Atkins, VA to "Spring Fed Pond"

Friday, 5/1

AT Miles = 21.2 / 559.5
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 21.2 / 580.7

Happy May Day!

Hey, I am half way to half way! I have now hiked more than 1/4 of the miles from Springer Mtn to Katahdin.

After a big breakfast at the restaurant this morning -- two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage, two bacon, two biscuits with gravy, home fries, coffee, orange juice, and water -- I set off a few minutes before 8:00. After crossing under the highway the trail spends several miles traversing farm fields and overgrown meadows. It was really nice. At this low elevation everything is in bloom and the trees and shrubs were full of birdsong.

I climbed up onto a ridge and again was high enough that spring hadn't quite arrived, but then descended back into the lowlands and for another few miles the trail threads through farm country. I must have climbed a dozen stiles over farm fences. At each one I thought to myself that this is the perfect opportunity to fall, break a leg, and bring my hike to an end. Luckily, that didn't happen.

I was feeling good today after all that food and a good rest, and I reached my intended destination, Knot Maul Shelter, 14 miles into the day at 1:30. I ate lunch there and contemplated the sky, which had treated me to rain showers on and off all morning. One minute it would look dark and menacing, and the next bits of blue sky would appear. Finally I decided it was simply too early to call it a day and around 2:00 I saddled up and moved on.

I hiked a couple more hours until I came to a Forest Service road. Checking my book I could see that I should come to what is listed as "spring fed pond" in about 2 miles of uphill hiking. I decided that was my destination. Well, the uphill was of the heart attack inducing kind. At least, it felt that way at the end of a long day. It took about 20 minutes longer than I thought it could possibly take, but I finally arrived here and found a nice spot in the woods just behind the pond to hang my hammock and call home for the night. The sky has looked like rain is imminent ever since I arrived here, but I've got camp set up, cooked, ate, and cleaned up from my dinner, and once I finish this I will crawl into my hammock and listen to my radio or read my book until sleep overtakes me, which won't take long.

It looks like I will be in Bland sometime Sunday morning. Unless the weather is a total washout, I plan to get into town to resupply then get back out and move on to the next shelter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Appearing Elsewhere

I've mentioned Sir Richard now and again. Here's a link to one of his blog entries where he mentions some of the folks we've been hiking with lately:

http://richdoestheat.blogspot.com/2009/04/wednesday-15-april-2009-bald-mountain.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Brushy Mountain to Atkins, VA

Thursday, 4/30

AT Miles = 10.3 / 538.3
Other Miles = 0 / 21.2
Total Miles = 10.3 / 559.5

It rained pretty hard last night. I had hung my hammock on the side of the hill and the head end tree was upslope of the foot end tree. It is hard to get a level hang when the trees are not level with one another. I hung the foot end as high up the tree as I could reach, but when I hung the head end so that the hammock was level, it sagged enough with me in it that I touched a downed log under my back. Because of this I had to hang the hammock with the head end a bit higher than the foot end. It is comfortable enough this way, but it meant that I was lying at the fooot end of the hammock, and therefore my feet and the foot of my sleeping bag were up at the peak at that end of the hammock, putting my feet up against the screening and thus exposed to some of the blown in rain. Not a big deal, but the foot of my sleeping bag is a bit damp.

When I got up it looked like it was going to rain some more, but as I walked into the morning the clouds broke up and it proved to be a lovely morning. I am down at a much lower altitude now, and spring is bursting out everywhere. I walked through meadows and over low hills. There is a sweetness in the air this morning and I am not sure where the sweet smell is coming from. I passed a lilac bush or two starting to bloom, and some flowering dogwoods, but not enough to explain the sweet smell. Maybe there is some kind of meadow grass that is so sweet? In any case, it was almost sickeningly sweet. I walked through all that green growing stuff just imagining all the photosynthesis taking place and pumping oxygen into the air for me to breather. Ahh!

I could soon hear the tgraffic on I-81, and then descended into Rural Retreat (part of Atkins, VA). There is an exit from I-81 here, and a motel, a restaurant, and a couple of gas stations. I took a room at the motel -- the Relax Inn -- and picked up the food drop that Jodi mailed here for me. I just got back from lunch at the restaurant up the road. Serviceable but unexceptional food. Once I finish this email I will go through what food I have left in my food bag and all the great stuff Jodi sent me, and get myself organized for the next section to Bland, VA.

You might remember me writing about my frustration with getting access to my home network from public computers. Well, I have hopefully solved that problem. Yesterday I ordered a new netbook from AMazon.com and am having it sent to me in Pearisburg. I will keep this in my bounce box and mail it up the trail to each of my town stops. I'll be able to set it up the way I want it, and will be able to connect to my home network from any WIFi hot spot. And once I get initial internet access via WiFi I will be able to download the software I need to be able to use my cell phone as a modem for the computer, once Jodi sends me the sync cable for my phone. As I said, hopefully this will alleviate my computer frustrations.

It is clouding up again now, and there is supposed to be more rain tonight. If it's got to rain, I'd just as soon have it happen while I am indoors!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Campsite after Dickey Gap to Brushy Mountain

Wednesday, 4/29

AT Miles = 14.3 / 528.0
Other Miles = 0.2 / 21.2
Total Miles = 14.5 / 549.2

I was awake early this morning and rather than cook breakfast where I was camped I packed up my gear and hiked about 2 1/2 miles to Trimpi Shelter, where I got water and cooked my breakfast. I had a leisurely breakfast and then walked on. The weather this morning was warm and more humid than it has been the last couple of days. The forecast called for afternoon thunder showers and I was happy that I had only about 13 1/2 miles to hike to reach Partnership Shelter; hopefully before the storms hit.

Soon after leaving Trimpi Shelter I ran into Sir Richard taking a break on the trail. We walked together and chatted about this and that the rest of the way to Partnership Shelter, arriving there about 12:30 (or, as Richard would say, half noon).

Partnership Shelter is not the usual trail shelter. It is located directly behind the Visitor Center for the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. The plumbing for the visitor center has been extended to the shelter, and the shelter features both a shower and a water tap. There is also a phone outside the visitor center from which one can call and have pizza delivered. All this being so, as soon as we arrived Sir Richard and I walked overe to the visitor center and ordered two large pizzas and a 2-liter bottle of soda. We hung around waiting for the pizza to arrive, meanwhile watching the thunder clouds build in the sky. Our pizza arrived and we made it back to the shelter with our lunch just before the lightning started to strike, the thunder boomed, and the skies opened up with torrential rain.

Onjce I polished off my pizza I took a shower and rinsed out my very salty, sweaty T-shirt and socks. It had been my plan to camp there at the shelter, but the area was posted "No Camping" and I don't carry a pad so can't sleep on the hard shelter fllors. That being the case, I hung around the shelter for the afternoon, cooked and ate my dinner, then hiked on aboiut a mile and a third and found a spot down on the lee side of the ridge to hang my hammock. I climbed in and spent a comfortable evening listening to my little radio and reading my book.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Thomas Knob Shelter to Campsite 1.5 Miles Past Dickey Gap

Tuesday, 4/28

AT Miles = 22.7 / 513.7
Other Miles = 0.2 / 21.0
Total Miles = 22.9 / 534.7

FIVE HUNDRED MILES!

I passed the 500 mile mark today. There's a part of me that didn't really believe I'd be able to do it, but I did! 500 miles really feels like something.

I've endured fellow hikerss telling me all about the horses and the exotic cattle with the wide horns they saw in the Roan Highlands, while I hiked through there in the wwind and rain and saw nothing. Last night when I arrived at Thomas Knob the people I was camping with were telling me stories of their encounters with the ponies, while I never saw any of them. Well, last night I could hear the ponies calling and neighing to each other all night, and this morning as soon as I started walking I ran into group after group of them. They're really cool. I took a bunch of photos which I hope you'll all like whenever I can get them posted.

I planned to walk 16 miles today, stopping at Hurricane Mtn Shelter. When I got there it was kind of early and I decided to cointinue on 4 more miles to Comers Creek where I could get water and hopefully camp. When I got there the creek was in a ravine and there was no place to camp so I pushed on another 2.7 miles to where I could camp. Whew! I was beat.

I ate my dinner and crawled into bed. There was a bunch of other hikers there, all in therir early to mid-twenties. While I was lying exhausted in my hammock they were all sitting around the campfire talking about how easy it is to knock off 20 mile days and still have energy left at the end of the day! I guess the number of decades you've been arfound really does matter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Saunders Shelter to THomas Knob Shelter

Monday, 4/27

AT Miles = 18.6 / 491.0
Other Miles = 0.5 / 20.8
Total Miles = 19.1 / 511.8

A great day. Plenty of miles. Plenty of heat. Plenty of tired. But a great day. Up. Down. Up again. Climbed Mount Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. Camped with a bunch of other hikers at a place tucked into the trees and out of the wind that is roaring just yards away out on the bald.

I hauled a HUGE food bag out of Damascus. It makes my pack weigh a ton. It weighed more yesterday morning leaving Damascus than it did when I started at Springer Mountain. But I think it's worth it. I am eating like crazy and it sems to help. I also bought a small container to carry olive oil while in Damascus, and I add it to every evening meal. I've also started taking daily vitamins. I am considering maybe getting some protein powder somewhere and using that every day as well. I am trying to avoid wasting away to nothing.

It's getting late and dark so I am going to quit for tonight. Goodnight all!

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Nick Grindstaff's Grave

A bit of the history of Nick Grindstaff's monument, some photos of which appeared in my "Day in the Life" photos the other day:

http://www.hauntmastersclub.com/places/johnson_county_nick_grindstaff.html

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Damascus, VA to Saunders Shelter

Sunday, 4/26

AT Miles = 9.4 / 472.4
Other Miles = 0.2 / 20.3
Total Miles = 9.6 / 492.7

As wonderful as being in town is, it is even better to get back out on the trail. I think I have said this before; I don't sleep well in town. I go to sleep late and wake up early. Really early, like three or four in the morning.

Last night I went to bed after 11:00, and I was awake a few minutes after 4:00. I had to wait until a decent hour to get up and shower and pack up all my gear, for fear of waking people in the other rooms. I settled up with the proprietress around 8:00 or so, but then hung out with some ofthe other hikers out back for a while. Finally I heftede my ridiculously heavy pack, groaned, and dropped it back to the ground. Goodness! I went completely overboard at the grocery store yesterday. I could barely cram my food bag into my pack. I took the pack off and put it on the bathroom scale that is in the hiker hosxtel. 43 pounds! That's 4 pounds more than it weighed on the day I started, and I've gotten rid of a few things since then. That weight is all food! I am going to have to have a big feed tonight and get the reduced as fast as I can.

I hiked out of Damascus, after stopping on the way for a big breakfast (food. I am obsessed with food) , along the Virginia Creeper Trail. The Creeper Trail is a rails-to-trails conversion so follows lovely, gentle grades. Unfortunately, the AT soon veers off and climbs up into the hills for a few miles, the descends back down and just to tease a poor, tired, overburdened hiker, parallels the Creeper trail at a very short distance oif only 30 or 40 feet, for a long ways. The Creeper Trail is clearly seen in its flat, even, easy gradedness, while the AT climbs up and down every stupid little bump in the terrain and hops over rocks and whatever else. So frustrating!

I set off today with no particular goal in mind. I decided I would hike to the first shelter out of town, then decide if I wanted to go on to the next or not. Well, I got here all hot and sweaty, and was greeted with a lovely setting with a small grove of evergreens out behind the shelter casting some wonderfully cool shade. After walking down to the stream to get water and to wash up a bit, I strung my hammock up in the shade and lay down on top of it to read my book and sway in the cool breeze.

Soon enough I fell asleep and awoke only when another hiker walked by on her way back from getting water. It's a good thing I woke up or I might have slept right until bed time!

Well, that hiker and a couple of others were here just to get water and have moved on, but I've decided to definitely indulge myself and am staying here for the night. Tomorrow is soon enough for ambition, when I will push the 18+ miles to Thomas Knob and the Grayson Highlands. I asm excited that the weather should be good when I am up there; so unlike mhy experience so far with the high parts of the trail. I am looking forward to seeing the ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park.

Another hiker, Midget Momma (she's short and says she has a son who is 6'4") just showed up, so I guess I wonm't have the place all to myself tonight. And I know there are a bunch of hikers who planned to leave town late this afternoon and hike, so I imagine there will be more coming later.

I look forward to town stops so much, but they are exhausting! I am always surprised how tired I am when I leave town. This evening looks to be a lovely one, and I am sure I will have a restful night tonight and be ready to do some real hiking tomorrow.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

Abingdon Gap Shelter to Damascus, VA

Friday, 4/24

AT Miles = 10.2 / 463.0
Other Miles = 0 / 20.1
Total Miles = 10.2 / 483.1

It was warm when I went to bed on Thursday evening, early because the gnats were bothersome, and I think it was even warmer when I woke up at 6:30 on Friday morning.

A town day is always exciting. I guess that's a sign of how simple life on the trail is. The idea of a hot shower and real food just makes me giddy. So I wasted no time in eating breakfast and getting on the trail, and I was headed out by 7:30. It was a bit over ten miles into Damascus, and I was walking under the "Welcome to Damascus" sign by 10:30. By 11:00 I had secured a room at the Hikers Inn and was on my way to settling into this wonderful little town.

It is Sunday morning now and soon I will stuff everything back into my backpack and head out of town. The weather has been gorgeous the last few days, and it looks like there should be about three more days of sun and heat before we get some clouds and showers on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I noticed a warning of increased fire danger in the area when checking the weather this morning, due to the heat and low humidity.

I'll have to be careful to drink more water with the heat now, but first I am going to concentrate on one last town breakfast before hitting the trail.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com