Backpacking the AT - Day Four

 Day 4: Doc’s Knob Shelter mile 628 to Cross Ave. Pearisburg mile 636.4

The rain stopped sometime in the night, but started up again before sunrise. Our improvised tent pitch held up to both the weather and the mice and we were quite toasty all night.  We really didn’t want to crawl out of our cozy tent, but we were headed into Pearisburg for a re-supply, and the thought of a shower, clean clothes, and Mexican food spurred us on. 

 Side note: If you time your hiking right, you'll come through, or very near to, trail towns all along the AT.  Sometimes there's just a little gas station for re-supply, but often there are hostels and hotels, restaurants and grocery stores available.  Most hostels include pick up and drop off to the trail if you stay with them, but many also offer shuttle services to further distances for a fee.  These little aid stops are so convenient and helpful, and allow hikers to not need to carry more than 3-4 days of food at a time.  Even if you want to spend your nights on the trail, you can always stop into a hostel and pay a small fee to shower and do laundry.  They even offer loaner clothes if you don't have a change of clothes while your laundry is washing!  

We made our coffee and our oatmeal, but were strangely not hungry. It took everything in us to finish our breakfast. You’d think we’d be starving from all of the hiking, but our appetites were gone! 

We waited out the storm as long as possible but eventually pulled our rain gear on, loaded our packs and headed out. 

Despite the weather, the trail wasn’t too muddy, and we were moving fairly well. A thick fog had settled in with the light rain, making everything a little eerie.

 We had a bit of climbing to do today, and although we should’ve been rewarded with great views atop Pearis Ledges, the thick fog showed us nothing but white.

 As we traveled along this rocky ridge, we came across a deer right on the trail!  

The weather was not nice up here and I had to pull my gloves back on and zip my coat all the way up. The wind was brutal, and we were looking forward to the descent. Finally, we started heading down, but the trail was filled with wet, slippery rocks, and it was a slow go. 

The further we went down, the bigger the rocks became, and it was pretty neat to be among the mossy boulders.  

After about a mile, we made it to Angel’s Rest Rock and finally we were below the foggy cloud cover. The view of Pearisburg from above was beautiful and sunny-we needed to get down there!

 After about another mile of very steep downhill, our legs were not happy at all. We had to stop several times to take breaks on the big rocks.  

Then we could see a road below! A few more twists and turns and we made it to the road where we texted our shuttle driver for pickup. We were very excited!

 He arrived in less than five minutes, and gave us a quick tour of the little town as we made our way to the hostel. I had a fleeting thought that we didn't know this man and he could literally be taking us anywhere, but decided to put my trust in this trail angel.

 Angel’s Rest Hiker Haven Hostel was our first hostel experience. For $25 you get a bunk, a shower, access to the little kitchen, Wi-Fi and charging opportunities, and a shuttle to and from the trail. And then we paid $4 to do a load of laundry, which was well worth it after wearing and sleeping in the same clothes for the last four days! 

Thankful for hot showers, and clean clothes, we were ready for the next order of business.  Within walking distance, there was a Mexican place for dinner and a grocery store to re-supply our food for the next five days. All we had to do was follow the little footpath, complete with signs and a strange amount of cats.

We managed to eat an obscene amount of tacos and chips and rice and beans, but wandered around the grocery store and couldn’t make any decisions as to what we should buy to refill our bear canisters. With all that hiking, we should've been hungry for ALL the food, but we had zero appetites!

 Upon returning to the hostel, we met our first two northbound (NOBO) thru hikers! Pac-Man (who had already lost 27 pounds) from Maryland and Steady from North Carolina, had both started in early January and met each other within just a few days of being on the trail. They’ve been hiking together ever since. It was only about 8:00 when we settled into our beds, but we stayed awake, listening to the stories these two guys told of shelters and mice and food and the weather they had been through.  Misty and I kept giggling at the fact that Pac-Man had been continuously eating from about 7pm onward.  All we could hear were bags and wrappers and chewing as he made his way through a lot of what he had just purchased as his re-supply! Lights out at most hostels is 10pm, and I was beyond ready to sleep.  Thankfully, the guys quieted down and turned off the overhead lights.  Pac-Man's feast continued, though, and we fell asleep to the sound of the hungry thru-hiker munching on chips.