We have to walk 2-3 hours in the dark everyday to get the required miles in. We have decent headlamps, so this isn't too difficult. However, with a few miles to go the other night, we were climbing over a rock pile and heard a growl. We froze. The growl was repeated. We slowly backed up. We made noise. We talked boisterously. We sang. After a while, after shouting, clanging our poles together, and announcing ourselves to all who cared to listen, we again climbed over the same dark rock pile. Whatever it was had moved on. There are black bears aplenty in Virginia, but there are also mountain lions-- neither of which I would like to meet on a dark rock.
Yesterday, we met some locals out for a day hike and one of them had a 25-inch sheathed blade in his hand. I asked, "What's the knife for?"
Besides being growled at and not having a machete, we have gotten the best of local lore as we pass through towns. One town bragged that they hanged an elephant. As corporal punishment. Had a trial and all. The person relating the story could not recall who represented the elephant.
"It's for the bars."
I wondered what the nightlife is like that you would carry a machete into a bar with you. Then I realized "bar" is Virginian for "bear," and thought, I'd really like to see that fight.
Even in the daylight, I don't think these two middle-age men could wield a machete against a bear. I don't think anyone could. Except maybe Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
In one town we were told: "When they told us we had to desegregate, we just closed the schools." Bet that showed them. By the way, what's the local literacy rate?
I haven't been able to find a bookstore in any town we've passed through to get a local trail map. The bookstore is an endangered species in America. Without a map, we rely heavily on the white blazes painted on trees marking the trail. Usually that's enough, but not in Virginia. Today we got lost, stumbled onto an old section of trail and resurfaced in an industrial complex.
With fresh batteries for our headlamps, we are headed south again. Virginia hasn't beaten us yet.
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