April 29: Harpers Creek Shelter, VA

825.5 miles.

Man, you can cover some miles when you do the AT by car! We met up with Jeremy yesterday in Bland, and after covering our options of where we'd like to hike for the next few days and how we'd get there and back to civilization, we decided to drive up to C'ville, swap his car for Sven (on the logic of no one would ever want to steal a '91 Saab left by the woods edge), and head back down to the Tye River at Rt. 56, about a four day walk from home.

Those 200 miles of southwest VA we skipped , well, we'll just have to come back to see them next summer. We've figured given the pace we're going if we want to get to Katahdin by early August, we need to skip a section somewhere, so it might as well be the part that will be easy to come back to later.

So yesterday, at what seemed like the speed of light, Jer, Tom and I took the interstate to Charlottesville, where we planned to pick up the car and go incognito to go back to the trail lickity split. Should've figured how small of town it is though. We stopped to pick up the car at mom and dad's, stayed and chatted with them a while, then on our way out ran into brother Joe who'd come over to feed the horses. Then Graeme stopped by to work on something, so we chatted with him a while. then, on our way to Ryans where we planned to pitch a tent for the night, we stopped at Maupins to get some beers and there were Jessie and Stan taking a break from their bike ride. So we headed over to Ryan's and so did they, and Ryan and Laurel were cooking up a feast of fresh greens and mushrooms and asparagus from their garden for us. Leah and Joe came over, too, and it was just a regular ol perfect night in Free Union of friends and laughter and great food. It felt so good to be home.

We slept out under the trees, and the trees! Oh my lord, they have leaves up here, and everything is so green and alive! Spring is out of control. So beautiful.

This morning, after tea and breakfast with Ryan and Laurel and Nathan, who'd just come home from CA late last night, Tom, Jeremy, and I got Sven packed up, went to town for a few supplies (i.e. Greenberries and Bodos) and headed down 29 to Nelson County and the beautiful area around crabtree falls. We left our car there (hope it's still there in five days!) and headed up the hill to return to our adventure.

The three of us have about three and a half days to cover the 50 miles between here and home, so we'll be moving along at a nice pace. Forecast says it should be cloudy and soggy all week, but maybe it'll give us a break here and there, show us a little sunshine, perhaps a view or two. Can but hope.