That CoolRunning newsletter link generated several more nice e-mail letters
to us. The internet is amazing.
I enjoyed the company of not one, not two, but three of my Roanoke
running buddies today! We had more fun than ought to be legal.
Graham returned with his partner, Dru Sexton, and Neal Jamison joined us for
the first eight miles before heading back to his car. He will join me at the end
of tomorrow's run, too.
Graham and Dru met me in their Jeep at the end point, Hwy. 43 at Bearwallow
Gap just off the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 90.9. We all had difficulty
driving a few miles on the parkway with the dense fog, but it was clear and
sunny when we met Neal back at the start, the Park 'N Ride on US 220 in
Daleville, where Graham and I finished yesterday.
As mentioned previously, I'm doing three segments out of sequence this
weekend so my friends can help me with transportation while Jim's out of town. I
couldn't have run on the AT without them!
We were all excited about seeing new trails today. Neal hasn't been on this
section at all, I've done only the first three miles, and Dru and Graham had
only been up to the Fullhardt Knob shelter at about 5½ miles.
It was the first time all four of us had been together since the going-away
party before Jim and I left, so there was plenty to talk about as we hit the
trailhead. We were a happy bunch as we trudged through the woods, wet grass,
and old apple orchard to the I-81 underpass, through another woods, up a hill to
a pasture with cow pies but no cows today, and up 1,250 feet toward Fullhardt
Knob, the first big climb.
If I'd been alone, I would have been irritated by the noise of the traffic on
I-81 for the first couple miles, but with this lively group, I was hardly aware
of traffic - only our conversation and the heavy, sweet smell of honeysuckle.
THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND
The best story I heard today was the one about an eccentric Roanoke resident
identified in the newspaper as "Peggy." I had to ask Neal about the story later
so I didn't get my facts wrong, and he sent me this information from the Roanoke ATC site description of the shelter:
"This shelter seems to be a magnet for controversy. It is the last shelter on
the Appalachian Trail to use a rain cistern. Rainwater is collected from the
roof and stored in a large tank. A spigot just behind the shelter serves as the
water source.
This shelter is also notorious because it has been the
on-again-off-again home for an otherwise homeless woman named Peggy who believes
herself to be the deposed queen of England. She is, at times, belligerent and
she leaves a lot of trash behind; but she does not appear to be dangerous."
Neal continued, "I did a google search for Fullhardt Shelter AT Peggy, and even found this
picture:"
http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/893
Graham thinks he has seen this woman at the shelter before. It was obvious
she was a "squatter" by the volume of possessions she had, including a large
radio. She was eventually "evicted" by authorities, and there's no sign of her
now.
Wonder where she went? Sounds eccentric enough to be an ultra runner!
I haven't seen anyone living at any of the shelters I've seen along the Trail
so far, but I've seen some men in tents out in the forests that look like
they're more "permanent" residents than just hikers. They just look and act
different. I say hi and keep on going, not engaging them in conversation like I
do other hikers.
We spent several minutes at Fullhardt Shelter, eating snacks and reading the
register after our long climb. Graham showed us how the water system works:
rainwater is collected from gutters on the roof. It is routed through a
closed, locked concrete cistern. Water is piped about twenty feet away to a
spigot. I'm not sure why this is the last such system on the AT. It looks pretty
efficient to me!
It was another warm, humid day but we didn't have any rain on the Trail. We
were all pleased by how runnable (smooth) the first fourteen miles were to
Blackhorse Gap next to the Blue Ridge Parkway. There were more rocks after that,
but not bad, and we crossed the Parkway several times at overlooks. The views of
the Peaks of Otter (Sharp Top and Flat Top) six miles away and other mountains
were very clear.
PERFECT TRAIL, PERFECT DAY
After Neal turned around near eight miles, Dru, Graham, and I enjoyed about
five pretty creeks with water cascades in the next few miles. We were getting
warm enough by then to dip our hats and bandanas in the water a couple times,
and by the last creek Graham dunked his head in the water (photo above) and I
stuck my hot feet into a whirlpool in the middle of the stream and soaked them,
shoes and all! Felt great. (I don't get blisters from wet shoes and socks like
some runners do. Grit is my enemy.)
The forest seemed particularly beautiful in this section, with lots of
wildflowers, and we all noticed how much birdsong we heard, almost as if we were
in an aviary. It was the most I'd heard the birds anywhere on the Trail. What
beautiful music!
I'm surprised there weren't more hikers out today, a sunny Saturday on a
great section of trail. We saw two young thru-hikers at the second shelter at
Wilson Creek, where I read the register. We didn't go down to the shelter at
Bobblett's Gap because it was too far off the Trail.
I took Fall #9 in the last section when I was getting more tired. Graham said
it looked pretty graceful. A more nimble runner would have just kept rolling and
landed on his feet again, but I'm not nimble - or quick. I landed on soft dirt
and foliage and it didn't hurt this time (only hurt my ego!).
It was another great day on the Trail with good friends. It took us 7:30
hours to
complete the run/hike with all our stops, 6:45 forward motion per Graham's chrono. We all agreed we'll use this runnable section of the Trail near our
hometown for training in the future.
Thanks for the delicious chocolate chip cookies with nuts, Dru! She presented
me with a couple dozen cookies at the start of our run. The recipe is on the
Crisco label. Yum!!!
Jim's been gone two days now and I miss him a lot. We talk to each other on
the phone several times a day, including on the Trail. His sister is doing
better now and he plans to come home tomorrow. It's a 12-hour drive, so he won't
be home until evening.