Date: 2013-05-26
From: US 501/VA 130- Buena Vista

To: US 60, mi 802.1, 2nd night in Buena Vista, VA
Miles today: 21.8
Weather: clear sky

After checking out of the Budget Inn around 6:30am, I asked a local in the parking lot where one could find a decent breakfast cafe. She directed us to the colonial town of Lexington about 6 miles west of Buena Vista in the opposite direction from the trailhead. The 60 crosses the north-south trending Interstate 81 which connects towns such as Roan Oak, VA, Waynesboro, VA, and Duncannon, PA near the AT. After driving several loops through the historic part of town and photographing the colonial brick buildings, we settled on a Denny-like restaurant that served pancakes and omelets. After breakfast, we took a tour through the small town of Glasgow, adjacent to Buena Vista. It was nearly noon when Heart Rock dropped me off at the trailhead on US501. The AT follows the Rocky Row Run (drainage) a short ways in, before heading north up the ridge. A short distance in from the highway, I encountered the strange humming sound of what turned out to later be identified as the cicada. I had heard earlier about this strange beady-eyed grasshopper-like insects with large wings. Although I could not see them anywhere, the steady white noise of what apparently where millions, mating in the canopy of the Appalachian forests, where out for a very brief period before lying dormant beneath the ground for another 17 years. There are apparently some 2,500 species of this particular insect, which are related to "leafhoppers" and "spittlebugs". As I later became more acquainted with this insect, I learned that 2013 happened to be associated with what entomologists where coining "brood II", which they had projected to spread mostly into the northern states around the New York region. Somehow, a large isolated populations or likely numerous populations, made their way into the forests of VA, in the vicinity of Buena Vista! The highlight of todays hike, once back on the ridge north of US 501, was passing over Bluff Mountain at mile 789.2, where a monument for Ottie Cline Powell existed. From my recollections, Ottie was a student of the late 19th century who wandered from the school yard miles into the woods, only in an unfavorable direction¢¦higher elevations, exposed to the elements. The monument supposedly marks the approximate location where they later found his body. North of Rice Mountain, the AT crosses a series of small hills and gravel roads, including the shores of the Lynchburg Reservoir, before making the gradual ascent along gradient of the Brown Mountain Creek. Several monuments along with benches for resting were erected through this valley which commemorated early colonies of freed slaves ( I recollect) that established an agricultural colony along this creek. The trail climbed steeply up switchbacks at the end of this fluvial valley before it intersected the US 60, where I rendezvoused with Heart Rock in the late afternoon. I crossed the US 60 at dusk, and headed towards a turnout oblique from the AT to the south, where I found Heart Rock waiting in her rental jeep. We drove into Buena Vista for a second night, this time via the US 60. We found a quaint motel, again outside of the main part of town, called the Buena Vista Motel, where we checked in. We drove into the downtown area, where we found an empty Italian Restaurant, still open. We both enjoyed a wonderful meal and conversation together¢¦a perfect way to end another epic day of hiking.