life lesson from Candice, my beloved daughter-in-law. As an environmental biologist, Candice spends a good deal of time doing studies in the field. She has pink flagging tape on her cell phone in case she drops it in the vegetation. So, the wallet was making its way north and the reunion was expected to be imminent. But Big Payne was getting off trail that night, so he says to me, “Apparently the guy is hiking with, not one, but 2 canes. If he catches up with you, would you mind telling him I’m spending the night at the Alpaca Farm Hostel?” NOW WAIT A MINUTE: I may not be the fastest hiker out here, but no way is a guy with 2 canes gonna pass me, jerk! Kidding aside, hopefully Big Payne has his wallet back!


I met the most delightful gent on the 27th. We were both getting water from a spring near the Hurricane Shelter, and ended up yakking for over an hour. “All In”, aged 71 and doing a long section hike, is a retired teacher and football coach from Bethlehem PA, and he is expecting me to call him when I get to Duncannon PA so he can take me to dinner and we can continue our visit. Lovely guy!


Spring Near Hurricane Shelter

News Briefs:


Wildlife sightings: deer, ovenbirds, indigo bunting, and black-throated blue warbler are some recent finds.


Black Swallowtail

If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear! Yes, Bruce Cockburn, I have watched and heard 2 large trees just fall at random, for no particular reason other than it was time to go. One was along the NC/TN border eerily close by, and the second at a campsite while I was cooking dinner.


I met “Transfer” (he farted in a crowded shelter and the girl next to him got blamed for it) and “Bovi Gyn" (she hails from a cattle farm in Kentucky). When others learned of her background and that she had assisted with difficult birthings over the years, she was given this awesome name. I met them again a few days later and Bovi Gyn was lamenting that the trick for re-shaping stretched Crocs (at least 90% of hikers wear Crocs in camp) she saw on the internet didn’t work. “Don’t put y’all’s Crocs in boiling water… mine just melted!”  I’d suggest that internet hack to re-shape Crocs is simply a crock of $#!+ !!!


I found a Gnome Village by a tree one day about 3000 feet up when I stopped for water. Pam asked me if there was a sign or explanation of any kind. Maybe I have been out here too long but I don’t think this requires an explanation. Clearly a group of gnomes just live there. Period.



Gnome Home

On May 3rd I crossed a really cool suspension bridge over Kimberling Creek. What was waiting for me on the other side? Not gnomes but hippies in a van who offered their own version of trail magic. “Would you like a soda? How about a joint?” I accepted a Dr Pepper but passed up on the joint. Couldn’t risk buddy with the 2 canes overtaking me while I was ransacking imaginary gnome villages looking for chips.


Kimberly Creek Suspension Bridge

Fording rivers: is great for sore and swollen feet. The footbridge across Lick Creek had been obliterated so had to wade across it. Hiker “Clyde” and dog “Bud” (chillest Dalmatian I have ever met) and I agreed it would have been a great place to stay and just soak.


Ahhhhh! Not-Too-Dismal Dismal Creek

The view of Burke’s Garden on April 30 (aka God’s Thumbprint) from Chestnut Knob was outstanding. From a vantage of about 4400 feet, you look down on an agricultural setting surrounded entirely by mountains. Photos don’t do it justice.


God's Thumbprint

There is nothing dismal about Dismal Creek. In fact, I had the good fortune to camp alongside it two nights running and was able to do blissful foot soaks.


Met a guy on the trail from Abercorn QC, just “down the line” from my Mom’s hometown of Sutton, near the border with Vermont.


Trail Names: Cowboy from Wisconsin, Strider (New Mexico), Try Try (Texas, her 4th attempt at thru-hiking the A.T.), Out and About (Minnesota), Good News (NJ, camped with him and had very enjoyable evening), Frogger (Georgia), Trail Maintainer (a retired mine inspector from KY -- we had a good long chat), Mountain Drew (TN), Spicy ATG (Appalachian Trail Gangsta) and daughter Tumbler (caught being mesmerized by a clothes drier while doing laundry on a zero day). I met these ladies back in NC so it was nice to reconnect. Gave 'em toilet paper which made them VERY happy!



Vista From Pearis Mountain

Finally, I walked down the street a few hours ago to mail myself a resupply box and run a few other errands. A merchant asked me where I was staying. (Read the rest of this in whisper volume….) “I am so sorry you are staying there. The health department is watching that place, the law is watching that place, the fire department is watching that place. There have been a lot of problems. Have you had any problems?? Don’t hesitate to report any problems. Ahh, you are just being polite. The more complaints, the better chance we have of correcting that place!"


BACK TO FULL VOLUME: I have not had any problems but it is rather a hole.


Rob: when I get home am gonna eat everything in site, including stuff normally reserved for you, so I hope you are still a fast eater, for your sake!


Pierre (AKA Sponge FOB)

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