Day 69

Weather:
Sunny, windy, & cool. Some light rain.

Today's Hike:
Angel's Rest to Rice Creek Shelter - 9.8 miles

Last night's evening thunderstorm continued till morning. Muster and I both woke up early and managed to get packed up in between rain spells. By 7:30am we were headed into Pearisburg for breakfast. We arrived at Hardee's by 9:30am where I promptly guzzled down some “real” fresh brewed coffee. After eating and talking with some of the locals who were enquiring about our journey, we made our way down to the Post Office where we picked up our mail drops and an unexpected belated Easter present from a friend :) It took us 2 hours to go through everything, get organized, and prepare a grocery list. Around noon we headed down to the Chinese buffet (which really wasn't that great), and then went next store to buy a few needed perishables. By 3:00pm we were headed back for the trail.

The climb out of Pearisburg was ridiculously steep (a definite rival to the climb out of NOC) and seemed to last forever! About four miles into our return to the trail we forged our first creek. Normally, the pass would probably have been a simple cross over the rocks, but the previous nine days of rain had turned the creek into a small raging river. We both took our shoes/socks off and successfully made it across without incident. Little did we know we would be crossing water five more times over the next few miles. Still, we managed to make it to camp with dry feet and get the tent set up before a light evening rain.

At the shelter we met a new group of guys: O. G., Hellbender, Leon & his dog.