No Quarter Given, Part 2

PART TWO (READ PART ONE FIRST):

 

There we were, ready to get down to business. We had big miles planned to get to Pearisburg, and then Daleville afterwards.

 

 

Now I mentioned that we had outstripped our trailmily out of Damascus, and a new one had started to evolve.  There was Dragon and Camp (to Canadian students fresh out of collage), Imagine and Baggins (a young Brittish Couple), and Tenderfoot and myself. Six people, three nations represented, united by a common denominator of food. It made for some interesting meal discussions. For example, Baggins had put some cheese powder on Ramon and said it tasted like Knick Knacks. Four of us looked at her confused until Imagine explained that Knick Knacks were the Brittish version of Cheetos. Who knew? The other big splash was that I had bought a two pounds of Swedish Fish in Marion and proceeded to eat all of then in under 24 hours. Dragon could not get over it and would raise the issue almost every meal, so much that I almost got a new trail name.

 

So the two Americans, two Canadians, and two British began to hike (sounds like the start of a good joke) and boy we had fun. The climax was day 3 out of Marion we hit a grassy bald and lunched up there and everything finally dried off. We did 19, 20, 21, 23, and then 24 to Pearisburg. We lost our the others day 4 due to Baggins ankle acting up and that Dragon and Camp wanted to stop at Woods Hole Hostel (a semi-legendary hippie heaven).

 

More imoprotantly still, Day 2 out Marion we hit the Quarter Marker.  One quarter down, three to go!

 

 

We swung through town doing an easy 16. I picked up a dropbox from a hostel (the box had some notes from homeschool friends back home, almost all of them congratulated me on my flunking the homeschool weed class), resupplied, enjoyed a Chinese buffet, and then headed out. The tropics must have eaten some bad broccoli because there was some nastiness headed our way.  We raced the storm and set up camp just in time.

 

Two new factors impacted our hike for the next couple days. One: we once regarded ridgelines as basically free big miles. But now, those ridges were now comprised of huge sheets of rocks and pile of boulders. My trekking poles up to this point looked used but in decent shape. Yet in four days they went from used to destroyed.

 

 

While it made for slow going, there was some awesome parts. We hiked 20 miles out of Pearisburg to Wind Rock [top], where we ate dinner and watched the sunset. We hit Dragons Tooth, a massive rock monolith that you could climb around on [middle two]. Then we got to Mc Afee Knob, another inconic spot on the AT due to it's photogenic nature [bottom].

 

 

Then second factor was the blackberries and blueberries had finally ripened. Within thirty minutes, I was able to pick a pound and a half of blackberries. They were delicious.

 

 

Overall we did 20, 23, 20, and then 23 to Daleville where I am writing this now. There are two other sight of note. One, the Keefer Oak. It's the largest tree on the trail in the south (apparently there is one in New York that is slightly bigger). It is over 300 years old and over 18 feet in circumference. The other was Bruisers Knob. This ridge had about two score carins scattered about. I could not find out anything about them but I personally believe that they are the tombs of the ancient kings of Angmar. [

 

 

 

Lots of adventures in the past two weeks. I cannot promise that this time between posts will never happen again, but I shall do my best to not make it a habit.

 

Happy Trails,

-Levi