Waynesboro, VA

Greetings from Waynesboro, VA. Today we were met by Spencer (Warpzilla)'s mom and his step dad. We utilized the local laundry, the grocery store, and doctor's office. Spencer has come down with a bad case of "chiggers"; we initially thought that it was itchy acne or some sort of rash, but it appears that it is a bad case of this pesky insect. He got a prescription ointment to combat the bugs and they should be under control or gone shortly.

Also this week we decided during our night in the greater Lynchburg area with the Haeseker's that we wanted to lighten our loads a little bit with our upcoming high mileage in the Shenandoah national park. We decided "to go cold" or to basically not heat up any water for our meals in the foreseeable future. We are losing our stove fuel, stoves, and cook sets. This shaves weight, yet also helps with time in that we need to gather less water and we have less to do when we get to camp at night.

Other changes involve dropping various items of gear. I am probably dropping my sleeping bag and shifting to a liner until northeastern Pennsylvania at the earliest. We have decided to move away from Nalgene bottles and are using plastic drink bottles from the store that are recyclable, easily replaceable, and weigh less than Nalgene bottle's. We are constantly trying to shave as much weight as we can, because we are faced with doing the stretch of Waynesboro to Harper's Ferry by the Fourth of July. This is a stretch of about 160 miles that will get us to the symbolic midpoint of the trail in Harper's Ferry at the ATC headquarters and we will cover it in about 5 days. We are going to then take off the Fourth of July in Harper's Ferry and get geared up for Pennsylvania.

This next 160 miles will probably require some long days and night hiking as well, yet we are ready for the challenge and our loads are lighter than ever.

Tonight we are posting some new photos so please enjoy those. Also we are going to try to update the accomplished mileage log as well.

Lynchburg, VA

Hello, today I am spending some time with some old friends here in Lynchburg, VA. Lynchburg is a short trip from Glasgow, VA and it has been amazing to catch back up with some old Raleigh connections. The Hutt's are connected to myself as well as Stephen. Their son Ren was in pre-school with Stephen and I back in 1989. They picked me up at the parking lot by the James River last night, and have fed me well and made me feel like a member of the family. A huge thank you to them for their amazing Virginia hospitality.

I finished the section from Pearisburg, VA to Glasgow, VA on schedule and was able to take it at a little slower pace and I think I may have found not only a shoe that works for me but also my trail legs. I am now on the 7th pair of shoes that I have hiked in this summer, this number is the current record on the trail, I guess that should make me proud I'm just not sure yet. My trail name is "Foot Locker," because of the difficulty I have had with finding footwear that works for me. The shoes that I am using now are popular among many thru-hikers, are stable, low-cut, and I have met people that have done 700+ miles in them so I think durability will not be a huge concern. I am now using the Montrail Hardrock. They did well the last two days from Daleville/Troutville to Glasgow, a stretch that I did in two days at an average of about 28 miles a day. I think I am now ready to jump back in with the crew. The local terrain is easier than earlier stretches, and the upcoming Shenandoah park is supposed to be well-graded and easy to hike through as well. Can't wait to see the other guys, but for now I am enjoying my day off.

-g

Mile Marker 620

Just got off the phone with Spencer tonight, he and Bandana Ben arrived into Pearisburg, VA this afternoon late after completing two 30mile plus days in a row. He sounded good just very pooped. I can't even imagine. The past two days have been the hottest so far, and Troop 215 you have been a life saver with the beverages you left behind. By Friday they should be in Catawba,VA and onto Glasgow by Monday June 25th. Glasgow will mark 1/3 of the way to Maine. Tonight they were spending the night in a real bed in a small local motel. After showers and dinner @ Hardee's, a visit to Dairy Queen, and laundry underway it sounded like they were looking forward to a good nights rest.

Father's Day

This is Garrett's Dad. Had a great father's day. My father and I drove up Saturday to meet up with the boys. We got to Mount Roger's Headquarters (adjacent to the Partnership Shelter) about 5 minutes after the boys arrived. They were resting and thinking about ordering a pizza.

Garrett had been having more foot problems (blisters on both feet). We picked up Garrett and took him into Marion for lunch and to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart.

We drove up to the trail crossing on Hwy 11 near Atkins, VA, to meet up with Spencer and Ben. We hiked in about 45 minutes to try and meet them on the trail. We met up with them as we hiked back to the road.

After Ben and Spencer checked into their motel and showered, my father took us all to dinner at the Barn. The boys each ordered two meals each, and ate every bite. They mentioned that they might order pizza when they returned to their room.

We dropped Ben and Spencer off at their motel then drove Garrett to Pearisburg, VA. Garrett wanted to move ahead so that he could gradually build up his hiking so that he would not delay the other boys any more than he already has. We checked him into a motel about a mile from the trail so that he could get a fresh start Sunday morning, then drove the 3-1/2 hours back to Hickory (arriving around 12:30 pm). I enjoyed the day, seeing the boys and spending the day with my dad.

Ben and Spencer appeared in good spirits and traveling well. They appear to be having no problems staying on their schedule. I am glad to report that Garrett called today and said that his blisters have nearly recovered and he was staying at Niday Shelter this evening (Monday). He plans to be at the Johns Spring or Catawba Mountain Shelter Tuesday. He plans to wait for Ben and Spencer at Glasgow, VA.

Back to the Trail

We are finishing up another delicious meal at Jerry's Trading Post in Troutdale, VA on this foggy morning. After just beating out the thunderstorm yesterday, it is likely that we will catch part of an afternoon storm today. We have decided that Garrett is going to get shuttled up the trail ahead of both Ben and I so that he can taper his mileage back up. Mr. Dixon is meeting us today for a resupply and will pick Garrett up at Partnership Shelter while Bandanna Ben and I continue. They will then meet us at US 11 where we will go in to Atkins, VA. The shuttle is waiting, so we must be going. That's all for now, stay posted for any updates.

Troutdale, VA

After leaving Damascus around 7:00 yesterday morning we've found ourselves back in town sooner than expected. We made the 28 mile trip up to Thomas Knob Shelter yesterday and had a fairly easy day up until the last 6 or so miles. The weather turned for the worse and we found ourselves drenched in rain and dodging a thunderstorm. We got to the shelter around 5:30 and changed into dry clothes and were able to call it an early night.

This morning we got going around the same time and set out to go a longer day than we've done before, 35.7 miles to the Partnership Shelter. Partnership is only .1 miles up the trail from the Mt. Rogers Ranger Station where you can use a pay phone to call for pizza. So with pizza on our minds we set out for the day. It was a very gray morning in the Grayson Highlands as the weather hadn't fully burned off and we were in foggy/cloudy weather all morning. We made it to VA16 where the trail branches off to the Hurricane Campground at around 3:30 and could hear the thunder really rolling in strong. We made the decision to not ascend 700 feet to the highest point around called High Point at an elevation of 4040. So we walked over to the side of the road, stuck our thumbs out, and were picked up within minutes by a guy headed home from work. He said he just couldn't leave us out in a storm like that because he saw it really coming down just over the mountain we decided to not climb. Good choice for us!

We are now at Jerry's Trading Post eating dinner and e-mailing. Hopefully the weather will be better in the coming days!

More later,
Bandanna Ben

Photos

We are just finishing up a pizza dinner at Sicily's in Damascus and they happen to have a public access computer here. It has a very fast connection and moreover, Active X capability so we can upload more than 5 pictures at a time (what we were doing at the library). So feel free to look through our "Trip Photos" gallery for pictures of our adventures from the last few weeks. We're off again in the morning. We'll most likely finish our stay in Damascus with another Dairy King milkshake. Happy trails!

Bandanna Ben