Fall AT section hike, day #18

Tuesday, October 11th, 2016
Start: Wapiti Shelter
End: Cross Ave/VA 634 - Pearisburg
Miles: 17.9 (+0.5 for side trails; ~2.0 road walking around town)

When I woke up this morning at 6:45am, it was ~40 degrees. I did my morning routine, and also gave Ray my fuel cannister since his died this morning. In thanks, he made me some tea. It was a welcome bit of warm in my belly before I headed out. I was out on trail by 7:45am.

I climbed up to a view (3896') from Wapiti Shelter (2603'). From there, I climbed past the radio tower (4027'), then down to Sugar Run Gap (3395'). I then climbed to another view (3910'), then down past Docs Knob Shelter (3541') to a spring (3150'). From there, I climbed up to a view (3693') and then Angels Rest (3550'); then went down, down, down to Cross Ave/VA 634 (2019') and Pearisburg.

I managed to make Cross Ave by 4pm, and walked to the post office over a mile away by 4:20pm, with only 10 minutes to spare before they closed. They were very friendly and helped me ship my trekking poles, water treatment chemicals, and tent poles/stakes home. After that, I walked over to Angel's Rest hiker haven; I was surprised to find no one there. I took a shower, changed clothes, left a note and $4, and then headed out to the Food Lion and the AYCE Chinese buffet. I stopped off at Food Lion for a few drinks (sweet tea, powerade, and a mango smoothie). I drank the tea and the smoothie and saved the powerade for later. I may have overdone the buffet but I did only manage to have 2 platefuls. Now I shall bum around the plaza until my ride gets here in an hour.

VA hike #2, day 11

Tuesday, April 5th, 2016
Start: Bailey Gap Shelter
End: Cross Ave/VA 634 - Pearisburg
Miles: 23.4

Last night, when I got up to go to the bathroom, it was snowing. I was okay until about 2-3am, when the temperature dropped considerably. I spent the next 4 hours huddled at the bottom of my sleeping bag, shivering. My water bottles were frozen in the morning. When it's so cold your hands go numb after a few minutes, it makes packing up take a lot longer. I started out from Bailey Gap Shelter (3510') around 7:30-ish.

I descended to The Captain's place (2410'), where a past thru-hiker rigged up a rope pulley system over a creek to get hikers over to his property, where there's wifi, camping, and free soda. I went across for a soda and some wifi. The Captain's temperature gauge said it was 22 degrees in the shade around 8:30am.

I passed by Pine Swamp Branch Shelter (2532'), up past Allegheny trail (3726'), down to Dickenson Gap (3300'), past Rice Field Shelter (3375'), down to Landfill Rd (1597'), and a last burst of climbing to end at Cross Ave/VA 634 (2019').

I was able to catch a hitch the short 0.8 miles into town, rather than walk. I arrived at the Plaza motel around 6pm. A trail friend of mine, Towanda (NOBO 2015), came to visit with me. We went to the AYCE Chinese buffet for dinner and it was delicious!

Tomorrow, Towanda will drop me at a bus in Bluefield, WV on her way back home and I'll head back to my car in Charlottesville, and from there, home.

Over the course of 11 days of hiking, I completed 227.1 miles!