#13 Bland to Pearisburg

5/20: After a relaxing Nero in Bland where we ate a lot of food, we stopped at DQ one last time before heading out on trail. We had a bit of a road walk and then the trail went back into the woods, and as soon as it did, it got hot. It was super humid out as we hiked, and it felt like we were inching along. We were also carrying a lot of water because the next reliable water was at the shelter we were staying at 12 miles ahead, but not much before then. So we walked until about noon when we took a lunch and ate tuna tortillas. Then we kept walking. We got to the shelter at about 3, claimed our spots inside, and then went to filter water. Since we got there at 3, it meant that we weren’t inching along at all, but sometimes when it’s miserable outside, that’s what it can feel like. We were fine after we drank a bunch of water and ate some snacks though. We taught Sunshine and Otter how to play Euchre, which was a lot of fun! By the time we made dinner, the shelter was super crowded, but that was ok because we met some new people and chatted and shared stories.

So many people!

As a joke in town, Hawk named the tramily (trail family) “Hawky Hawk and the Funky Bunch” but apparently the joke stuck, so that’s our tramily name for now. We went to bed excited to get some more food at Trent’s Grocery about 6 miles away and dreamed of DQ Blizzards.

5/21: We woke up early and hit the trail at 7 while it was still cool out. It was a 6 mile hike to the road where we could walk to Trent’s Grocery, which is a hiker friendly gas station that serves hamburgers. We hustled along for 3 hours to get there, fueled by the thought of a cold drink, and right before we hit the road, we crossed a cool suspension bridge over a river. We walked on the road to the gas station and we had so many packages! We shared some goodies with hiker friends and only needed a few things to resupply until Pearisburg. Then after a chicken sandwich, we got back to the trail. We only hiked a little bit until we got to Dismal Falls, which was .3 mile off trail. We went to check it out and it was super pretty!

Survivor soaked her feet, and again, Hawk did not because she’s a weenie. Anyway, we finally got back on trail and walked to Wapiti Shelter. Overall we hiked 16 miles from all of the detours, but we consider it well worth it. We talked to a guy named Mr. President who served in the marine core protecting the president during Carter, Reagan, and Bush eras. He had a lot of cool stories! Anyway, it was a fun day and we’re excited for another one tomorrow.

5/22: Let me start this entry by stating that I (Hawk) have nothing against inch worms. Today though, it was raining inch worms. As we hiked, there were patters that sounded like rain even though it was sunny. Inch worms were falling from the trees and landing on our shoulders, feet, packs, and heads. They were dangling around in the middle of the trail 5 feet above the ground, just so that we ran into them with our faces. It is inch worm season and they cannot be stopped.

One of the culprits

Anyway, we hiked 15 miles through the inch worms! We had to scramble over boulders at the beginning, but the trail became a trail again soon enough. We also saw some awesome views. And a lot of inch worms, lest you forget. We ate a delicious dinner of dehydrated backpackers meals- Chana Masala and Jamaican Jerk Chicken with rice and beans which Hawk’s mom sent us. We tried our best not to eat any inch worms. Then we went to sleep, ready to inch along another day!

5/24: Yesterday we walked 4 miles into Pearisburg and took a nero in town. Today we woke up early and got a shuttle to the trail. We slackpacked, so we didn’t have a heavy load to carry. Starting off, the trail had a lot of rocks, and that was a bummer, but then the trail was made of dirt again, so that was nice. We had a long 10 mile water carry but after the first incline the terrain was relatively flat. We had a deer cross the trail about 20 feet in front of us when we were in a grassy area! We made it to the next water source and took a break to rehydrate. We passed a pretty bald where we got some hazy views of mountains and farmland. We hiked on and ran into Lolli and Pops going northbound and we chatted with them for a bit. We then checked our maps and saw only had 5 miles left! The final mile of our day was a steep incline but we kept moving forward to finish off our 20.6 mile day! We got to our stopping point and had to walk to our motel. Before going to our room we stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream to celebrate the accomplishment. It felt so good after a hot and humid day, and we’re going to eat insane amounts of Mexican food and enjoy our night with air conditioning!

Hawky Hawk and the Funky Bunch ready to roll!

So we’re excited to hike northbound again and hopefully we’ll get used to the heat soon. Send ice cream- we need it :)

Happy trails!