It is a long hard climb to the top of the ridge, but we climb steadily as the trail zig zags its way to the top. We stop at the top and have lunch at a spring. This is where Stickbuilt finally decided to turn around and go back yesterday when he pulled out of the AT. We can't believe that he would have put all that energy into reaching the top, and then made the decision to go back. All that climbing and effort 'wasted'. He must have been in a lot of pain.
During the afternoon we wander along the ridge overlooking the valley of Pearisburg, and stop early to camp at a lovely open meadow with views into West Virginia.
We meet two new hikers - 'Doc' who is an ex-solider from Afghanistan, and Jaybird a retired librarian from New Hampshire. These two hikers are both 'mature' and we enjoy their company for several weeks on the trail. Although we eventually lose contact with both of them, we hear along the AT gravevine that they both summit Katahdin and complete the hike, Jaybird a few weeks ahead of us, and Doc a few weeks behind us.
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