weary as water

every time i blink i have a tiny dream

Day 71: Trout Creek to Four Pines Hostel (VA 624)

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8 miles

Took our time getting ready today. We have decided to go to a hostel tonight since it is supposed to storm this afternoon & tonight. 
Saw a bunch of pink ladyslipper orchards, which are pretty rare. 
We went over Dragon’s Tooth today! This is a really neat stone monolith that is 0.1 miles off the AT. There were lots of dayhikers out today. This area is really close to Virginia Tech, so lots of students are out and about since their finals are over. One girl was out with her boyfriend and noticed our packs – she asked me if we were going camping. I said we were staying at a hostel tonight, but we had been camping last night. She asked where we started hiking, and when I said “Georgia” she looked at me as if I were an ALIEN. I couldn’t resist – said “yeah, we’ve hiked almost 700 miles so far” – and then she REALLY looked at me like I had tentacles growing out of my face. It was really funny.
Saw our first rhododendron bloom today!
We stayed at the Four Pines Hostel which is really a 3 bay garage with cots & lawn chairs & couches for sleeping. Pretty chill place, Joe is a really cool guy, he runs the place with his two sons. It is “donation only” – has a shower, fridge, electricity, a radio. The best part (besides the shower/fridge/electricity/radio/being indoors/cell service) is that he shuttles to the grocery store and the HomePlace Restaurant – a ridiculous family style all you can eat place.
There was an hour long wait, and we hung out on the grass like the hiker trash we are. Once our table was ready, we went back and rolled up our sleeves. The waitress brought out fried chicken, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, green beans, pinto beans, biscuits, baked apples…it was amazing. The food kept coming until we were stuffed…and then we had peach cobbler with ice cream! The *only* bad thing was we had in our group one of the most obnoxious people I have ever met. He talked a lot but made very little sense, and whistled at the waitress to get her attention. The second time he did this I said something to him about it. The third time he whistled at her the whole table started griping at him about being rude. He said – “dude that’s what we do in Costa Rica, it’s not degrading it’s just a habit”…then “i fought for this country”…then “i hate this f***ing country”. But he stopped whistling at the waitress.
Greyhound is here tonight (super nice guy), so are Magnolio (SOBO), Derelict, DayPack (from AL!), Samba and his buddy (forgot his name), along with a couple other people whose names I unfortunately don’t remember.

 

 

 
 

 

 

Day 70: Sarver Hollow Shelter to Trout Creek

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14.8 miles

Very hard day today. I miss AWE a lot, and the terrain today is harder than it’s been in a while. Two big climbs, one late in the day, and some tough rock slicks that weren’t well-marked. I almost got lost twice: once I went downhill for a few yards before seeing sticks laid across the trail in the universal sign for “you’re hiking the wrong way”. The second time the trail disappeared – big drops all around me – until Stumbles came by and climbed up 5 feet to a rock ahead. New rule of hiking: when in doubt, climb up!
Went over the eastern continental divide. Neat.

The climb up Brush Mountain was steep and long. I was worried I was going to run out of water – it is getting hotter, and I sweat a LOT. (Even when it is 40 degrees outside, I am covered in sweat within minutes of hiking uphill). After 70 days (!) on the trail you’d think I’d be acclimated to hiking uphill…but I am not. (Or – I just sweat a lot). So I am drinking a ton of water and taking electrolyte tablets in hopes of staying hydrated. Today I drank 5.5 liters of water, and was still thirsty afterwards.
I met Greyhound on the climb down – he has a twisted ankle and was taking it a step at a time going down. Asked him where he was headed for the night and he said – headed to water first, then I’ll decide if I’m going the extra mile to the shelter. I thought – man it would be nice to camp by the creek – but knew that OWL wouldn’t stop there because she had set her destination as the shelter. Got down to the creek and saw a bunch of folks from last night. Thought – I hope OWL is still here but she is probably at the shelter. Then I looked over to the other side of the creek and saw her sitting there, with her tentpad laid out. I was so happy I cried – literally – and said “I am so glad to see you!”. She said – “well the shelter was 0.3 miles off the trail, and the water was 0.2 down steep switchbacks from there, so I was glad to save those steps and camp near the creek.”
I went to the creek and drank a bunch of water, took a bath, and rinsed out my clothes. Set up my tent, ate as much food as I could stand for dinner (AWE sends me grape leaves sometimes which are heavy but an AMAZING treat), and went to bed happy and tired and full.