Thursday, May 25, 2006

Onward Through Virginia

My not so new pair of used shoes that I picked up in Damascus from a fellow hiker, proved to be less than desirable as I set off for Pearisburg, VA on Sunday. And when I say less than desirable, I mean complete and utter pain and anguish. After 12 miles of torture and tears we made it to a road and Megan and I hitched to the next trail town of Pearisburg. We discovered, shortly after we were dropped off in town, that Pearisburg did not have an outfitters store where I could find another pair of boots/shoes. It was late, we stayed the night at a great little catholic church hostel and decided to leave the shoe issue until the morning.

Monday, we made a cardboard sign that said "Blacksburg" on it and stood in the intersection near Walmart, trying to convince any kind soul to give us a ride to the nearest town with an outfitters. We made it eventually and I was fitted for a new pair of boots.

Later that day Megan and I headed South out of Pearisburg to finish the section we had skipped. Hiking south, when you are used to hiking north is a bit disorienting. We continually ran into people that were a day or two or three, behind us. It was actually kind of fun catching up with some of our friends. In three and a half days we punched out over 70 miles. Ouch, I'm ready for a rest. We have made it back to Pearisburg after completing the section we skipped, and are ready to head North again. Next stop will be Troutville, VA.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get on your good foot Nick!

Evan said...

There's a spider on yo' head, Nick

Leslie said...

There was a spider on my head the other night. And Megan, unknowingly, quoted that very same line. Minus the "nick" part. I cracked up, after screaming!