Day 95 - Thursday, September 15

Linda

I must be getting more prolific and philosophical in my writing as the journey progresses. Either that or just rambling and long-winded. I'm not sure which one accounts for the increasing number of pages I am filling in this journal. I prefer to believe it's the former.

We awoke this morning after a mild rainless night. We weren't sure how long our luck would hold, because the sky was gray and threatening. We ate breakfast, then packed up and walked across the road to say good-bye to the Barfields and thank them for sharing themselves with us. They invited us to come back when the cabin is finished. I would love to come back someday and visit. I wonder if it will be the madhouse their tent is. I imagine it will be - and that suits them perfectly.

The first mile past the covered bridge and up a gravel road was easy and painless walking. After that, however, the trail quickly deteriorated to a hilly nightmare. Landowner problems had made it necessary to go straight up and over and down several small, steep mountains before coming to the ridge, rather than simply going up to the ridge to begin with. The trail was terribly eroded - a rutted mess of dirt and gravel, and I took my first fall in Virginia coming down into a hollow (pronounced holler). Well - it had to happen sometime. Ronald has kindly been keeping track of my falls state by state. So far it's 6 and 5. I managed to stay on my feet in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania (which was amazing in itself with all the rocks), Maryland and West Virginia (all 5 miles of it). Fortunately, however, none of the falls have ended in any major damage, except to my pride.

The trail was rough and rocky. It took us till noon to go 7.5 miles to Big Pond Shelter where we stopped for lunch. The shelter is so named probably because there is no water for miles in any direction. After lunch, the trail became surprisingly well maintained and we burned the next 5 miles to War Branch Shelter in an hour and a half. The area is covered in mountain laurel and rhododendron. The trail weaves in and out of huge thickets of the plants, and with the sky being overcast, it paints a very mysterious picture.

We left the shelter carrying a gallon of water from the creek as there were no more water sources for 7 miles. We headed up a long steep climb to the next ridge, and found ourselves on a road where we walked for the rest of the day. We were planning on camping at a fire tower in a few miles, but when we got to where it was supposed to be, the tower was gone. Instead, there was a nice grassy spot, and since the wind was getting chilly, we decided to stop anyway and set up camp. While we were fixing dinner, a group from Virginia Tech strolled by on an afternoon outing looking for unusual bug specimens. We talked with them for a while, then they strolled on and we ducked into the tent to escape the wind and eat dinner. It was only 4:30 when we stopped, so we had a long evening to relax and write after our 16 mile day.

Ron

We packed from our stay at the pavilion and walked over to say good-bye to the Barfields. I really hated to say good-bye. Our visit with them had added a new dimension to the trip. We set off to complete our ordeal with the relocation. The last seven miles of the relocation were the worst and the hardest. It took us four hours to cover seven and a half miles. We were beat when we arrived at Big Pond Lean-to. It took an hour to begin to feel revived again.

After leaving Big Pond Lean-to we were on old trail again and covered the next five miles in and hour and forty minutes. The next section of trail was dry, so we filled up our water containers at War Branch Lean-to. Our plan was to spent the night at Stony Mountain Firetower. We have two one quart Nalgene bottles and a collapsible one gallon plastic container. That gives us six quarts of water for supper and breakfast. Carrying that much water adds weight, but it gives us the freedom to camp where we want and not be forced to find a spring.

The climb up the ridge was steep but on good trail. We made the 1600 foot climb in under an hour. The rest of the trail was nice with the last two miles on road. Much to our regret, we found the tower had been removed and with it, the 360 degree panoramic views promised in the guide book. Also gone was our hope to spend the night in the tower. Tonight our tent will have to do. I only hope it will stay dry. We are at least glad to know that the last major relocation is behind us. We are told that the relocations ahead are not nearly as bad.

(16 Miles - 1438.3 Total)