Virginia

So here I am, 4 states away from the end of my hike... granted that the one I'm in right now is 550 miles long or something. A good quarter or more of the whole trail. Turns out Virginia with its being a big state and unnecessary amount of switchbacks takes up more than its fair share of miles. But hey, from Rockfish gap there's 850 miles to go, which seems substantially less than the 1330 I've already done, and I'm still having a lot of fun. Who knows what will happen when I get back home anyway? Still haven't heard back from the peace corps... perhaps applying for grad schools will be in order?
But for now I'm more concerned with the troubles on the trail than after it. You know, rain, sore feet, angry cows, black bears falling from trees, hikers with severe emotional and mental issues, tourists, but most of all high voltage.
This is a shot of a typical hiker shelter along the trail. I'll be using these for 3 or 4 days seeing as how my tent (which I conveniently put back in my pack after deciding it was worth the weight somewhere back in vermont), had some pole malfunctions. So, add mice to the list of trail issues. Or rats that apparently steal people's socks and shoe insoles? Dunno, I did not stay at that shelter. Bears do apparently frequent some shelters though, as I found out one lonely night after getting into camp at about 8pm (dark.) I had a black furry visitor come by every few hours to check on me and see how I was doing. He seemed undeterred by my yelling and clapping, but fortunately disinterested in my lack of food (thanks bear bag.) I saw one bear my entire trip before entering Shenendoah National Park (not coincidentally the day before), and over the past 3 days I lost count, but I would guess around 20. They are everywhere. One fell off a tree in attempts to run away from me. Pretty hilarious.

After hiking through almost all of the Shenendoahs, my roommate (center) Charles from last year picked me up, and we headed back to crash at his place. He's going to grad school in Charlottesville now. The next day we headed out and finished the remaining 12 miles of the AT to Rock Fish Gap. Hiking 12 miles without my backpack on felt pretty amazing. Tomorrow I imagine I'll hike much further with a pack fully stocked on food. I do like food though.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the letters back in Duncannon, I was pretty astonished when the post office lady handed me the stack. Next stop is Pearisburg, VA, then Damascus, VA, then Tenessee??? That sounds disturbingly close to home. Perhaps some of you North Carolina folks will have to come do some walking with me soon?

Post office stuff;
Pearisburg, VA 24134, ETA Oct. 14th
Damascus, VA 24236, ETA Oct. 24th

Oh, and thanks to the Chamberlains in Harper's Ferry for the place to stay and food and everything. Things like that make the trip.

Anyway, looks like it is waaaay past my bed time, hiker midnight is 9pm. 'night