New photos have been uploaded to the the VA album http://picasaweb.google.com/HikeStrong2010 (I am missing a chunk of photos I forgot to upload in CT... oops).
Back to the grind hiking in Virginia again and seeing what there is to see. Its very green, lots of trees, flowers and old hiking friends to catch up with. After taking a few days off the trail we thought for sure most of the hikers we'd been seeing would have been long gone, but it seems like they all took days off as well. I'm getting the feeling that people hiking the AT start to lose their mind between mile 500 and 700 as almost everyone we've grown to know has taken from 5 to 10 days off in the recent past. In our first couple days back on the trail alone we ran into Dune, Baldy, Lemonade, Hazard, Puma, Chef, Caspar and one of my jacket buddies -- crazy!
The hiking in VA is definitely less challenging than the three states preceeding. There are some difficult parts, like the climb up to Dragons Tooth yesterday, but for the most part we trudge along each day through the woods with not much to see. The most challenging part lately is weird weather! In the past if we saw a 30% or 40% chance of rain, it almost never rained. Now, it seems like that 30 or 40% comes in the form of a quick downpour almost always when we are near the top of a big climb. As we were leaving Laurel Shelter the other day we were almost to the top of a couple mile high climb when suddenly we heard booming thunder followed by popping noises that sounded like bubble wrap. It was all around us! I barely had time to digest it when I could hear the rain coming through the woods like a wave of water. Seconds later I could see the rain coming towards me. All I could do was hunch over my backpack as I scrambled to dig the pack cover out and put it on my bag. Jeff was up the trail and, thanks to the $5 poncho I mocked him for buying, had his pack and himself covered in record time. When I finally caught up to him I just laughed at myself... and took a mental note that I needed to get a poncho... LOL.
Off to hike another day!
~Styx & Bones
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HikeStrong 2010 - Jeff & Aly
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