May 15-17 in southern VA

May 15, 2005 | Day 49 | Miles: 13.8 | Total Miles: 581.5
End: Helveys Mill Shelter, Tent
Danielle:
Sunny and humid with showers early
Well, we succesfully completed our first in-and-out town mission today. After 11.5m, we got out to a road crossing and turned right toward Bland, VA. Unfortunately all the traffic was going the wrong way, so we ended up walking for about a mile before a nice couple picked us up and deposited us at the grocery store. After a quick resupply we walked up and over I-77 to a truckstop with a Dairy Queen. Try the raspberry/oreo blizzard. Yum!
Then down to Subway to pick up dinner (only 2.3m to the next shelter). As we got up to the cashier, the guy said, you don't owe anything, the guy behind you is paying for you. It was Bull, a 2003 thru-hiker. How nice was that! He said it was trail magic, so we thanked him and sat for a while chatting. Then to make things even better, he took us back to the trailhead. Extra nice! He was on his way back to OH from Trail Days. What wonderful trail magic. So, after 2:45, we were back on the trail trekking up to the shelter. And the skies have cleared out and cooled down a bit. A good day. :-)

Ryan:
am clouds and rain showers, pm sun
so, we hiked today. it rained this morning...we got wet. i'm not feeling very journalistic today. we made an afternoon stop into bland, va. it lived up to its name. however, we did stop at dairy queen for raspberry, oreo blizzards and hit the subway. we packed subway up to the shelter for dinner. best of all, we met bull, a 2003 thruhiker, at subway who dropped a little trail magic on us and bought us dinner and gave us a ride back up to the trail. we can't wait to do trail magic next year.
today's song - jeopardy, greg kihn band (i couldn't help it. it was on in subway.)
May 16, 2005 | Day 50 | Miles: 18.2 | Total Miles: 599.7
End: unofficial campsite, Dismal Creek Falls, Tent
Danielle:
Sunny and cooler. Not humid! Yeah
Wow! A perfect day for hiking. Cool this morning until about noon. The first 9.8m were nice and mellow and we had them done by noon with a half hour snack break (we started at 8:30am). Pretty good :-) We saw a few ladyslippers--the first of the season, plus another Scarlet Tananger. Very cool.
We're currently camped at Dismal Creek Falls, an awesome river with a cascade and nice flat rocks along the shore. Hairball has a fire going, and we're all (Hairball and Snowbunny, plus Tank, Eric, Marcelo and Trip--four guys we just met) hanging out drinking Coors Lights. I guess one of the guys met a beer delivery guy at a store nearby and the guy dropped off a case of beer at the road crossing, so it was schlepped up for a great treat. An excellent 18.2m today. Mellow terrain, nice temps and felt good all day :-)

Ryan:
perfect hiking weather
in the words of hairball: "dear pocketmail, today rocks the house." i couldn't agree more. to sum up: perfect blue sky and fairly cool temps. a little warm in afternoon, but that's what we expected. the terrain was pretty mellow. no big climbs, no big descents. we made great time. started at 8:20 and arrived at camp at 4:45 with about 2 hours of relaxing breaks thrown in. best of all, this campsite is amazing. it's right on the creek, right next to the falls. the fire is going. perfect. oh yeah, and we have beer. mmmm.... another brochure perfect day on the at. (although, i don't think that tomorrow morning will be a whole lot of fun.)

May 17, 2005 | Day 51 | Miles: 14.2 | Total Miles: 613.9
End: Doc's Knob Shelter
Danielle:
Sunny and cool
We didn't get a real early start this morning, after a rousing, late-ending game of Gin Rummey with Tank and Eric. Hadn't played that before, and it was lots of fun. We were all hanging out on the rocks by the huge fire Hairball and Tank built and maintained. Very nice.
I saw a hummingbird hanging out by the pink azaleas this morning, then we saw four hooded warblers (bright yellow face with a black hood, and a olive/yellow body). Neat. Plus lots of pink azaleas lighting up the woods.
It was some nice hiking today, pretty mellow overall. Started at 9:40am; ended at 4:40pm with about an hour and a half worth of stops. Pretty good for 14.2m. We're looking forward to a short 7.8m day tomorrow into Pearisburg, VA and a shower and real bed too :-)

Ryan:
mix of sun & clouds, warmish
danielle didn't wake up until 7:40 this morning. i was most pleased with an extra hour of sleep. there was something funny, witty and interesting that i was going to write about today...but, i forgot it. oh well. in other news, the shelter we are staying in tonight makes up for last night's camp spot. well, the shelter itself isn't bad, but they built it in a swamp. tasty. for those keeping score, we hit the 600 mile mark today. i'm also on my 2nd pair of shoes, and 3rd and 4th pairs of socks. and, we're switching to summer gear in pearisburg...which is tomorrow. oh yeah, lighter pack... actually, i'll probably just be carrying more food.