15 May 2007 "East out of the mountains ..."

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

East out of the mountains ...

Returned to Strait Creek once again. Met the pastor and family of the Church of God of Prophecy, and attended the evening service. Very friendly group and a good service. The night was very cold and sleeping on the ground quite miserable. Slept on the old road bed, which goes right past the church, and is now either unused, or called Four Seasons Rd.

Up early and moved out (to get the blood flowing). By mid-morning the weather was warm and the Strait Creek Valley was delightful the second time around. I crossed over from the Potomac to the James River the watershed by late morning and made the town of McDowell by 1:00 pm. Visited the McDowell museum, which was officially closed, but a nice lady let me in and allowed me to watch the Wide Awake video on the battle. The video was up to the usual Wide Awake high standards. Met G. W. Obaugh’s son (G.W. being away for the day) and had a nice chat. Slept on the battlefield again last night. Night cool, but not too unpleasant.

May 15th was another “triple lindy day,” meaning three mountains to cross: Bullpasture, Shaw’s Ridge, and Shenandoah Mountain. I moved out by 6:30 and reached the pass over Bullpasture Mountain by 7:00. I reached the peak of Shaw’s Ridge by 8:00 (Mr. Mustoe passed me during the assent). Had a break at Head Waters, and pushed on to the top of Shenandoah Mountain, reaching the pass at 10:00 am. Absolutely spectacular views of the country west of the ridge. Makes one happy to be a Virginian.

The rest of the walk was a little of a let down, and tedious. The shoulders of the road were hard and made my feet sore. At any rate, Susan picked me up at West Augusta around 2:00 pm. Tomorrow, I will walk the route of May 17th, so that I can take care of some business on the 17th and 18th.