Dirk's Rambles

I am sitting at the Warspur Shelter at mile 669.4. It is my ninth day in a row hiking without a zero. Over the course of those 9 days I have covered 202.4 miles in Virginia and will soon reach the 1/2 way point for this state, the longest on the trail.

My stay at Woodshole Hostel was really great. They are a self sustaining operation growing many of the vegetables in their garden on the property. The bread they made was outstanding. They served meals in communal fashion, have a circle meeting where each guest said where they are from and what they are grateful for.

I left the hostel after breakfast on Thursday May 13 with Calves. About an hour into the hike it started snowing. It never snowed enough to gain any accumulation. But it was pretty weird that it was snowing in mid May in southern Virginia. The temperature was probably in the low 30s.

Calves and I hiked the 12 miles into Pearisburg to resupply. Had a take out meal at a Chinese restaurant near the Food Lion grocery store first. Once we resupplied we walked across town to the trail and started hiking again.

We stealth camped at the top of the mountain. I emailed Theresa the coordinates so she would know where we were. It was a nice location, though the train whistles blew all night. I slept well though I don't believe Calves did.

The next morning we got out early, at 7:30 am. Headed north toward our next destination, the Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. As we were getting water in the morning we ran into Five Pound and Mule.

Symms Gap Meadow, which held another shelter (Rice Field Shelter) offered a beautiful panorama. We took some great pictures then moved on.

The walk on top of Peters Mountain was rocky and also was not maintained very well. There were deadfalls everywhere that we had to skirt around. We had heard that there was an ice storm earlier in the year that knocked down many trees. The trail was certainly a mess in this area. Also found a very large pile of bear scat that was very fresh.

Met a very nice family at Pine Swamp Shelter on May 14th. There was a grandmother named Gouda Girl, and her two grandchildren. Gouda Girl is from Alaska and is taking them section hiking.

Calves left this morning at 7:30 and I left at 8 am. I caught up to him at a water source after a very rough long section of rocks.

We ran into some trail magic on a dirt road (VA 613). The guy who did the magic had pop and cookies for us.

Just a few yards up the trail was a beautiful overlook on Wind Rock. Took some pictures then began the long descend to the Warspur Shelter. Scoops, Roots, Dandy, Hurricane, Yard Goat, Calves, Mailman, and myself are camping together tonight.