Virginia is NOT flat: Pearisburg to Daleville

There is a pervasive myth among the AT community that Virginia is flat. From halfway through Virginia, let me tell you, this is a lie! I have no idea why people continue to perpetuate this falsehood. My current theory is that at some point along the trail, I shall encounter a Sphinx, Snorlax, Gandalf, or some other mythological figure of path obstruction, who will grant me safe passage only under the condition that I mislead future thru-hikers about the elevation profile of Virginia.

“What is the ground-speed of an unladen thru-hiker??!”

So if this section of my blog suddenly disappears, you’ll know why.

I treated myself to a zero day in Pearisburg, then hiked out the following morning on my birthday. Although the weather forecast was clear, a pop-up thunderstorm appeared while I was crossing a very rocky ridgeline and I decided to camp (Mile 648.7) rather than deal with the rain and slick rocks.

View from Rice Meadow, near Pearisburg

Thunderstorms approaching over Symm’s Gap

The next day, I was hoping to make up some mileage; however, as the day progressed it became apparent that this would not be possible. After several steep climbs and the rockiest terrain I have yet encountered, I was forced to camp at War Spur Shelter (Mile 667.4). This was the first time since GA that my endurance, rather than available daylight hours, was the rate-limiting factor for my hiking.

Nevertheless, I was determined to do 20 miles the next day. Although there were two substantial climbs, the toughest part of the day was actually the final 1.5 miles of ridgeline. On this portion of the ridge, the trail traversed exposed stone slabs, slanted at a 45-degree angle off the cliff-face. Hell on the downhill ankle and searing hot in the afternoon sun. Pretty views though!

Dubbed by my fellow hikers: Slabs o’ Death

At least there was a nice view (although often enjoyment of these views is tempered by the subconscious knowledge that you will soon have to climb whatever you’re looking at).

After slowly making my way across the slabs and down off the ridge, I eked out my 20 miles and camped at the base of Brush Mountain (688.0). It was incredibly frustrating to have been completing 20 to 25 mile days without issue, and then suddenly struggle to do 15 to 20 painful miles!

I left camp before sunrise the next morning in order to take advantage of the cool morning temperatures as I ascended Brush Mtn. At the top was a side trail to the Audie Murphy memorial (Mile 690.8) Murphy, one of the most decorated WWII veterans, perished in a plane crash near the memorial site.

Audie Murphy memorial

The trail turned into an extensive rock scramble as I approached Dragon’s Tooth (Mile 700.1), a massive stone monolith. The area was very busy with dayhikers, but I enjoyed shucking my pack and bouldering a bit (to the horror of the dayhikers). I have missed rock climbing a lot since starting the trail, and it felt great to do something that wasn’t hiking!

Mile 700!!

Playing around on Dragon’s Tooth

Some slabby “bouldering” on Dragon’s Tooth

Descending from Dragon’s Tooth also involved some cliff navigation, which was a bit unnerving with my pack on. This was one of the only areas of the marked trail thus far where I actually feared the risk of injury. Indeed, I found out later that one of the hikers I know had fallen down a small cliff on the descent that afternoon, and subsequently left the trail (he sustained only minor scrapes and bruises, but the experience was the last straw for him after several bad days in this rough section).

Yes, this is the marked trail. And yes, that is the ground 12 feet below me. Preview of the Northeast?

Exhausted from the descent, and with sunset approaching, I had to stealth camp off the side of the trail after climbing up the next ridgeline (Mile ~705).

The following day had a few AT landmarks to make the rough terrain worthwhile. McAfee Knob (Mile 712.0) is the most photographed area on the entire AT, for good reason.

Not as dangerous as it may appear, I assure you.

Shortly after McAfee, the trail traverses Tinker Cliffs (Mile 717.1) with fantastic panoramic views.

Letting the ol’ trail runners enjoy one last moment in the sun on Tinker Cliffs

I opted to camp at Lambert’s Meadow (Mile 718.8) rather than arrive in Daleville late in the evening. In the morning, I completed the remaining relatively-easy 10 miles into Daleville (728.1), where I picked up the maildrop containing my new trail runners and resupplied.

Old and New!

The next section of trail from Daleville to Waynesboro (Mile 860) includes long climbs and is likely a rock-farm as well. I decided to take an unplanned zero day to rest my beaten-up feet. For the next section, I intend to adopt a slower pace which will hopefully help me keep my feet healthy. The forecast is also 5 days of rain, which may slow me down further in rocky areas. But, that’s part of the appeal of the AT: as soon as you think you’ve figured it out, it throws something new at you and forces you to adapt.

Catching Up: Mountain Harbour to Pearisburg

Well, it’s been a while and I’ve covered a lot of ground since my last post. Replacing a phone while on the move is logistically complicated. But, thanks to a ton of help from my brother, I am now back in the 21st century!

The last things my phone saw before it died were:

…the delicious breakfast at Mountain Harbour,

…a waterfall (the name of which I cannot remember)

…and this blurry BigFoot-esque turkey hen.

I’m actually quite sad my waterproof phone case leads to such poor quaity photos since this hen had about a dozen young poults with her and I somehow didn’t manage to capture a single good shot! Oh well.

I had left Mountain Harbour for another long, cold day in the rain. At Moreland Gap Shelter (Mile 412.1), my phone inexplicably died. I initially suspected that it had succumbed to the relentless rain, despite my borderline paranoid efforts to protect it. However, a subsequent autopsy revealed an electrical short in the chrarging port was to blame.

The last message I had sent was, “I couldn’t possibly be more miserable.” The AT doesn’t tolerate melodrama, so I was kind of asking for some karmic comeuppance there. I borrowed another hiker’s paper guidebook to locate the nearest hostel with a computer. Fortunately, I was very close to Black Bear Resort (Mile 418.5). I ordered a replacement phone and then spent the day resupplying in Hampton, TN and avoiding the rain with the other hikers.

I was determined to get to Damascus, VA by Saturday so that I would have a chance to use the public library computer to check on the status of my phone. This required two long 24-mile days in the rain, first to Iron Mountain Shelter (Mile 442.9), and then to a campsite just past the TN/VA border (Mile 465.3).

I was able to use the Damascus library during its limited hours on Saturday morning, then spend the day at Woodchuck Hostel. The AT actually goes straight through the main street of Damascus, which is very cool. I was also interested to learn that Damascus is a hub for cyclists as well as hikers. The famous Virginia Creeper Trail runs through town, with many local businesses devoted to shuttling cyclists to the trailheads. I also met two cyclists at the hostel who were attempting the TransAmerica Trail, a 4,228 mile bicycle route across the U.S.

It finally stopped raining the day I left Damascus. I hiked to Lost Mountain Shelter (Mile 485.0), just before Mount Rogers, the highest mountain in Virginia. The following morning, I tackled the long climb up Mt. Rogers (Elev. 5,728′) and entered the Grayson Highlands. This stretch of trail has a reputation for being among the most scenic of the entire AT, with the added bonus of feral ponies (if you are into that sort of thing). I am terribly sorry to have not had a working phone, and consequently no photos to show you. 

You’ll have to take my word for it that the Grayson Highlands area is stunningly beautiful and there are indeed ponies everywhere. I would highly recommend this area as a section hike, with the caviat you should expect to be held hostage along the trail by pushy food-seeking ponies on several occasions (so adjust your mileage plans to include time for negotiating with the equine mafia). The entrance into Grayson Highlands State Park is also the 500-mile mark, which I celebrated by belting my favorite hiking song (“I’m Gonna Be,” by The Proclaimers— you know the song I’m talking about) and undoubtedly frightening day-hikers and ponies alike. But that’s ok; I’m sure it happens all the time. I camped with a large group of hikers at mile 506.2, just outside the State Park boundary.

Since I wanted to be in Marion, VA to pick up my phone as soon as it arrived, I cranked out a long day to Partnership Shelter (Mile 532.4), just outside of Marion. This huge two-story shelter features showers and the ability to have pizza delivered (which I did not indulge in, though several other hikers did so… and I gladly ate their leftovers). Marion has a wonderful public transit system, which made it very easy to retrieve my phone, visit the library, and resupply. As I boarded the bus that would take me back to the trail in the morning, I ran into Forrest and Apache, whom I hadn’t seen since everyone left for Trail Days and I stayed in Erwin with norovirus.

I enjoyed a beautiful sunny day of rolling hills and cow pastures, exactly as I had imagined the trail in Virginia would look. The trail crosses private land frequently, often passing through or over fence stiles.

I never thought I’d be so excited about a grassy meadow.

A thru-hiker’s only upper body workout: fence crossings.

Why are hills so much easier to climb when they’re through a meadow?

Mile 550. 25% of the AT completed!

We all ended up camping together at Crawfish Creek (Mile 550.9). Forrest and I left camp at the same time, and hiked together for most of the day. It was great to hear about Trail Days, though I was sad to learn that the rest of our trail family had fallen behind us by about 100 miles. We tackled a few challenging climbs, culminating in Chestnut Knob (Elev. 4,406). Our reward for the tough ascent was a great view from the grassy summit, as well as the picturesque Chestnut Knob Shelter (Mile 568.1).

View from Chestnut Knob

Chestnut Knob Shelter is one of the rare four-walled stone shelters on the southern portion of the AT.

Sunrise from Chestnut Knob

We left at sunrise, anticipating a high-mileage day with easy ridgeline walking. Unfortunately, the 7-mile stretch of ridgeline after descending from Chestnut Knob was a total rock farm, slowing our pace considerably. Good trick, Virginia! It was a welcome relief to reach the relatively clear trail later in the day. Forrest and Apache stopped in Bland, VA to pick up a maildrop, while I continued on to Helvey’s Mill Shelter (Mile 592.3). Although I still prefer my tent, I did stay in the shelter since storms were expected overnight.

Indeed, I left the shelter in the pouring rain the next morning and continued to hike in the rain the entire day to Wapiti Shelter (616.5).

24 miles in the rain is no picnic, but it’s still great to be out on the trail!

Mile 600

After a long rainy day it feels great to be in my tent! Home sweet tent.

The next morning started with an immediate long climb up Sugar Run Mountain (Elev. 4,022; Mile 621.3). It was here that the soles of my trail runners finally gave out, requiring some trail-side shoe surgery.

Uh-oh.

Should be good for another 100 miles, right?

I used my knife to cut a few small holes near the edge of the sole, through which I added zipties to create a series of small loops. I then threaded some paracord through the ziptie loops an attached it to the main shoe laces, tightening the cord to secure the loose sole against the bottom of the shoe. [UPDATE: This actually worked surprisingly well! The position of the ziptie loops isn’t exposed to much wear when walking, except when I stub my toes on a protruding rock. Although I did have to replace the zipties several times over the subsequent rocky sections, the shoes made it another 108 miles to Daleville, where my replacement shoes were waiting in a maildrop.]

With my newly Macgyver-ed shoes, I continued towards Pearisburg. The variety of azaleas on Sugar Run Mtn was incredible!

One of several color variations of azaleas on Sugar Run Mtn.

In the early afternoon, I reached Angel’s Rest (Mile 632.5), a popular day-hike destination with a view of Pearisburg.

I CAN SEE THE DAIRY QUEEN!!!!!!!!!

I enjoyed a zero day in Pearisburg, VA (Mile 635.3) for my birthday. Much Dairy Queen was consumed. I also treated myself to a long-anticipated haircut (and not a moment too soon, as 90+ degree temperatures are upon us)!

Trail life is much easier and more comfortable with short hair!! If you’re not a fan, well… “it will grow back” 😛

Farewell, Tennessee!

Three states down, eleven to go! I crossed the TN-VA border yesterday evening.

Although I survived last week’s Rainpocalypse, my phone sadly succumbed. So it goes. I’m writing this necessarily brief post from the public library in Damascus, VA. Unfortunately, I have no photos to share with you from the last few days since my phone was also my camera. They’d all just be photos of rain, anyways. With some luck, a replacement phone will be waiting for me in a town further down the trail and I can get back to blogging.

Looking forward to sunny skies this week. Cheers!