Apr 29 - Southern Virginia

DAY #49
START LOCATION: Random Campsite By A Stream
FINISH LOCATION: Walker Gap/Raven, VA
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 10.2
TRIP MILEAGE: 563.1
MILES TO GO: 1,616.0

I slept in. It was fabulous. Awoke at 7 but layed there until 8. I'm
usually up an at 'em, but not today... We had fixed mileage.
Smokestack's buddy Adam, trailname Magic (see Apr 24), was picking us
up 10 miles down the trail at Walker Gap around 6PM. We'd spend some
time catching up, eat some home-cooked meals and stay the night. We
watched all our fellow hikers, Diesel, Sheryl, Thrasher, Turkey, Dark
Star, Meatstick and a pair of latecomers pack up and roll out around
us as Smoke and I laughed, joked, wasted time and generally goofed
off. We finally headed out at 10:30.

The trail was tame at first, a nice warm up. We cranked out the first
6 miles in no time. But, the next 3 miles were a push... A 2,300 foot
ascent. We handled it well given our short mileage day. Lots of water
stops and a nice grassy bald on Chestnut Knob in the last rise to the
ascent made you forget the tough climb quickly.

We arrive at Chestnut Knob shelter around 3PM. I was pleasantly
surprised to see Upgrade, my old buddy I'd hiked with back at NOC, Hot
Springs and Erwin. We had some good times catching up on trail gossip.

A trio of late-teenagers, a boy and two girls rolled packless into the
shelter around 4PM as we were prepping to leave. They asked us
questions about thru hiking, we asked them questions about the area
and they were actually pretty cool to chat with. But, there was an
awkward feeling in the room almost like they wanted us to leave. I
realized what was going on and made the comment... "Feel free to smoke
your pot, you don't have to wait for us to leave." They looked stunned
for one second, but in the second second, they smiled, laughed and
pulled out their paraphernalia. Smoke and I just chuckled and wished
them a nice day. We've been at enough shelters to know what the local
kids like to do there.

The 1.3 miles to Walker Gap was all easy downhill. It took all of 20
minutes. Smoke and I entertained ourselves for the one hour wait by
playing makeshift baseball in the parking area. The bat was my
trekking pole and the ball was a plastic ibuprofen bottle that was
lying on the ground. We were thoroughly entertained... Anything but
hiking has that affect on a thru-hiker.

Magic rolled up right on time. We rode 3 wide in his pickup the 40
minutes to Raven, VA where he lived with his family... Beautiful
countryside. We arrived just as Magic's mom Beth had finished cooking
a baked spaghetti with meatsauce slathered in cheese. It was
excellent. The chocolate meringue pie was the perfect ending to our
two giant helpings of dinner.

We headed into downtown Richlands, VA and enjoyed some beers at El
Mariachi Mexican restaurant as the locals butchered the karaoke
machine. Lots of good times catching up, telling stories and sharing
laughs.

Smoke and I are on the floor in the den in our familiar camp bedding.
As I'm sitting here blogging, I noticed it took Smoke all of 3 minutes
to start snoring out his rendition of a dying rhinoceros. We'll spend
some more time tomorrow with magic and hit the trail late tomorrow
after some breakfast, resupply, laundry and lunch. The hospitality
never ceases to amaze and humble me.

-natedog