Day 98 - Sunday, September 18

Linda

We awoke this morning to a foggy, but not rainy sky. After packing up we went to say good-bye and thank you to Father Charles and, of course, Ozone. Father Charles is an incredible man who has had a great impact on many lives. He wished us well, and we set off to walk the 2.2 miles back to the trail. Ronald stopped to call his parents, since he was too tired to call them last night. There's a good possibility that Tom may be in Bristol, Tennessee next Friday on business for the Lung Association. If so, he might be able to meet us, and then take us to Damascus. Bristol is right on the Virginia - Tennessee border, so it's only a few miles from Damascus. Hope things can work out for that to happen.

Before starting up to Angel's Rest, we made one last stop at a Dairy Queen for a couple Dilly Bars, once again getting strange looks for wanting ice cream at 8:45 am. We've learned to just ignore them. The trail to top of the ridge was an A-1 killer, between the briars, the mud, and fact that the trail went straight up with no switchbacks. We took it easy and made it to the top without any problem. The clouds by that time were settled over the valley, and as we broke out into the bright sunshine at the top, the effect was stunning.

The next few miles to Docs Knob Shelter were very pleasant walking, mostly on old woods roads. At the shelter we met a guy who I thought looked familiar. His name is Charlie Bryant, and I finally figured out where I remembered him from. He lives around the corner from Mom and Dad, and he and Randy used to pal around together. Small world! He's studying architecture at Virginia Tech, and was out for a few days of hiking before school starts. He went on, and we fixed our big meal for the day then, since we didn't expect to find any more water today. We sat there from 1:30 until 3:00, then figured we'd best get our bodies in gear and do a few more miles.

The next climb was a big one up to Flat Top Mountain., but it was all on dirt roads, so that made for easy walking. Most of the rest of the day was on roads also, so we still did 16.5 miles, even with our late start and long lunch. At 5:00 we came to a viewpoint, and the fog had cleared enough that we could see back onto the whole long Pearis Mountain Ridge where we'd been walking all day. It gives me a real sense of accomplishment when I can actually see what I've walked over. We continued on to Dismal Creek where we crossed a grassy woods road. That looked like the ideal site, so we set up the tent and retired to our humble abode for the evening.

Ron

Morning broke with a fog so thick you could cut it. It just wasn't the kind of day where you leap out of bed. We did get moving quickly as we had a long day ahead and it was two miles from the barn to the trail. We stopped to say good-bye to Father Charles and Ozone. Ozone was dancing around all ready to go, but not with us I'm afraid. His master would be back later today to pick him up.

We walked down to a phone and I called Dad. We made tentative plans for him to meet us to take us around the section of trail from Mt. Rogers to Damascus. Linda and I had hiked that section of trail in August a year ago. It was on that trip that we began serious discussions about hiking the whole trail. If we can meet up with him it will save us about a thirty mile hike - and, it would be great to get to visit again.

The two mile hike to the trail head got our blood flowing. It was interrupted only to pick up some ice cream at Dairy Queen (it's never too early for ice cream) and gas for the stove. We arrived at 9:15 and began our ascent up Pearis Mountain. We climbed steadily for over a mile. With packs heavy from new supplies, we were a bit tired when we reached the ridge.

The climb had taken us out of the fog into the bright sunshine. From the ridge we could see the valley below covered in a blanket of clouds. It was quite a contrast from Friday, when the valleys were clear and the mountains were in the clouds. Walking along the ridge was easy with only and occasional overgrown area. We made good time in the morning and stopped at Docs Knob Lean-to for lunch. Water conditions on the next section of trail were uncertain, so we ate our big meal there.

The rest of the trail today was composed of woods roads. This enabled us to make good time all afternoon. We stopped this evening where the trail crosses Dismal Creak. The tent is pitched on a grassy spot in the road.

(16.5 Miles - 1479.3 Total)