My Trails

/29/12 – 630 miles/29/12 – 630 miles
It was 16 miles to Pearisburg, VA, my next resupply and rest stop. My first thought was to walk about 12 miles, find a campsite, and position myself for an early arrival into town the next day. The more I thought about it, it made more sense to walk all the way and take a full day to recover and rest after a week of high mileage days. Another hiker I met at the shelter suggested sharing a room to save on the expense. It turned out to be the best stroke of luck in weeks.

We had some climb at the beginning of our hike but much of the way was level or downhill and we made good time into town. Not long after we booked a room at the Plaza Motel, the sky opened up with torrential rain. If I were still on the trail it would have been very uncomfortable to say the least.

The person I’m staying with has the trail name Kleenex. She is one of the few solo hiking females on the trail and it has been a pleasure to meet and talk with her. In other circumstances sharing a room in this fashion might draw criticism or judgment from some, even though our ages are a generation apart. But in the hiker community, we all seem to become like family. Our relationships are strictly friendship oriented based on a common goal to hike to Maine. I can’t describe it any other way.

When we move on tomorrow her pace is faster than mine and she will hike on ahead of me. I have to admit that it has been wonderful to have someone to talk with after this long stretch of few hikers and I will miss that. Once again, I’m reminded of hiking with Karen when I meet one of the independent, outgoing, happy, young women that hike the AT.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Appalachian Trail, The Great Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.