Day 87 - Wednesday, September 7

Linda

Packed up leisurely this morning and walked down to Brown Mt. Creek Shelter to fix breakfast and wash last night's dishes. There hadn't been enough water last night to do anything more than fix dinner. The shelter is in a lovely pine covered area with creek running right in front. After leaving the shelter we crossed the creek twice again, once on a log bridge then further down on a brand new forest service foot bridge. Nothing like all the river and stream fording we had to do up in Maine. That all seems very far away to me now. As we approached Pedlar Lake, which serves as a reservoir for the city of Lynchburg, the trail became a seemingly endless roller coaster skirting around the lake. It finally shot us out at the dam where we crossed over the spillway before heading on through some farmland, passing a farmer in his garden along the way.

In a few minutes we came to Irish Creek with yet another footbridge to ease our crossing. We stopped for a short break and to fill up on water again, since there would probably be no more water until Punchbowl Shelter in 4 miles. We'd been hearing from Northbounders that Virginia was very dry, but now it's later in the season, and we've seen more springs and crossed more running water in the last couple days than we had in all the states south of New England combined. We're also getting back into the bigger mountains now, so we're doing more climbing. As long as the trail has switchbacks and is in reasonably decent condition, I don't mind at all, and will do just fine. It's just when the trail goes straight up the rocks and dirt to the top that I end up with my tongue hanging down to my knees and sweat pouring off in all directions.

From Irish Creek we climbed Rice Mountain, which was one of the good trails I was just describing - graded with switchbacks. Ronald usually gets ahead on a long ascent, but I keep going slowly and steadily, and get there just the same. Actually, we've discovered - at least I've discovered, but I'm not sure Ronald would admit it - that Ronald has more speed, so can blast ahead quicker, but I have more long term endurance. I can keep going longer, and I don't think I'm as tired at the end of the day.

We crossed the second peak of Rice Mountain, then down to Robinson Gap and across the Parkway again. The shelter was only .4 mile up from there, but we were getting hot and tired, so it seemed like a mile. Soon after we stopped, the sky clouded over and the day turned windy and cold. My feet were hurting for some reason, and I would have loved to have sacked out at the shelter, but knew we should go on. It started to sprinkle, but we knew we couldn't escape the rain, and figured it wouldn't get much worse. It was a beautiful area, though. The late summer rains had made the area very green and inviting. The shelter looked out over a field and a small pond. Across the pond was an old apple orchard and a sprawling cherry tree. Ronald walked around the pond to pick a couple apples, and on the way back he saw a water moccasin near the edge of the pond. He called me over to see it, and I was grateful we didn't have to walk through the water, and were able to give the snake a wide berth.

With 8 more miles to go for the day, we finally left the shelter around 1:30. We finished the climb up Punchbowl Mountain, then up Bluff Mountain to the site of an old fire tower. On the way down, our gentle rain slowly turned to a cold downpour, and the trail became narrow and overgrown. It wasn't long before we were both soaked to the socks and squishing - even with rain gear on. There wasn't anything we cold do but plow on, miserable though it was. Hiking on an overgrown trail in the rain is bad enough and descending steeply over rocks is worse, but when you put them together, and throw in stinging nettles for good measure, it's murder. My smashed little toes were protesting all the way. Needless to say, I was overjoyed to reach John's Hollow Shelter, and even more when we discovered it to be one of the nicest shelters we've seen in ages, in one of the most picturesque settings. Once I put on dry clothes and vegged in my sleeping bag for a while, I felt much better. It was only 5:00 when we arrived, so we actually made good time. I guess the rain provided us with the motivation to keep moving, since it was too nasty to stop anywhere along the way. The extra time in the evening gave us time to cook up a leisurely dinner and catch up on some writing before going to sleep around 9:00.

Ron

We were packed this morning and on our way by 7:45. As we had used the last of our water for supper last night, we delayed breakfast until we got to Brown Mountain Creek Lean-to. Traveling this last week was over areas we had hiked and camped many times over the years. While it was nice, it tended to make me homesick. We were now venturing into unknown territory and the sense of adventure was beginning to return. Water has not been a problem since leaving the Shenandoah National Park. In fact we haven't had this much water since leaving Connecticut. We had missed hiking along a creek and the sound of running water. It's good to get back to it again.

We hiked on a high bank along the edge of Pedlar Lake for a long time. We left the lake just below the dam and the trail wound it's way back up to the ridge and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We made the climb easily and stopped at Punchbowl Lean-to for lunch. There was an old orchard by a pond in front of the lean-to. Most of the apples seemed affected by some type of blight. I managed to find a couple that seemed okay. I found a water moccasin at the edge of the pond. Linda had never seen one, so I called her over. Better to see when it's somewhat controlled than to just happen on one.

By the time we left the lean-to the morning overcast had turned to a light drizzle. Neither of us wanted to leave, but we pushed on up Punchbowl and Bluff Mountains. After the initial decent of Bluff, the trail became very overgrown. The bushes were getting us far wetter than the drizzle. We were moving right along until we hit a patch of nettles growing along the trail. As we hiked through they deposited their poison on our bare, wet legs. Quick as a flash we were in terrible pain. We started jumping up and down not really knowing what to do. We desperately tried to wipe it off with our bandannas. It had no effect on the intense burning and itching in our legs. With our eyes were watering, we turned and started running down the trail. It took quite awhile for the pain and itching to subside.

After the episode with the nettles, the miles went by slowly. Our clothes were wet and only the thought of a dry lean-to kept us going. The trail had been transformed from lovely this morning to a drudge this afternoon. Our only big excitement this afternoon came between Big and Little Rocky Road. Linda was leading on a level stretch when she scared up of covey of wild turkeys. About four or five took off down the mountain. We could still see two of them about 25 yards away. Would have made a nice feast. The trail improved some after we came down off the ridge. Within a fairly short time we made it to Johns Hollow Lean-to. Dry clothes and a warm sleeping bag can do a lot for one's outlook.

(18.1 Miles - 1322.8 Total)