Day 19: Monday, June 23

(Susan) Today was our last day on the trail. We hiked from the Mt Nebo area back to Albright (near Kingwood)--probably not more than 8 miles or so. Since we made the decision not to complete the yo-yo, we needed to figure out how to get back to our car in Pearisburg. We formulated a plan while hiking and it all came together without a hitch: When we arrived back in Albright, we went to Teter's Campground and took a shower. The owner graciously allowed us to use her internet to check local bus schedules--then drove us the few miles into Kingwood where we ate lunch and used the internet at the library to arrange for a one way rental car. In Kingwood we took the Buckwheat Express (a small regional bus service) to Morgantown where the driver let us off right in front of Enterprise rental. The economy car we ordered hadn't been returned and the Enterprise folks talked us into taking a panel van for the same price--and throwing in a half a tank of gas for free. They also didn't tack on any fee for the one way rental as long as we returned the vehicle to another location in WV. So in late afternoon we headed down to Pearisburg with a large empty van (save a couple of backpacks)--and are spending the night at the Rendevous Hotel in Pearisburg, VA where we had left our car. The folks that own the Rendevous are big supporters of AT hikers--and they stay pretty booked up with the hiking crowd this time of year. We got lucky and got the last room available. Tomorrow we will return the van to an Enterprise rental place in Princeton, WV, then head home to SC. Another thru-hike+ completed!

On an AT related note: We also reminisced with Rendevous owner Brenda (?) about Tillie Woods, who operated the Wood's Hole Hostel south of Pearisburg. Tillie passed away earlier this year at the age of 89. Her hostel was the coolest place! A restored log cabin with several outbuildings, an outdoor shower, privy, bunkhouse/barn where the hikers slept in a loft. If you were one of the first 8 folks to arrive on a given day, you could eat breakfast in the main cabin the next morning. On our 2002 AT thru-hike, D and I were #7 and #8 to arrive so we got to spend time talking to Tillie about the little cabin she and her late husband had bought in the 40's when he was a grad student studying elk in the area. Tillie's granddaughter owns the old cabin now and is currently having it enlarged and was getting rid of some of Tillie's older furnishings. Brenda (the owner of the Rendevous) got a number of Tillie's hand-made rugs that were being thrown out, and gave me one as a souvenir. I'll treasure it as a memento of our hike and stay at Wood's Hole.

Day 18: Sunday, June 22

(Susan) Toward dusk last night the thunder started rumbling and D insisted on putting up the tarp. I really didn't think it was going to rain, but shortly after the tarp went up the thunder got louder and more consistent, then lightening, then heavy rain. We were perfectly dry under the tarp. After the rain subsided a bit,the traffic up and down the road started up again and continued throughout the night. Based on what we have seen where we are camped this evening, it is simply what folks do around here for entertainment. They ride ATVs, cars, trucks, golf carts, and dirt bikes up and down the road for pleasure -- and last night I thought is was because they were on the lookout for trespassing hikers! But, back to the trail. We headed out shortly before 7 am. The trek to the northern terminus of the Allegheny Trail was only about 12 1/2 miles--mostly taking us by large open farms. When we started out there was heavy haze that burned off by 10 and it seemed to be the makings of another hot day. A few 10ths of a mile before the trail finish on the Mason Dixon line on the WV/PA border, a woman who was working in her front yard offered us some water. I gratefully had her fill my 2 water bottles. (Not using a platy this trip). She told us to feel free to use the hose out back on our return trip. She also told us the had driven some overheated hikers home in the past--and Dwight commented she was a "trail angel in the making". The end of the trail (or what is generally considered the beginning) was simply a final yellow blaze on a signpost marking the dividing line of Preston Co, WV and Fayette Co, PA. Seemed odd that a more prominent sign was not posted. There was, however, a nearby kiosk and parking area next to a Columbia Gas substation. We could not locate the brass plaque marking the Mason Dixon line that was mentioned in the hiking guide. We took a couple of "finish photos", and had lunch under the shade of a maple tree. We also hung our wet tarp to dry and laid out our dew damp sleeping bags in the sun. The afternoon was cooler than expected since intermittent cloud cover moved in. We retraced our steps to milepost 13.5 near the Mt Nebo Church (which we were told now has a total of 4 parishioners). A local farmer there, Glenn Miller, allows folks to camp in his yard. We are getting quite the stares from the folks driving up and down the road. ATTENTION: HIKERS ON DISPLAY!!!

We had originally planned to yo-yo the trail, but have decided one trip down the trail is enough. There's a lot more road walk than I expected--and perhaps we didn't pick the best time of year to hike this trail. Fall would be cooler, likely bug free and NO STINGING NETTLES! But then there wouldn't be the mountain laurel in full bloom and the fragrant cinnamon fern would be gone for the season. And fall gear is heavier than summer gear. Pluses and minuses to everything.

Day 17: Saturday June 21

(Susan) Yet another day of road walk except the first part of the day which was technically on a PCR (whatever that is!). We're not sure if this stands for "Pretty Country Road" or "Pretty Crummy Road" (since the road surface, width and condition vary widely)--but it's some numbering system (i.e. we went from PCR 7/33 to PCR 3/12). The prc we camped on last night started out as a narrow gravel road next to a farm field--but then turned into an active stream bed just before heading into the woods where we camped last night.

We got to the outskirts of Albright and had no luck trying to get a hitch into Kingwood to resupply--so we walked the 3+ miles into town on the side of fairly busy secondary highways. It was nerve wracking at times. We had lunch at the pizza hut, resupplied at Food Town, and paid the parent of a group of cheerleaders (fund raising by washing cars) $15 to drive us back to Albright. They were raising money for new pompoms - seriously. It was an expensive taxi ride, but we considered it well worth it given how hot it was and how harrowing the road walk was into town. From just beyond Muddy Creek, the trail had been rerouted because a timber company apparently retracted right-of-way through their land. We were told this was because they were afraid hikers would mess with their equipment. (I know that's always high on my list!) So instead of skirting the mountain on rail grade trail near the creek, the reroute took us up over the mountain on mostly gravel roads. It was hot and uneventful. It was not until late in the day that we could match our trail guide to our current location and we are guessing that the reroute may have cut out 5 miles. On the yo-yo we may try to hike the old route since an Albright campground owner (Teter's Campground) told us hikers were still going through there with no repercussion. We are camped above a creek in the only area we could find that is not Posted. However, I'm sure we on privately owned land so we're trying to be as stealth as possible even though we are probably only 100 feet from the road. There are a fair number of vehicles going up and down the road and every time one slows down I get paranoid we're going to get spotted and kicked out. Can't wait for dark!

Day 16: Friday June 20

(Susan) Another day of road walking until the last mile which although is off road is on Posted property. We are camped here anyway (stopped early-6:50) because the trail will leave the woods again soon. After a few cooler days it warmed up again today. No rain except a very short 3 minute shower--just long enough to pull out the rain gear, then put it all away again. We did a quick resupply in Rowlesburg in late morning--about a 3/4 mile walk into town and out. Hoped to find a restaurant open, but there are no longer any in town. The small grocery had a deli though and we ordered a disappointing pizza. The town looks like it's getting spiffed up--we ate lunch in a small park next to the grocery that appears recently completed. Most of main street is boarded up stores except a bank and "Curiosity Shop". In retrospect, I had enough food to get Dwight to the next resupply--which will be tomorrow in Kingwood. But I enjoyed seeing the town.

Day 15: Thursday, June 19

(Susan) A long day of walking--from about 7:30 am to 9pm -covering about 31 miles. It was all road walk except perhaps 2 miles--time mile from where we were camped to the first road, then a short bit off Close Mtn Rd. At the end of the day the feet were pretty sore. Some highlights: - Around 11am the road went by an unsigned campground on Horseshoe Creek near the hamlet of Leadmine. We didn't think it was the campground mentioned in the guidebook (and it wasn't) but they had a coke machine with a big WVU emblem on it and cokes were only 50 cents. The guy running it--probably in his late 50's--took over for an elderly aunt who ran it for years. He took me into a small chapel where a lot of old family photos were displayed. He also showed me some of the original campground cottages--very small board and batten structures made of chestnut. He recently retired from Consolidated (mining). We spent about an hour chatting with him, his wife and a buddy also recently retired from Consol. We were not far enough into the day to stop for the night but they would have given us a tenting spot for $5. Very nice folks. - Also in Leadmine a couple of children (under the supervision of their mother and grandmother) were selling lemonade and brownies on the side of the rd. Saving money for a trip to Myrtle Beach. Can't imagine they would get many customers on this quiet country road so we tipped big. - We stopped for a break on the bridge to the old Cheat River Campground--now a private getaway for a Morgantown lawyer. The caretaker, Richard, saw us and stopped to chat. (We think he was really making sure we weren't planning to stay for the night.) What a character! He told us the campground ended up in the hands of the lawyer because the owner nearly killed a fellow with a baseball bat after the 2 got into a fight. He kept us entertained for quite some time. He told us many cycling races came right down the road there--and he didn't like it because he was a volunteer EMT and always "had to scrape a couple of them off the front of 18 wheelers". - Given that we road walked with NO TRESPASSING signs posted every few feet, we walked until 9 to get to a shelter 1/2 mile off the trail. We actually missed a turn en route due to oncoming darkness so it took us much longer to get there than expected--and I was taking a painstaking amount of time getting there since the jeep road to the shelter was a muddy mess and I was determined to keep my feet dry! As luck would have it, we made it to another shelter just before it started pouring. I was too tired for dinner. Ate a cheese stick and packed it in for the night.

Day 14 : Wednesday, June 18

(Susan) We took our time leaving Davis today. Breakfast at the Bright Morning Inn was eggs cooked to order, bacon, excellent biscuits, fruit and coffee. Delicious. After breakfast, Susan Moore, the proprietor of the inn graciously let us use her computer, phone and leave our things in her guest lounge area as we ran around doing errands. We resupplied our food and D bought new shoes at a local outfitter. He and been hiking with a 5” tear along the heal cup of one shoe for several days. I couldn't talk him into duck taping the whole mess directly onto his foot. Before we left Davis we had some delicious burritos at Hellbenders—of course I had to order the one called the “Lost Hiker”. (Our hike has made it's natural transition to becoming all about food.) We finally headed out of town around 1:30. The first part of the hike was a road walk to the outskirts of Thomas—just a few miles down the road from Davis. The “trail” went right by a WV artisan gallery called Mountain Made located in a chicly restored building. Very high end art and craft. I took some pics of dulcimers I thought our friend Charlotte Williams (also a dulcimer maker) might find interesting. The road walk continued to a fire service road that connected to a beautiful rim trail that we are camped next to now. At the intersection of the FS road and the trail was an established campsite with a picnic table, fire ring and a big blue overstuffed lounge chair! In the fire ring next to the chair was a pizza box with the label “Big Daddy”. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry! Dwight actually tried the chair and said it was very comfortable (and apparently waterproof since it wasn't wet). The thunder has been rumbling since before we set up camp—but no rain other than a few sprinkles. Sure hope we have another rain free day tomorrow. Temps have been in the low 60's the last 2 days—perfect for hiking and almost no bugs!

Day 13 : Tuesday, June 17

(Dwight) This is a partial post--will remove this note when post is completed.

I had a reoccurring dream that our stealth camp site in the small grove of spruce, outside the hamlet of Red Creek was discovered in the morning. In my dream school children were walking by our tarp, as we sleep and throwing rocks and sticks at it.

So, I was a little paronoid about camping on private property, farm land last night...

Actually, in the daylight, as we broke camp, I was impressed with how protected this little spot was. No one could see us from the road, and the thick, mature spruce protected us from last nights cloud burst.

As we walked the road out of red creek, and got a look at the beautiful lush green slanted framland. Flat land in these West Virginia Mts is such a preimum, anything flat enough to pitch a tent on is private property and put to good use.

We hiked in Blackwater State Park. Took a side trail to the lodge and had a great buffet brunch around 10am. After hiking through trail that had transposed itself to creek, we ran into two folks training their beagles to hunt rabits. Here we got a great tip on a place to stay in Davis, the Bright Morning Inn. After hiking thru very soggy state forest we saw Blackwater Falls. There was a huge amount of H2O over the falls, Niagra like. It was short road walk to Davis and a warm bed at the Bright Morning Inn. It was all we had expected. Steak for dinner, It was a great day.

Day 12: Monday, June 16

(Susan) I had high hopes for today. Expectation: An easy pleasant hike along the Glady River--an extension of yesterday's experiance along the Glady. The reality: A nice pleasant hike until the thunder and rain started rolling in around 9am. It rained on and off during the day--the last downpour coming in around 4pm. It isn't that walking in the rain is that unpleasant. I actually don't mind it when the weather's warm. It's hiking in wet socks and shoes--double AARRGG! The trail turned into a muddy mess--like walking in a clam flat. In spite of the fact that my shoes reached maximum water retension early on--I still found it necessary to avoid every muddy spot possible and rock hop creeks. Oh how I wish I could be that person who heads straight down the middle of a wet, muddy trail!

We made our final crossing of the Glady River around 6:30. There were some established camping spots on the far side of the river, but I was thinking we would find something nicer down the trail. What I didn't realize when we headed on was that the next 8.7 miles were roadwalk where either no camping was possible due to terrain (i.e dropoff to river on one side of road, granite cliff on other side) or due to fact that property was posted no trespassing and was generally enclosed in barbed wire and electric fences.

When it got close to dusk, we started getting anxious about where we were going to spend the night. We thought about knocking on the door of a farmhouse and asking if we could sleep in corner of the owner's pasture, but it seemed to late in the day for a stranger to show up at someone's door. Just as it started drizzling again, Dwight headed out across a small grassy pasture and dissappeared into shoulder high grasses. A few seconds later I heard him calling me. I thought to myself: there's no way in hell I'm going to spend the night in that big tall mess of plants that probably has poison ivy, poison oak, stinging nettles and who knows what else! But given the despiration of the situation, I headed through the dent he made in the tall plants, and popped out the other side of the small pasture into a grove of pine trees! Dwight was already breaking off some lower dead branches off one of the trees to carve out a place for us to put up the tarp. It isn't flat by a long shot, but we are fairly hidden from the road, and are out of the rain. We ate a quick, cold dinner and are calling it a day.

Day 11 : Sunday, June 15

(Dwight) There are few problems that cannt be solved with time. After 11 hours of sleep at John Camp Shelter, on Shavers mountain, we outlasted the rain.

The sun was peeking through the clouds, Everything was dry but our shoes and sox. There is nothing worse than putting on cold wet sox after a warm dry night in the sleeping bag. A minor glich occurred as I packed - riped a 4 inch hole in my backpack while stuffing it - oooops. Susan mended it 10 minutes and we were off sloshing down the trail. Now, just because the rain had stopped, doesnt mean we dont get wet. Everything in the forest is wet. We got drenched from dripping wet tree limbs, bushes and ferns.

The forest on Shavers Mt. is very wet, it reminded me of the Smokey Mts. Here there is Red Spruce, moss covered rocks and ferns.

About 10am we decended to open fields surrounding the East Fork Rails to Trails trail. A coverted RR track that ran along the Glady river. There were a tremendous amount of wildflowers, yellow, purple and white, and an equal number of butterflies fluttering between the flowers. This was a 3 mile walk into the little Hamlet of Glady. Glady had a few small farms and a Post Office. We ate lunch in the shade of a maple tree at the PO while our shoes dried in the sun. We spent the ret of th afternoon walking on road, then trail that shaddowed the Glady River. About 5pm we stopped and swam in the river. Two hours latter we found a very camp site on the river bank. This was one of our best days on the ALT. We walked 21 miles today.

Day 10: Saturday, June 14

(Susan) We left Durbin shortly after 7am--all was quiet; nothing open here at this time of day.

The ALT joined up with the lightly used North Fork Rail Trail--which followed the north fork of the Greenbrier River. Very pretty along here--we had it all to ourselves--save a deer who bounced along like it was on springs until it bounded out of view.

After about 4 miles on the rail trail we forded the river in water that didn't go above the lower calf. Slippery--but we took it slow and had no problems--except bushwacking around on the other bank to find the trail.

The trail meandered around a bit (D thought whomever laid it out was doing crack) then headed up Shavers Mtn through endless thickets of stinging nettles and other prickley stuff. AAAAARRRGGG! We took a break for lunch and put on long pants--and the nettles still made it through. When I could take it no more, I bushwacked up a nearly vertical embankment through rhodo thicket, pine trees, and assorted plants about 100' to a road bed. I couldn't see it from the trail, but I could hear cars now and again and was pretty sure the trail followed it for a while. Ironically, the last 5 or 6' up the embankment was, you guessed it, stinging nettle. But I was ready for it. I had big stick in hand and went postal all over it. Dwight initially said he'd meet me where the trail crossed the road came scrambling up after me. First I saw his hiking poles dig into the side of the road, then he popped up after them. "Did you consider discussing that move with me?", he said a little irritat!
ed. I plead Temporary Insanity.

Did I mention it had been dizzling off and on? Not long after we left the road and rejoined the trail, we went though a virgin stand of Red Spruce. A beautiful all-to-brief section. The trail was both well used and well maintained there. Unfortunately, we were soon back in the big stands of stinging nettle--and slogging along when the skys opened up. We were within a mile or so of one of the few shelters on the trail and went there to wait out the rain. We have decided to spend the night--even though we only got in about 13.5 miles today. Tomorrow--several more miles of wet stinging nettles to get off this crazy mtn!

Day 9 : Friday, June 13

(Dwight) The night on the Greenbrier was nice. The bugs were acceptable. We took a bath in the river, and slept clean. We had a plan for finding our way back-on track. Well the plan wasn't very good. What looked like a good bushwach route on the map, turned us right back down to te river. We thought we had gone off course on a blue blaze trail which was also marked on our ALT map, but the map topography and the lay of the land didnt match. So, our next option was to hike back to last 'good' blaze we found on the trail. This was about a 2 mile walk backwards.

Now, when we got to the location in question, there was the turn we had missed. It was much more obvious from the opposite direction, and at 10am today. So, this morning we logged 3 hrs. of 'bonus miles', otherwise known as miles walked wandering the woods, lost. The remainder of the morning we attempted to get a glimpse of the NRAO radio dish. The leaf cover is so thick and the day hazy but we got a look at two dishes. Hard to tell if they were 'the dish'.

We saw a mother bear and 4 cubs in the afternoon, on Slathen{?) Hollow Rd-a wide grassy trail. They scattered in all directions. One cub up a tree, one cub to the right, mom to the left, and two cubs ran in tandom down the trail in front of us. This made it difficult to follow th golden rule: never get between a bear and her cubs.

Mom bear didn't seem agressive, so we decided to continue down the trail. It was neat to once again watch the pair of cubs motor a getaway as we caught up to them. I dont understand how they will all find each other, I hope they were all reunited.

We spotted a second bear near the NRAO boundary. There are 'no hunting' signs. Maybe it acts as a bear refuge.

For the last 5 miles into Durbin we had trail. The trail had been churned up, and there was a visible foot path. After some discussion, we decided it was horses. Although for miles there were no droppings.

We needed to get the Durbin Post Office by 5pm to get our mail drop.
Susan ran ahead and by the time I arrived she had engaged the post misters and a few town folk. We got the scoop on the town. Groceries at Kindler. Dinner at a bar called Upper Inn Club. Spend the night at a campground on the Greenbeir River. Thats about all this little town has to offer. Showers at the campground were warm, site was bythe river and bug free.

Day 8 : Thursday, June 12

Well, I won't use the "L" word to describe our current location, but I will say that we found ourselves at what we assume is the Greenbrier River at the end of the day...and while it is beautiful, it is not on trail. We decided to make the best of it - take a dip and call it a day. Tomorrow, when we have more daylight, more wits about ourselves and hopefully have a renewed sense of humor about this trail, we'll try to get back on track.

To back up a bit and explain how we got to this point: We left Cass around 3 after a ride on the Cass Scenic Railroad followed by a late lunch. The train ride wasn't as exciting as I'd remembered from when I was a kid, but it was enjoyable and the history lesson interesting.

The trail out of Cass went from gravel road to a grassy roadbed, to a well established trail and eventually to what we're coming to accept as normal: walking blaze to blaze through the woods. At some point the gold blazes stopped and after 15 minutes of wandering around, Dwight located a blue blaze. We knew we would eventually need to start following some blue blazes today--but because the trail guide is written from a N to S-going perspective, it wasn't clear when that would be for us. So since there were no more gold blazes to be found we went with the blue. That led to the next problem--the blue blazes were not only extremely faint, they were 'few and far between'. The map showed the trail following ridgeline, so we decided that if we couldn't locate the blue blazes, we could stay with the ridgeline until we ran out of that. In doing so, we periodically ran into blue blazes and at times a faint indication of trail, leading us to believe we were still on track. After !
descending the ridge a bit we encountered orange markings on trees that have no particular pattern to them. In some cases, there is both an orange marking and blue blaze on the same tree. Since we are in the vacinity of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Greenbank, I'm wondering if it could be their boundary marker. Regardless, we heard the river before we saw it and knew at that point we'd officiaaly lost the trail. Hopefully tomorrow, th trail will find us. <g>

Day 7 : Wedesday, June 11

(Dwight) Malin Mt. shelter was a gift from God. It saved us from getting soaked last night. No visits from black bears, alhought the shelter had multiple areas of bear scratchings, indicating territory. The walk down Marlin Mt. was wet, but the cool air. The front of the cooler weather included some hail.

Early morning hiking was thru grass covered forest service road, canopy covered ridge trail and rododendern covered low lands.

We ate lunch the Seneca Spring shelter. This is a rebuilt three sided picnic structure with a stone floor and fireplace. The spring was, cold and clear, piped from the side of the mountain. Best on the trail to date. In the afternoon we spotted a black bear. He would periodically run from us in the direction of the trail. We would eventually catch up to him and he would gallup down the trail again in a futial attempt to escape. In time, our frustrated bruin angled his way away from the trail and returned to his mountain tranquility.

We in and out of Seneca State Forest and by a timbered built picnic shelter and a decomishined steel fire tower. Then road walked for about 4 miles to where the trail merged with the Greenbrier River Trail going north.

I dont know if it was all the road walking and the gravel Greenbrier Trail, or the 20 miles, but my feet were dog tired and I was so glad we reached Cass at 5pm.

At Cass, the park houses were full, and the local lode was booked. I know I was very deflated as the lodge folks gave us the bad news. But without asking, D.W. at the rt66 Outpost (lodge) called around and got us a room at the Cass Inn, only 1/4 mile down rt 66 - perfect. Best night of sleep 'onthe trail' so far.

Day 6 : Tuesday, June 10

(Susan) Things are looking up on the ALT. We left our little cabin at Watoga St Park shortly after 7am and retraced our steps back to the trail. From WSP to where we are camped tonight the trail seemed not only to have greater use, but there was noticable trail maintenance in the form of cleared blowdowns (north of Beaver Creek) and someone has recently been pruning from horseback betn Huntersville and Marlon Mtn.

Other events of the dau:
-Saw several mocassin flowers (Pink Ladyslipper) south of Beaver Cr. Flowers all faded out except on one plant.

-Soaked bug bitten legs in Beaver Cr. Seemed to really reduce the itching-or is this the "placebo effect"?

-Saw a bear along the ridgline on Buckley Mtn. Bounded over the hill when we saw us coming. We must smell worse than I thought.

-Arrived in the hamlet of Huntersville around 2. Four guys were huddled around the hood of a p/u under a big oak tree proving, Dwight said, that the days of the "shade tree mechanic" are NOT dead and gone.

-We got a cool drink {Dwight actually drank a quart of sweet tea) and resupplied at the Chevron in Huntersville. The trail goes right by there. The owner told us a thunderstorm was forcasted for around 5 pm (it was almost 4)--bur that no tonados were expected. Wonderful! While we were sitting out front of the Chervon drinking our beverages and watching folks pump gas, we met a guy who told us that the recent temps were the hottest in the 6 yrs he's lived here.
We also met a Forest Service worker who apologized for the condition of the ALT. "I've tried to take a few crews up there but my boss won't let me--he says it's not a priority."

-We left the Chevron around 4 and hiked the 5 miles to Marlin Mtn Shelter (one of the few on the ALT) arriving around 6:15. The rain arrived at 6:20. How's that for timing. Let's hope it cools thing down.

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Allow us to help those in need, sell back your spare PocketMail and make some extra pocket money.

Day 5 : Monday, June 9

(Susan) We left our breezy campsite in a grove of mnt laurel around 7. The only small complaint I have about the site was that chiggers joined the group a biting insects that have been our companions on this hike--so I can add chigger bites to my mosquito, gnat, big house fly(?), sweat bee and spider bitten body. The bites compliment all the scratch marks and abrasions from the blowdowns, twigs, branches etc littering the trail. But "I'm not bitter", as my friend Roger would say <g>.

We had a short hiking day going only 8 miles from Meadow mtn to Watoga St Park. No significant problems with finding our way along the trail today. After a short hike further up Meadow Mtn this a.m., we walked ridgeline for a while on a grassy woods rd then hiked down off the mtn. The remaining hike was largely level through woods along Beaver Creek which was surprisingly missing from our guide book as a water source. (Unmentioned water sources mean you carry more water than needed with the expectation you next source is farther away.)

Along the trail today we saw a sign that simply read "Cemetary" and we took the short side trail to the Alderman family cemetary with stones dating back to the early 1800's. It was evident this small family graveyard is still being lovingly cared for today.

The route to Watoga SP also took us by Beaver Creek Campground in Calvin Price State Forest. The campsites there were beautiful--clean, shady, flat, nicely treed--and not a single one was occupied.

We hiked into Watoga SP from the Honeymoon Trail--past several charming log cabins--and of course we had to take one for the night. They were just too cute. We've also had two good meals at the restaurant here--so I guess you could saw we are spoiling ourselves. Oh, and we got a shower and washed out our clothes. The hiker funk has definitely set into Dwight's shoes--I know because I slept down wind of them last night.

Day 4 : Sunday, June 8

(Dwight) This is a day of good and bad. The hiking was difficult because there is no identiable foot path. Trudging thru dense leaves, over branches and down trees, while trying to scan the forest ahead for trail blazes is exausting.
We hiked about 16 miles today.

Some of the hiking was pleasant, thru mowed fire breaks. We hiked the ridge of Upper Meadow Mt. for many miles. When the thick canopy allowed, the view of the thick green adjacent rugged ridges was stunning.

At 5pm we crossed Anthony Creek, hot and stinky, I mean truely skanky, we stripped naked and swam. I'm comfortable with the fact that very few people hike this trail. Probably none, during the summer. (not worried about exposing myself to an unsuspecting hiker.) I think this trail is heavily used by hunters in the fall, as evidenced by the abundant, used shot gun shells under foot.

Back to the bright spots of the day: We saw our first black bear, a healthy looking young adult, foraging in the heat of the day, in a firebreak road, 50 yds in front of us.

We flushed 2 wild turkeys as we crossed a grassy meadow into Monongahalia National Forest and found a wonderful campsite on a mt. crest north of Bear Branch creek. It was open to wind, to keep the flying insects manageable, and lots of pine duff and moss, for soft bedding.

Day 3 : Saturday, June 7

(Dwight) The little fire we built last night was fun. The smoke helped to keep the bugs away. Also it is a 'natural' deoderizer. Our clothing smells like sweat, not rank, body oder.

We hiked the ridge of Peters Mt. all morning. The oaks created a thick canopy but didn't provide opportunities for a view. About 9:30 am, we reached the Raptor obseratory on Peters Mt--a windowed cabin purched high above the tree tops. It had glass windows for viewing in all directions. It was very well built, with benches and a wrap around porch. Charts of sightings were pasted on the walk. We took a long break and absorbed the panorama. Only saw one turkey vulture, not migration season.

We meet 4 folks walking to the observatory as we continued on. They were birders coming from the parking lot at the base of the Mt. They had the smell of clean clothes and soap. They are the only people we have encountered on this trail since we left tha AT.

It was hot hiking til Laural Branch, the start of a 25 mile missing section of the trail. Did I say we were hot and tired? So, we stuck out our thumbs to try and negotiate the 25 miles of blacktop road in our future. Got a ride from the first car, a nice local woman named Valerie. Left us at a gas station/restrant at Paint Branch about 7 miles down the road. A nice little place in the beautiful rolling farming valley, in the shadow of Peters Mt. We drank pop, ate ice cream and watched a parade of locals,tourists and motorcyclist stop for gas and a cool drink.

Our next hitch took us to Sweet Spring, a community of a few houses and a local landmark. A huge brick building (plus several smaller buildings) in the Jefferson style, designed by Tommy J. himself. It was a place for the well to do to go in the early 1800's and rejuvinate in the hot springs there. It had later been used as an old folks home. It was abanboned by the state in the 1980's. It looked like the campus of grand resort, in serious dislrepair. We had heard the they rented rooms from bikers in Paint branch, so we wandered are the crumbing campus looking for anybody (on a Friday night).

We found Warren, the developer for the resoration peoject, washing his car. We asked for a room. His associate Amanda, lead us to a restored farm house on the property. We found a shower, and a clean bed in a neat old place, where we did some exploring latter in the evening.

Day 2 : Friday, June 6,2008

(Dwight) I've got too much food, my pack weights too much. We can't find enough water. It's not supposed to be this hot at 3,000 ft in June. If I could figure out an easy way to abort this trip, I'd bail out. Oh yeah, our email device is failing, so the blog messages are going to be shorter than usual.

Day 1 : Thursday, June 5, 2008

(Dwight) If the entry to the Allegheny Trail was a peak of the trail to come, then.... Great sign to ID the start of the trail. Lots of noticable blazes, no dicerable trail. That is, very little evidence anybody else has walked thru these woods. Cool, but difficult and slow. You are focused on finding the next blaze, praying it has not faded in oblivion! slow walking. Getting lost is only a question of when, not if.

Day 1: Thursday, June 5

(Susan) OOOHHH NOOO! Our Pocketmail device is already malfunctioning so we hope we can do this journaling. Keep your fingers crossed.
This morning we finally figured our what was "raining" down from the trees above us: tent worm excrement.
yep, they were up there munching then pooping away. Luckily we had put out tarp up just before going to bed due to the sound of distant thunder. It never rained proper, but those tent worms kept at it nearly all night long.

We hit the trail just before 7, and arrived at the junction with the groundhog trail just after 8.
Since the ALT guide pages have the trail ending at the parking area at the terminous of this trail, we headed 1.9 mile down hill to its terminous at Sugar Camp Farm.
Although well marked, the trail had little indication of use. When the trail arrived at the outskirts of the farm, we walked through chest high grasses and D had an unfortunate encounter with stinging nettles. At the small trailhead parking area, a new sign indicated the Allegheny Trail was 5.9 miles away--leading us to conclude that this trail is not officially part of the ALT--but just the closest access point. So that was some unnecessary mileage!

We headed

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Day 0: June 4,2008

(Dwight) We started hiking out of Pearisburg Va. around 3:20pm. The woman in charge, wasnt interested in what we were doing until it sank-in, we were going to leave the car for 7 weeks.

The hike up Peter mt from the New River was a familiar slap in the face from our friend, tha AT. Up, up, up, rocks and roots. It was humid, till around 5:30pm. We were both beat and needed a break. We ate dinner. The first few days of hike are always awkware. You fumble wih all those tasks you did second nature on past hikes, you can never find anything in your pack. You trip down the trail. Near the ridge line we encounter our first mountain laural. Unfortunately it looks like they are past peek. The May apples have finished blooming and it looks like we have missed the spring bloom in Virginia.

We crossed paths with 6 AT thru hikers. They think they are at the back of the pack.

We walked about 8 miles today and are approx 7 miles from the Allegheny trail. As we walked the AT Susan and I reminissed and talked about how much of this trail we have forgotten. I think this is and indication that we will enjoy walking the ALT in both direction, getting a chance to see things we missed on the first pass.

Another Tondreau Headed to WVU

(Susan) Well, it's official: my niece Ellie, oldest child of my brother Chip and sister-in-law Linda Cordavana has officially graduated from Paul VI Catholic HS in northern VA -- and will be headed off to WVU in the fall. My brother, a long-time closeted WVU fan (suppressed due to his being a VA Tech grad) now has a legitimate reason to order WVU paraphernalia and sing the WV fight song ad nausium - which he did several times yesterday at my niece's graduation party. Of course my sister Lisa and I helped round out the chorus. So, congrats Ellie, and GO MOUNTAINEERS! In addition to attending Ellie's graduation, my sister Lisa and I took a spin on the C&O Rail Trail where I had a grim reminder of why it's a bad idea for me to ride a boy's bicycle. We also got to catch my niece Alexis' ice hockey game -- and will stick around tomorrow for to watch her softball playoffs. Then it's off to Pearisburg, VA where we'll get this party started. Thanks to all the folks who sent us emails of encouragement in response to my email about getting on trail again. Comments ranged from "wouldn't it be easier to drive" (good tip, Fred) to "Sometimes when I dream at night, I dream that I'm you and living the good life." Yeh, we think it's the good life too-although rain is forcasted for our first 2 days on the trail so maybe we'll be re-evaluating that soon.