We left Atkins, and after six miles or so, we hit the 1/4 mark! Already a quarter done! We celebrated by drinking a couple of beers that we had packed out. The rest of the day went uneventful and we got to the Knot Maul Branch Shelter, and decided we felt good enough to keep going. We crossed a large foot bridge over the Kick Creek, and found a good campsite under some rhododendrons.
We got going again the next morning, with Don't Panic far out pacing Wing It. Fortunately, we decided to meet up at the Chestnut Knob Shelter. On they way, Wing It ran into Alex, whom we hadn't seen since we left Hot Springs for Trail Days. Wing It hiked with him to the shelter, and Don't Panic was pleasantly surprised to see him. We also ran into Plunder How Far there, and the three men discussed going all the way into Bland for the night. That was 21 more miles! Wing It complied, and we all pushed our way into town. It wasn't easy going, the day got hot and the terrain was constant ups and downs. We did finally make, around 9:00 pm. We sat by the road trying to hitch, but the going was tough. Plunder finally went into the church across the way, and was able to score us all a ride! The man drove us into town, just before the DQ was closing. Only problem was, they closed just a bnit too early and didn't have anything for us! They did eventually take pity on us, and quickly fried up some chicken tenders and onion rings. What service!
The next morning, we all went back to the DQ for more greasy goodness, then tried our luck at hitching again. It wasn't easy, and after about an hour a lady finally picked us all up. Alex was trying to get to Daleville in a few days to meet up with friends, and Plunder was trying to hike as much of the trail as he could in three months, so we said our goodbyes and watched them go. We took our time and eased our way to Jenny Knob Shleter.
After such a short day, we decided to try to put some miles in. We thought come hell or high water, we would make it to Doc's Knob Shelter. And high water did come. It had been raining off and on the past few days, and the trail had pretty much completely flooded. After a while, we decided to not even bother trying to keep our feet dry. It was easier to plow through the middle of the trail then to dance around the edges. It seemed whoever designed this part of the trail didn't think to add drainages. Thankfully, the trail was relatively flat, so we were able to make good time and easily make it to Doc's Knob Shelter.
We woke early the next morning because we knew we would be getting into town again. We were heading into Pearisburg, hoping for a movie theater. The trail had been badly maintained through this section, and we really needed some rest. We made it, only to find that the theater had closed, and the hotel we picked out was far away from the downtown area. We were slightly disappointed, but the landlord loaned us her car so we were able to hit up the Wal-Mart for some much needed supplies.
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