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| April 30th Many Rivers To Cross Hello. After a fun weekend with a surprise party in honor of my 30th time around the sun, I got the call from Paul at 9:00am Monday while I was slurping my first sip of coffee. This phone call came from the luxury of a motel room in Pearisburg, Va, Paul's first solo motel room since he began. He was prepared to keep hiking through town, but since the post office was closed Sunday, he decided to get a good night's rest in a bed, and take advantage of a hot shower in the motel while he was awaiting access to his maildrop. Paul is really enjoying Virginia's ridges and has been living in some great weather conditions. According to Paul, Virginia is nice. The elevation grades of the AT are generally smaller than what he has been doing. With the exception of a section just north of Damascus, in which the AT does a cross sectional slice through a ridge, at about 5,000 feet, the trail has been cruising along parallel with the ridges, rarely rising above 4,000 feet. At one point along the trail, the white blazes lead Paul to some river walking, where a river became the trail. He said that the water felt good on his feet, and he found a really pleasant spot to camp out one night, with the roar of the river working as a lullaby. The lack of rain may be nice to walk in, but Paul has noticed that some of the springs, and smaller streams are getting lower. Droughts have new meaning when you rely on natural sources of water. "The Haul" has had some solitude in the last week. He has not seen any thru-hikers that he had previously met since Friday. Metro, Leaf and Clarke have gone ahead after Damascus, choosing to seek the slackpack, and Paul thinks The Athen's Boys are a couple days behind. Some new hikers that Paul has met are from Massachusetts. Afterburn, The Mayor, and a couple, Wildrose and Bluejay all hail from the Bay State. Paul feels that he is the kid on the trail, everyone seems to be older, although he did say that Wildrose and Bluejay were 19 or 20. He also spoke of Easy Does It, from Maine, and Bohemian, a woman from NC who started in Hot Springs, and may do a flip flop, meaning that she would go back to do the portion south of Hot Springs. I asked Paul The Haul if his trailname was sticking, and his reply was that he introduces himself as Paul, and only speaks of "The Haul" if one inquires. Paul The Humble Haul has slept in the following locations since Damascus, Sunday, April 22 he landed in Thomas Knob Shelter, which has a great lookout. Monday brought him to Racoon Branch Shelter, and he spent a rainy night near Partnership Shelter Tuesday. Wednesday, April 25th, Paul called and left me a message from Atkins, VA, but trekked to a river close to Davis Pass Shelter later that evening. Last Thursday Paul camped out at Chesnut Knob Shelter, Friday after a 24.1 mile day (longest yet), Paul inflated his therm-a-rest at Helveys Mill Shelter. While some of us were drinking and dancing Saturday night, Paul found a nice spot next to a waterfall at Dismal Creek Falls. Speaking of dancing, I have to give a shout out to Cal, our little brother who was cutting some serious rug Saturday night. This brings Paul to Pearisburg VA, where he checked into his motel, and watched an episode of The Sapranos. There are no major problems to report. A minor problem is the condition of Paul's feet. He feels as though his feet are getting flat. He is getting blisters where his arch begins, but all in all is doing very well. He figured out that he is moving at a rate of 14.1 miles per day on average, including zero days. In order to finish the entire AT in 6 months, a hiker would have to average 12 miles per day. Paul speculates that his daily mile average will increase, as he plans on spending less time in towns, and is feeling strong. Our next contact is predicted to be from Troutville, VA, about 95 miles from Pearisburg, or possibly further. Pushin Thirty, Todd |
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