No Bible reading today. Spent the day hiking and catching up with Bryce. Will resume with Mark tomorrow.
Woods Hole Hostel to Pine Swamp Branch Shelter campsite. 12.6 miles hiked today. 656.7 total AT miles to date.
Today was an interesting day, as we had to reroute around more than 15 miles of trail north of Pearisburg. An ice storm over a month ago had taken out a long section of power lines and hundreds of trees had been felled in that section of the trail. The Forest service shut down that section until they could get the trail cleared.
So we started the day with a hearty organic breakfast at Woods Hole (after the obligatory gratitude circle), and then struck out for Pearisburg for our resupply. It was 12 miles plus down the AT into town and we started hiking around 9am. The weather was cold to start off, around 28 degrees. While it warmed up as the day progressed, we did get a few dusting of snow as the morning progressed.
Bryce and I hiked together at his rapid Scottish Mountain Goat pace, while Rick followed, hiking with Der Die Dos, who had also stayed at the hostel the night before.
The hike to town took us until 2:30, where we finally reached the parking lot where Bryce’s car was located. That 12 mile stretch had a couple of tremendous views from the top of Pearis mountain and Angel rock . Nice waterfall as well as we neared the base.
Once we were all tucked into Bryce’s car, we ran the errands we’d planned the night before. Into a supplier for a few gear upgrades, to the post office to send even more home (my base weight is now hovering around 20 lbs). Then Bryce treated us to a late lunch at the nearby Bluegrass BBQ restaurant. Best BBQ in the region (the collard greens weren’t bad either). Der Die Dos was invited along, and we celebrated his 72nd birthday today.
From there it was off to Walmart for our food resupply. We needed 6 days of food to last us to our next town visit. I ended up with just short of 13 lbs of food, still considerably less than Ricks resupply. Bryce then drove up to a spot just past the closed section where we parked and hiked back 1/3 mile to the shelter marking the end of the closed section. Bryce hiked there with us and we all set up tents for the night. Supposed to be in the 20s again tonight so we are all bundled up against the cold. We did find out that they had started letting thru hikers into the closed section today, with the agreement that they would help pull trees and branches from the trail. Speaking to a couple who did, we definitely made the right decision to avoid that section, as they spent hours laboring over clearing sections before they were able to move on.
Tomorrow we’ll hike back by where Bryce’s car is parked. His plan is to get up very early, and head back to Richmond. It’s been such a pleasure to be able to spend a few days with an old friend. He may try to join us again further up the trail as he prepares for his John Muir trail hike in July.
Until next time...
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