5/17: Site Past Rice Knob Shelter to Creek Site by Old Captain’s Place

• 

• 

• 

• Miles 645.6-657.9
• Total ascent 2451’; descent 3383′

We got soaked today. It wasn’t a hard rain, but it was a durable one, the sort no gear short of a plastic bag can stand up to. 

Almost no outdoor apparel or fabric gear is truly waterproof. If it were, it would get wet inside with sweat, and it wouldn’t have the strength of woven fabric, which doesn’t rip at the first brush of a blackberry bush. 

So, skeptically at first, I built a fire and Rachel put up a clothesline. I worried both that the wood was too wet and that we had little hope of getting our stuff to dry in the three hours of daylight that remained in camp. 

Surprisingly, the fire caught (we used leaves found under rock overhangs), and our clothes are on the dry side of damp. 

With the rain and my pruney feet included, I thought today was a great slice of life on the AT. This sort of forest–western Virginia’s denser, wetter lowlands–pops when it rains. The moss and sapling trees, in particular, seem to fluoresce. The creeks bulge, and the trails–typically near water in the lowland–cut a maze through the fog. Everything feels secluded, and every passerby is a surprise until a dozen yards away. 

I did discover in the process of drying my insoles that the plastic heel cup is broken on both inserts, explaining why I’ve been experiencing more lateral movement in my boot. I consider broken insoles to be a “replace ASAP” gear issue, so I’ll be paying a visit to the outfitter in Daleville, VA (where, we joke, the Dales live). I may also decide to get a haircut in Daleville. I’m getting food in my beard on a daily basis, which is gross and risks making items like my pillow and sleeping bag smellable. Plus, hair can get heavy, especially when wet. 

Rachel and I saw today a few hikers we assumed were already in Daleville: Maki, Zen, and Riptide, who, as it turned out, were simply at Trail Days over the weekend. Probably having realized they were already in for a pricey shuttle (Trail Days is the ATC’s official annual festival, held in Damascus, about 200 miles south by trail. Dozens of gear and food vendors attend, as do thousands of AT aficionados), they slackpacked the 20 miles south to Pearisburg. 

They’d chosen a nice section to do so, given the rockiness of the trail recently and the hills they’d be hiking up if they were traveling northbound (as they are when unassisted by shuttle). Not one of them opened their food bags and rarely paid for food over the weekend, apparently. 

We didn’t go to Trail Days because we’re squares. We didn’t particularly want to party, much less pay $150 to get there and back. We’re sure we will continue to hear about it from those who did. 

We’re glad that a week of sunshine and 80 degree days is in the forecast, and that we have a waterfall campsite to ourselves tonight. It’s hard not to go to bed happy with conditions like that.