Mile 699
Hey, I’m still alive! I have left the cell phone void that is the wilderness and I’m now camped behind the gas station in Catawba, Virginia. Yes, behind the gas station.
Let’s see, since I last left, I left Pearisburg and was gonna, my plan was to have a short day there. I was going to camp at a place called Sims Meadow. I thought there’d be water there. I couldn’t find any, so I kept going and eventually I was like, OK, do I go back four miles where I know there’s water, or do I go forward six miles to the next shelter? And since I hate backtracking, I decided let’s go for it.
It was getting dark, and so I knew I’d be hiking at night. I was like, might as well try a night hike. Not the best idea, but I made it down rocky, wet terrain. My little dinky flashlight, Kooper leading the way. We made it, my first night hike. Not that great, don’t recommend it. Even though some two guys I’ve been hiking with for a while, Sleepy and Eatmore, came stumbling into my shelter this morning. They had done an all-nighter. They basically hiked over 30 miles through the night and were gonna sleep all during the day. So I guess that’s one strategy. I don’t know how long they’re gonna be able to keep that up.
But uh, people get some crazy ideas out here. They send home all their stuff and decide to go ultra light. That means they don’t have a sleeping bag, which means they get cold at night, so they sleep during the day.
Anyways, uh, I also went through a couple big fields over the past couple of days and Kooper just got covered in ticks head to toe. I was pulling him off all day long I guess it’s tick season but his Vectra 3D tick stuff apparently doesn’t last a full 30 days. So I put more on him hopefully we can keep that under control. I found two or three were crawling up my leg at times and I’d pick them off before they bit me but yeah I don’t want get any kind of crazy disease to put me off the trail for a week
And my right leg is, I think I got a shin splint, which has been bad because the past couple of days have been really rocky. I mean, just like 45 degree angle rock faces that you’re walking across, hopping over boulders and pulling yourself over crazy rocks the whole way. It’s been really rough, especially today going up to Dragon’s Tooth and down. Great view though, the weather’s been awesome.
But yeah I made it, and yes, I’m camped behind a gas station. It’s great for eating purposes. Tomorrow I’ll hit the trail. Hope to get to Daleville pretty soon and hopefully I’ll get my new phone. I broke down and ordered a Droid with Verizon, a Motorola Droid, not the new one, not the Incredible. It was $19 on Amazon.
So I’ll have a phone that actually works and I can make more updates. So that would be cool for you guys to follow. That’s it. Signing out. Peace.