Day 38 - 49

Day 38 (Saint Patrick's Day)

A zero day in Damascus. We celebrated at the only bar in town, Quincy's. Surprisingly, and most definitely a good thing, Damascus and it's bar do not serve hard alcohol. Nor was there green colored beer. :-(  Joining us (Mike, Paul, and myself) was Renaissance (Patrick),  Bastard Catfish (Seth), his friend dudebob, and two section hikers, Amber and Stacy. I love this holiday.
Day 39

So, we wake up and go to breakfast at Cowboy's. Then Mike declares he's not hiking today. And Paul agrees with him. They both had bad hangovers. Now, previously we agreed to hike 15 miles today, but we also agreed that if we were too hung over that we would go 9 miles. So much for prior planning. Also prior, I had told Mike that I had no problem taking extra zero days if he needed to take care of college stuff or heal injuries. I gave them my infamous "death stare" and told them I was going to hike. I didn't want to leave them, but I figured that they would be fine on there own for a few days. Also, that morning I had told Ren-man that we would be hiking to the same shelter he was heading to. I wasn't sure if I was going to meet them (Mike/Paul) in four days (when we had agreed to meet Paul's friends on the trail), or if I was going to keep hiking with Ren-man. Nonetheless I hiked the 15 miles to Lost Mtn Shelter and meet up with Renaissance.

That night I met a south-bound hiker named Ewok. He gave me all sorts of information about the trail. He also told me that peanut butter mixed with honey tastes good. It doesn't. I tried it and was disappointed. Ewok also told me all about taking Blue Blazed trails to skip the hard parts of the AT. He said everyone does it. Lame. I don't care how hard the trail gets. I'm not cheating.

Day 40 (The Virginia Highlands + Wild Ponies)

I hiked, with Renaissance, 22.9 miles over the Virginia Highlands to Old Orchard Shelter. The Virginia Highlands is amazing. High elevation with plenty of 360 degree views. AND WILD PONIES. Seriously. Previously I had heard of the fabled wild ponies of Virginia, but I never believed I would see them. I took plenty of pictures and even petted one. Another hiker said the ponies try to munch on hiker's packs because of the salt in the synthetic materials. I guess I'm glad I didn't try to ride one. Also, that night I caught my first mouse! That's called trail maintenance!!

Mike and Paul hiked 20 miles and camped atop Whitetop Mtn.

Day 41

I hiked another 24,7 miles with Renaissance (Patrick). We stayed at Partnership Shelter and ordered Pizza Hut from the nearby Mt Roger's NRA Headquarters. It tasted absolutely amazing! Patrick told me all sorts of interesting stories from his USMC days, and from his job back home working in a funeral home.

Mike and Paul hiked 26 miles and camped at the trail head for hurricane campground.

Day 42 - 44

I hiked 7 miles to Shelter and met up with Pauls two friends. Later that night Mike and Paul showed up. Basically we drank a bunch and ate a lot of Wafflehouse. We also saw Atkins Virginia in all it's glory. Lame and shitty.

Day 45

Paul's friends dropped us off back on the trail. We hiked a total of 19 miles, staying at Knot Maul Branch Shelter. Because it was a late start we had to do some night hiking. Night hiking is not as bad as it sounds; we have headlamps.

Day 46

We hiked another 19 miles to spend the night at Jenkins Shelter.

Day 47

23.8 miles took us to Jenny Knob Shelter. On the way we went atop Chestnut Knob, which is a very cool place. Unfortunately for us, the super low overcast killed the view, but gave everything alive up there a nifty frosted look.

Day 48

We walked 23.4 miles to Doc's Knob Shelter. On the way Paul and I checked out Dismal Creek Falls. It was worth the side trip. On top of Doc's Knob everything was frosted over. It was very cold.

Day 49

We awoke to falling snow. I guess snow is better than rain... Anyway, 8.2 miles brought us into Pearisburg Virginia. We walked to Pizza Hut for lunch (all you can eat = delicious!). Then Mike tells us he's quitting the AT. He says he's simply sick of hiking. He's no longer having fun; that it's all up a mountain, down a mountain, repeat, with the same scenary. Eh. I told him that he should do whatever he wants. I was always worried that Mike wasn't going to hike the entire AT. But at this point, Mike has walked a total of 633 miles, which is very long distance in itself. Nobody can say he hasn't accomplhished. But it really sucks that Mike is heading back to Cali. At least he'll be out of the rain, snow, and overcast.

We changed our Pearisburg plans and will be staying in a motel tonight. I'm going to keep hiking with Paul, and probably catch up to Ren-man. I'm going to Maine. I really don't want to hike solo, but I'll do what I have to do. The date is March 28th, 2011.