After Dismal falls it wasn't too far to Pearisburg. We passed a few noteworthy sites along the way including Angels Rest - a great camping spot right next to cliffs overlooking the surrounding valley and a nice place to watch the sun rise.
In Pearisburg we stayed at the Rendezvous Motel. This was the first and only motel we stayed in while hiking and the only time we had air conditioning. The owner of the place is hilarious. Its right off the trail which puts you about a mile outside of town, but they offer a free shuttle and took our mail drop - excellent. We ate a ton of food - as usual, and met some friends there whom we would spend the next week hiking with. This was one of the few places we actually updated the blog from the trail (the post should be at the end of the blog). After a night in the AC on a cheap motel mattress (felt amazing) we killed a box of peanut butter crunch and some cookies then hit the trail. This marked the beginning of our worst insect troubles that would last for the next 10 days or so. I'm not sure why but there seemed to be bees, wasps and hornets swarming everywhere.
On the way up to Rice Field (pictured above) we were both stung and we continued to get stung by different insects almost every day for the next week and a half - unfortunately Jess took most of the stings. Here's a picture of her swollen ankle after a hornet got the best of her.
This section of trail was not easy. The stinging insect problems were only part of the reason. This part of the trail had some of the lowest elevations on the trail (usually below 3000 feet) and it was August so the heat was hard to deal with at times. To make matters worse gypsy moths had eaten all of the vegetation from the trees which meant that there was absolutely no shade at times. Below is a picture of a Gypsy Moth - they look cute but they can completely devastate a forest. Sometimes we would be walking at the "front" and we would see thousands of them flying around.
One low point was when we decided to take an easy day to Warspur shelter. We took our time but arrived at 4:00 in the afternoon to find the shelter in an area of forest that had been annihilated by gypsy's - exposing it to the sun. The shelter was also overrun with flies which in turn attracted a multitude of baldface hornets. The flies would land on us then the hornets would pounce the flies - killing them while they were still on our bodies. Jess spent the afternoon in the tent (bug protection) and I found a creek to sit in. We got really lucky and a thunderstorm struck about an hour before dark which cooled everything off and chased the bugs away so we could sleep in comfort. From there our luck improved and we got past the gypsy problems and on into Catawba Virginia in relative comfort. On the way there we passed the Keffir Oak - a 300 year old oak measuring 18 feet in diameter.
In Catawba we dined at the famous Homeplace Restaurant (after we saw dragons tooth - next post). Many people told us that it was the best food on the trail. It was good, but I have to differ - maybe its becuase we're vegetarians. They are really hiker friendly and they do let you camp out in thier gazebos which is really nice (especially after eating all you can eat).
After Dismal falls it wasn't too far to Pearisburg. We passed a few noteworthy sites along the way including Angels Rest - a great camping spot right next to cliffs overlooking the surrounding valley and a nice place to watch the sun rise.
In Pearisburg we stayed at the Rendezvous Motel. This was the first and only motel we stayed in while hiking and the only time we had air conditioning. The owner of the place is hilarious. Its right off the trail which puts you about a mile outside of town, but they offer a free shuttle and took our mail drop - excellent. We ate a ton of food - as usual, and met some friends there whom we would spend the next week hiking with. This was one of the few places we actually updated the blog from the trail (the post should be at the end of the blog). After a night in the AC on a cheap motel mattress (felt amazing) we killed a box of peanut butter crunch and some cookies then hit the trail. This marked the beginning of our worst insect troubles that would last for the next 10 days or so. I'm not sure why but there seemed to be bees, wasps and hornets swarming everywhere.
On the way up to Rice Field (pictured above) we were both stung and we continued to get stung by different insects almost every day for the next week and a half - unfortunately Jess took most of the stings. Here's a picture of her swollen ankle after a hornet got the best of her.
This section of trail was not easy. The stinging insect problems were only part of the reason. This part of the trail had some of the lowest elevations on the trail (usually below 3000 feet) and it was August so the heat was hard to deal with at times. To make matters worse gypsy moths had eaten all of the vegetation from the trees which meant that there was absolutely no shade at times. Below is a picture of a Gypsy Moth - they look cute but they can completely devastate a forest. Sometimes we would be walking at the "front" and we would see thousands of them flying around.
One low point was when we decided to take an easy day to Warspur shelter. We took our time but arrived at 4:00 in the afternoon to find the shelter in an area of forest that had been annihilated by gypsy's - exposing it to the sun. The shelter was also overrun with flies which in turn attracted a multitude of baldface hornets. The flies would land on us then the hornets would pounce the flies - killing them while they were still on our bodies. Jess spent the afternoon in the tent (bug protection) and I found a creek to sit in. We got really lucky and a thunderstorm struck about an hour before dark which cooled everything off and chased the bugs away so we could sleep in comfort. From there our luck improved and we got past the gypsy problems and on into Catawba Virginia in relative comfort. On the way there we passed the Keffir Oak - a 300 year old oak measuring 18 feet in diameter.
In Catawba we dined at the famous Homeplace Restaurant (after we saw dragons tooth - next post). Many people told us that it was the best food on the trail. It was good, but I have to differ - maybe its becuase we're vegetarians. They are really hiker friendly and they do let you camp out in thier gazebos which is really nice (especially after eating all you can eat).
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