Day 47, miles today- 13.7, total- 651.3

Rice Field Shelter to The Captains.

This morning I woke up at 6:15 am. From the shelter, while still in my sleeping bag, I had a nice view of the sunrise. I watched it for several minutes. I wasn't doing many miles today, so I stayed in the bag until 8:00 am. After I ate breakfast I got back in the bag for about an hour. It was about 10:00 when I started hiking. About 100 yards in front of the shelter there was a ridge line with a great view of the valley.

There was a section of trail today that had a lot of wintergreen plants with berries. I ate three handfuls of them.

I stopped for lunch at the Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. Jet Pack and Mosyin were there also. After a few more miles we came to a zip line over a stream that took us to The Captain's. He's a guy that has a house across the stream from the AT. He let's hikers camp in his yard. He has picnic tables, a fire pit, and a refrigerator full of soft drinks on an enclosed back porch. He's a hiker and enjoys helping out fellow hikers. There are 10 people here right now. Coming across the stream is interesting. Everyone I saw made it without incident. The five young guys are here along with Foxtrot, Dutch, Boots, and Walker.

I have decided to back off on the miles a little. I'm meeting family in DC around the first of June. I am going to take a train from Harper's Ferry, which the trail passes through, to DC. If I don't slow down, I'll get there too soon. If I do 90 to 95 miles per week, the timing will be better.

Day 46, miles today- 17.2, total- 637

Woods Hole Hostel to Rice Field Shelter.

After eating breakfast at Woods Hole, I had to do a 1/2 mile road walk to get back to the trail. It was 9:15 am when I got to the trail. It was in the low 40's which is nice for backpacking. Today I had some really great views. The one valley view was spectacular.

I had a little more than ten miles to reach Pearisburg, VA. My plan was to resupply, go to the post office, and eat lunch there. I got to town at 12:30 pm. I walked towards the Food Lion. A couple doors down was the Lucky Star Buffet Restaurant. At a distance I saw two guys with packs going in. I didn't know who it was, so I headed there to see if it was anyone I knew. It was Truck Surfer and Jet Pack. I had seen both of them several times in the past. They are both in their early twenties. Since I was there, and they offer AYCE ( all you can eat) for 5.99, I decided to eat also. The two guys invited me to join them, which I did. I took a picture of Truck Surfer sitting in front of the restaurant after we had finished.

I next walked several blocks to the Post Office to mail something home. After that I walked back to the Food Lion to get food for the next 70-90 miles. I saw the five young guys I had saw at the hostel, leaving the store. We spoke briefly. After getting my food items, I then started the one mile walk back to the trail. I passed a DQ on the way, so I stopped for an ice cream cone. When I got outside, I couldn't hold the cone and put my pack on, so I asked a girl walking by if she'd h,old it for me. She looked at me a little funny, but she said okay. On the way out of town I across the US 460 bridge which goes over the New River. Finally back on trail.

I came to a short side trail to the Pearis Cemetery. There were some really old headstones. Many of the people had died in the early 1900's. The oldest was for Captain George Pearis, a Revolutionary War soldier. He was born in 1746 and died in 1810. I find old cemeteries interesting. It's always a little sad to see how many young children died back many years ago.

Coming out of most towns there is a big up, today was no exception. My food bag was over flowing, which meant extra weight. So the big up was difficult. It was after 7:00 pm when I reached the Rice Field Shelter. Jet Pack, Foxtrot, and Dutch were the only people there. I was afraid it might be full given how late I had arrived. I made macaroni and cheese. I also had a brownie, I offered the others one also. Foxtrot is the guy in the red jacket.

We talked for a hour or more about life on the trail and our plans for the days ahead. Later I worked on my blog, while someone snored away. It's close to 10:00 now, so I better get to sleep too. Right after I find my ear plugs.

Day 45, miles today- 7.2, total- 620.4

The black snake had not returned to the privy overnight. We were all happy about that.

I started on trail this morning at 7:15. Today I'm doing a nero. I only have 7.2 miles to reach Woods Hole Hostel. It's in the low 40's and clear. Nice hiking weather. There were several nice views from the ridge line. I passed through a section where there had been a prescribed burn. I seen a few areas like this. They burn the build up of brush in hopes of lessening the chance of a forest fire later.

It was a quick hike today. I got to the hostel at 10:00 am. My goal today was to relax. They offer several things here at Woods Hole. I started with a blueberry smoothie. Very good! I then took a shower. It was outside, which even with the hot water made it less than ideal. Being wet in 50 degree temperatures is a little uncomfortable, but it still felt great being clean. I then got an one hour massage. I'm not sure it will help with the aches and pains of hiking a lot of miles, but at the time it felt great. A few other hikers began arriving. When I got arrived there was only one other hiker. The five young guys stopped by in the late afternoon, but decided to move on a few more miles. I received two unexpected packages here. One was letters from Ms. Marketos' students. The other was brownies from Chiapet. Thank you! We ate dinner at 7 pm. By the time it was over I was thinking about going to bed. I'm sleeping in the loft of what was a barn. There are six others here.

Day 44, miles today- 13.2, total- 613.2

I stayed in the sleeping bag a little later today because I knew I was only doing 13 miles. I started hiking at 8:30 am. The four of us are doing our own thing for the next few days. We hope to get back together on Saturday.

I've done about 125 miles over the last six days. So, my plan is to do a nero at the Woods Hole Hostel tomorrow, which is 7.2 miles from Wapiti Shelter where I'm at now. I got here at 3:30 pm.

Today on trail I noticed how green everything was and how many small plants there were, including a lot of poison ivy. For about two miles I walked through a rhododendron tunnel. It was slightly dark in some of the thickest areas. I crossed over a suspension bridge over Kimberling Creek. Right after the bridge I road walked 1/2 mile to the Trent's Grocery. I needed to buy a couple days worth of food, and they serve pizza and sandwiches. It was a nice break. Airborne and Sequoia were already there. After I finished my pizza I got back on trail. I saw two deer today. My first in 600 miles. I took a side trail to Dismal Falls. It was pretty. There were two guys fishing in front of it. I took another picture of a rock with two types of lichen on it. One looks like a map and the other burnt paper.

There are eight people here at the Wapiti Shelter. I've seen three of them a few times, but haven't hung around with any of them. There was a five foot black snake in the privy here. Pretty wild. One of the guys used my trekking pole to get him out. After a few pictures, he moved it 100 feet away. I don't think I'll be using the privy here. My second black snake in two days. The wild life is picking up.

I'm looking forward to Woods Hole Hostel tomorrow. It's an 1880's log cabin that opened as a hostel in 1986. I should get there around 10:00 am. I plan to eat dinner there tomorrow and breakfast on Friday. The down time will be nice. I DEFINITELY need to do my laundry and take a shower.

Day 43, miles today- 24.8, total- 600.0

Sequoia started hiking at 6:20 am. He wanted to get an early start to see if his ankle was going to prevent him from continuing his hike.

Airborne, Phys Ed and I started hiking at 7:20 am. We hiked together all day. We got spaced out a little at times , but we bunched back up. We had a lot of nice trail today, much better than yesterday. We were on the ridge a lot today, which provided us with great views of the valleys.

When we got to Laurel Creek, VA 615 we saw a lady at a white van getting ready to do trail running. Her name is Janice. She's from the Atlanta area. She's doing the AT in sections. She walks up the steep sections but runs as much as possible. She had passed me on trail yesterday. She belongs to a running group called Get Guts.com.

I took a picture of Airborne looking at his map. We took a break there because it had a nice view of the valley. Later we passed over I-77 near Bland VA. We ate lunch soon after that. Dutch sat down near us, as we were finishing.

I saw a 4-5 ft black snake crossing the trail this afternoon. By the time I got stopped I was within two feet from him. Before I could get a good picture of him he had moved into a pile of brush and logs. I took a few pictures, but it's hard to see him.

We were going to stay at the Jenny Knob Shelter, but it was full and the water was 0.3 miles away. So, we decided to move on another mile to a campsite that was next to a stream. Which put us at mile 600.0. The miles seem to be coming faster now.