Updates from the Trail VI...
[From a note postmarked 4-17-2006. Enjoy!]
I'm feeling MUCH better this morning. There's a little coffee shop right beside the outdoor store, so while I'm waiting for it to open, I'm eating a delicious breakfast sandwich & fruit, sipping coffee. The coffee shop makes me feel right at home. It's just missing... all my friends. :/
Alright, let's see. Stories from the trail: Fall #16 was a doozie. I slipped on a wet rock & got a bloody elbow. Lol. What next? About 2 days ago, I had a dog named Fido follow me for about 8 miles. Some turkey hunters knew the owner & called, & the owner didn't seem to care that the dog was following me, so he just kept on. I hope he made it back ok. I had to ford my first stream the other day. That was pretty exciting & extremely cold. I was having fun doing it until about halfway across when I realized if I slip on a rock, it's not jus tme that gest wet, but my entire pack... so then I got a little nervous & almost fell! haha.
I almost stepped on a snake yesterday. It was just hangin' out on the trail. I ran into a hiker for the 2nd time named Dreamer, & we hiked together for a while the day-before-yesterday. It was really cool to talk to him. He is an ex-heroine addict who now counsels criminals. We had some good conversations about addiction & behavior change. He was a psych major of course.:)
Oh, let me tell you my "Dragon's Tooth" story. There's a good climb up to this cliff thing called Dragon's Tooth, & the climb goes something like this. You see a hill & think it's Dragon's Tooth, & so you say, "ok, just have to make it up there," but when you get to the top, you realize there's another hill. And it kind of goes on & on like that until you think you're never going to get there, & then... there it is. It's like this:
^
^ /
^ / \ /
/ \ / V
^ / V
/ V
/
Sort of.
[Let me emphasize the 'sort of', since I don't know how those slashes will look to you. It should look like little hills, each a little taller than the next. Sort of.;)]
So anyway, I make it to the top... gorgeous views of course. VA is very beautiful. And then I decide it's time to go down. The climb down from Dragon's Tooth is a killer. Jagged-crazy rocks everywhere, & sometimes a huge drop-off just over the edge of the gagged rocks. And to make things worse, I wasn't paying attention & missed a white blaze somewhere, & so I ended up going straight down the side of this thing several yards before I realized I was in the wrong place & had to do some serious rock climbing to get back on the trail, which I was afraid I wasn't going to find. I was not very happy with myself at the time, but I guess now it makes for a good story.:) You should see my legs... scratches everywhere. I got pretty beat up from that. That and all the sticker bushes in VA. Ow.
Oh, & I walked through my first thunderstorm the other day. Naturally, I was on top of a mountain. So it's hailing for a minute, then pouring rain & lightning everywhere, and I'm hiking on a mountain... craziness.
Other than that, pretty much the usual here. Lots of walking. Mr. Starbucks was right when he said VA is kind of a rollercoaster. There's been a lot of ridge-walking with gorgeous views. I've seen some great sunsets, too. And every day, I see more & more green! It's really exciting. I'm so tired of seeing brown.
Ok, I better go. Talk to you soon!
I'm feeling MUCH better this morning. There's a little coffee shop right beside the outdoor store, so while I'm waiting for it to open, I'm eating a delicious breakfast sandwich & fruit, sipping coffee. The coffee shop makes me feel right at home. It's just missing... all my friends. :/
Alright, let's see. Stories from the trail: Fall #16 was a doozie. I slipped on a wet rock & got a bloody elbow. Lol. What next? About 2 days ago, I had a dog named Fido follow me for about 8 miles. Some turkey hunters knew the owner & called, & the owner didn't seem to care that the dog was following me, so he just kept on. I hope he made it back ok. I had to ford my first stream the other day. That was pretty exciting & extremely cold. I was having fun doing it until about halfway across when I realized if I slip on a rock, it's not jus tme that gest wet, but my entire pack... so then I got a little nervous & almost fell! haha.
I almost stepped on a snake yesterday. It was just hangin' out on the trail. I ran into a hiker for the 2nd time named Dreamer, & we hiked together for a while the day-before-yesterday. It was really cool to talk to him. He is an ex-heroine addict who now counsels criminals. We had some good conversations about addiction & behavior change. He was a psych major of course.:)
Oh, let me tell you my "Dragon's Tooth" story. There's a good climb up to this cliff thing called Dragon's Tooth, & the climb goes something like this. You see a hill & think it's Dragon's Tooth, & so you say, "ok, just have to make it up there," but when you get to the top, you realize there's another hill. And it kind of goes on & on like that until you think you're never going to get there, & then... there it is. It's like this:
^
^ /
^ / \ /
/ \ / V
^ / V
/ V
/
Sort of.
[Let me emphasize the 'sort of', since I don't know how those slashes will look to you. It should look like little hills, each a little taller than the next. Sort of.;)]
So anyway, I make it to the top... gorgeous views of course. VA is very beautiful. And then I decide it's time to go down. The climb down from Dragon's Tooth is a killer. Jagged-crazy rocks everywhere, & sometimes a huge drop-off just over the edge of the gagged rocks. And to make things worse, I wasn't paying attention & missed a white blaze somewhere, & so I ended up going straight down the side of this thing several yards before I realized I was in the wrong place & had to do some serious rock climbing to get back on the trail, which I was afraid I wasn't going to find. I was not very happy with myself at the time, but I guess now it makes for a good story.:) You should see my legs... scratches everywhere. I got pretty beat up from that. That and all the sticker bushes in VA. Ow.
Oh, & I walked through my first thunderstorm the other day. Naturally, I was on top of a mountain. So it's hailing for a minute, then pouring rain & lightning everywhere, and I'm hiking on a mountain... craziness.
Other than that, pretty much the usual here. Lots of walking. Mr. Starbucks was right when he said VA is kind of a rollercoaster. There's been a lot of ridge-walking with gorgeous views. I've seen some great sunsets, too. And every day, I see more & more green! It's really exciting. I'm so tired of seeing brown.
Ok, I better go. Talk to you soon!
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