|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
GEORGIA TO MAINE!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
FIELD NOTES
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5/14/00 Damascus, VA A NEW STATE! Plant and Lindy called to say they arrived in Damascus VA today after hiking 40 miles in two days. They are staying at a hostel called "The Place" which is run by the United Methodist Church. The Place is a large home located on Creepers Way behind the Church and was remodeled by the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) in 1997. They report it is very nice and they are camping in the yard. To learn more about The Place and how you can help with its remodeling, click here!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Plant reports that yesterday he almost put his walking stick down on a Timber Rattler. Fortunately, the distinctive rattling sound warned him that the creepy crawler was there, and both he and the snake jumped backwards! The Rattler was as afraid of Plant as he was of the snake. (Plant said that even though he never saw a Rattler before, he knew what it was before he saw it. As soon as he heard the rattle, he knew. He thinks this is instinctive, I think it's because Plant spent so much time watching Jim capture critters on Wild Kingdom!)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
TRAIL MIX
*1/4 of the AT runs through Virginia for a total of 544 Trail miles.
*Approximately 100 miles of the AT runs through Shenandoah National Park
* Mt. Rogers is the highest point on the AT in Virginia at 5,729 feet
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On 5/16/00 3 No Trump took Plant and Lindy to Grayson Highlands State Park. While at Grayson Highlands, they met some of the wild ponies the Park is famous for. Afterwards, they hiked back to Damascus for Trail Days. For more photos, see the PHOTO PAGE.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Smasher, Lindy, Sole Spoken, Three No Trump
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lindy
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Smasher
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Lindy
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
TRAIL DAYS
What are Trail Days? First held in 1987, Trail Days is an annual celebration held in Damascus VA. Every year thousands of hikers and outdoor enthusiasts converge on this, "The friendliest town on the Trail", for a few days of fun and fellowship. Trail Days was begun by the late Charles Trivett, who was proud of the fact that Damascus' main street is also the Applachian Trail. This year Trail Days will be May 19, 20 and 21. Approximately 2000 hikers and 15,000 visitors are expected to gather in this little town to celebrate, make new friends and renew old aquaintainces. They even have a hiker parade!
|
5/24/00 Atkins, VA A phone message from Plant and Lindy! Plant and Lindy reached Atkins today! They report that the terrain is flat and they're feelin' fine; they are really hiking it now as they want to put some miles behind them. They plan on being in Pearisburg on 5/30/00. They will spend a day with a friend of Lindy's and then hit the Trail again. When they reach Pearisburg, they will have hiked 160 miles in VA! WOW!
They report that Trail Days "was a blast", and they should be sending that film on the 30th when they reach Pearisburg. They participated in the Hiker Parade, which was led by a group of Scottish bagpipe players, and turned into a large water fight. Children threw water balloons at the hikers, townspeople cooled them off with hoses, and some hikers carried nothing in their packs but water balloons to throw at town folks! Plant and Lindy wore costumes made of balloon animals. Maybe they should have loaded their balloons with water! TRAIL DAYS PHOTO PAGE!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5/30/00 Pearisburg, VA Plant and Lindy called to report that they reached Pearisburg today! They are visiting with friends of Lindy's and plan on heading out towards Troutville on 6/1/00. They are not planning on taking any more days off of the AT until they hit PA. To do that, they must average at least 15 miles a day to make it to PA by July, which is their goal. Both report they continue to feel well and are "having a ball!". They are now 165 miles into VA, and have finished approximately 600 Trail miles!
Sole Spoken hiked with them in Grayson Highlands State Park, as did another hiker by the name of Smasher from Sandersonville GA. Sole Spoken and Three No Trump left the AT after Trail Days in Damascus. Smasher also left however, both women are planning on hiking together next year from Damascus to Harper's Ferry WVA. Best wishes to all three!
Plant and Lindy hauled you- know- what for 21 miles yesterday and stayed at a place called Wood's Hole Hostel. It is owned and operated by a very nice lady named Tillie. The Hostel was originally a cabin built in the 1800's. Tillie's husband found it in the 1940's and purchased it and 100 acres for $300.00. In the 1980's they opened it as a hostel for AT hikers. Then Tillie's husband passed away, and she currently keeps the hostel open for three months of the year for hikers. Hikers help Tillie by performing some chores at the hostel. In fact, hikers are helping her to build a stone wall around her property. Every hiker finds a stone and adds it to the wall, so naturally Plant and Lindy did the same. What an interesting piece of history Tillie's place is!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Wood's Hole Hostel
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
One would think that while hiking the wilds of the AT you would not run into many people you would be acquainted with in one way or another. That, evidently is not so. Plant reports that while on the Trail he met a man who went to Mansfield State University in PA. Plant grew up in PA and several of his high school classmates attended Mansfield. The person he met on the Trail, not only knew those same people, but had driven some of them home for college breaks, to Plant's hometown.
In a bar in Damascus, Plant met a guy from Atlanta who graduated from high school with Plant's friend John, Plant and Lindy's main mail drop person for their hike.
He also met a thru hiker named Funky Monkey who attends Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA and is a sound recording major. Plant told him his sister graduated from LVC, lives in the Lebanon Valley, and that his neice is going to be attending LVC this fall as a music major.
On a mountain in VA, Plant and Lindy met some students from VA Tech who were camping. One of the women was from Jacksonville Florida. Plant attended Jacksonville University, and this woman's brother was a frat brother of Plants!
|
6/6/00 Troutville, VA Lindy and Plant called to say they made it to Troutville today after a 17 mile day. It rained about 2" last night, and between the rain and the hike they are tired but otherwise doing well and looking forward to some sunshine. They hope to reach Waynesboro, 130 miles away, by the 15th, where they will enter Shenandoah National Park.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
6/15/00 Waynesboro, VA Lindy and Plant made it to Waynesboro today! They have now completed 841 Trail miles! In the process, Plant has lost over 22 pounds, and Lindy has muscles in places she never knew of! They report the last 200 miles were tough. It was a rocky terrain and the weather was hot and humid. They are enjoying a break for a day and heading into the Shenandoah National Forest on Saturday, 6/17/00. The Trail runs along the scenic Skyline Drive, and crosses it in several places. They plan on making it through by 6/22/00.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I wqlk the Line
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |