Days 36-39, first snake, Tree Stand returns

Day 36: Tree stand flew into Roanoke last night (yayy!), stayed in a hotel and a shuttle driver picked him up early this morning and drove him to Burkes Garden Hostel. When he arrived we made waffles at the hostel, did a mini resupply, and got shuttled to the trail head. Today was hot and humid and enjoying every second of it because next week they are announcing low teens. We had a sudden 10 minute downpour. It was actually refreshing and broke up the humidity some. We ended our day with 23 miles, 4,400 ft ascent. We came upon the most perfect campsite on the ridge. We set up camp with the sunset in the background. This was the most beautiful evening at camp so far. It was the first night we could comfortably cook and hang outside without being bundled up. It was so nice out we ate dinner on a log. We had delicious hiker meals, laughs, and pure bliss.

Day 37: We started out this morning with very little water and the next water supply was about 5 or 6 miles away from where we camped last night. It was 70°, sunny and humid to start out the morning. Around mile five I stumbled upon a 5 foot black rat snake. I knew this day would come I just didn’t know when. My reaction to the snake was a loud scream and I immediately turned around and was suddenly running away going SOBO. Snakes, one of my true phobias. I was having a hard time coping. The snake was so close to the trail. I couldn’t bear walking past it, hence why my immediate reaction was to run SOBO. Ryan and my dad stood near the snake, taking pictures of it. I knew I wasn’t going to start heading NOBO until the snake was far from the trail. Ryan and my dad watched the snake slither across the trail to the other side. It wasn’t far enough away for me, but I knew we couldn’t waste too much time here so I sprinted past it on the trail yelling as I did so. All I could think about for a while was coming upon another snake. I knew I had to get over it so I just had to stop thinking about snakes. About halfway through the day we crossed a bridge and came upon some epic trail magic. There was a group of past thru hikers that made us pulled pork tacos and gave us cold drinks. We hung out for 30 minutes, we wanted to stay and hang out but we still had 10+ miles ahead of us in the heat and humidity. We trekked on. I am able to deal with the heat and humidity much better than Tree Stand and Hunger Pain. I was actually thriving as I adore the heat, Tree Stand and Hunger Pain were suffering at times. We had quite the climb to end the day. We landed a campsite tonight with an unreal view. We hiked 24 miles today.

Day 38: Today was a nero, 14 miles to get us to Pearisburg, VA. The terrain was easier and felt like a cruise. It felt nice to do a shorter day. Once we got to the road crossing we walked one mile to town. Most of it was uphill. We walked by Dairy Queen and couldn’t help ourselves. My dad got a double cheeseburger and a hot dog, Ryan got a triple cheeseburger and I got cheese curds. We were headed to the Mexican restaurant for dinner shortly so this was an appetizer. We got to the motel, showered, and ate at the Mexican restaurant. We had a relaxing evening.

Day 39: Woke up this morning in the motel room to the sound of pouring rain. It was a gloomy morning and to make it even more gloomy Tree Stand was leaving today. The same shuttle driver that dropped Tree Stand off the morning of day 36 picked us up from the motel. My dad and I got dropped off at the trail head and Ryan was shuttled to Roanoke airport. We started out the hike with a warm rain. The hiking terrain was nice today. We had a climb up to a ridge, hiked along a ridge for most of the day, and ended it with a nice decent. It was foggy all day but the temperature for hiking was wonderful. We did 22 miles and just over 5,000 ft ascent. We got picked up by a shuttle and went back to Pearisburg, VA for the night to resupply for 3 days out on trail. We ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant, FaceTimed our family in the motel and went to bed. I was nearly falling asleep FaceTiming.