Date: 2005-05-23
From: Partnership Shelter

To: South of Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 23.4
Weather: broken clouds

I was up and gone by 7 AM. An early start for me however, I could not sleep so I quietly packed my gear and left. I intentionally am so quiet in the morning, I normally do not wake anyone. I almost made it out of there doing just that however, the ladder down from the loft gave me away. I knew he was awake and just said, "see you Noonin', he said, "see ya Bob". We never saw each other again.   The terrain this day was nice to hike through. A few mountainous areas interrupted with some open fields (a nice long down). I was heading for I 81 and this section of trail crosses a beautiful valley. Along the way you pass by a "Settlers Museum / Living History Farm" (I have posted photos of it). I did not get the tour but, I got the point. There are a lot of these one room schools back home in the Catskills as well. Most there have been converted to private homes however, this one was kept in the original condition. It reminded me of the TV show, "Little House on the Prairie".   When I stopped in at the Dairy Queen just before going under I 81, I ran into Underground again (he was carrying such a heavy load). The way he got his name was from a comment Ms Jenny made about him back in Erwin. She said how he, instead of caring it, should bury the huge radio he had with him at the time. Bury it, "Under Ground", she said and the name stuck. That is how I remembered the story he told me, I could be wrong. In fact I was wrong about a lot of things during the trail. I some cases I did not mind being wrong, especially when it came to distance. If I figured I had 6 miles to go, for example, and it turned out to be less, I didn't mind being wrong at all.   We both sat and ate some lunch (I bought him a burger) when Spoonman, Lizard and Skywalker showed up. Skywalker found out I was in the military and soon the talk turned to politics, the War and the President. I am not a politician I told him, I was a soldier. As far as the War goes, no one has the right answers for that. When it comes to the President, the only thing I said was, " I didn't see your name on the ballot box, can you do better? If so run for President then !", That normally shuts people up. I guess I am old school and believe that if you can do a better job at something your complaining about, then you should roll up your sleeves and have at it.   Before leaving the area I walked across the street to another restaurant and ordered a second lunch. I really just wanted coffee but a Turkey Club is such a hard thing to pass up. I did not mind spending the time there. The food and coffee was great and I sat talking to two young hikers (no names remembered) and when it came time to go, we just waddled away. They needed to do some shopping and I had plenty of daylight left so I made it to the next shelter (Davis Path Shelter) with ease. At 4:16, with rain predicted, I headed North again. It was 11.2 miles to the next shelter and I figured I would move on till I ran in to familiar faces. The Rhododendron was in full bloom and the Valley was beautiful, an outstanding time to hike.    As predicted I ran in to a large group of people I met "back" along the trail. I heard said, "Is that Wilderness Bob", as I walked into their break area. It was so cool to see them. Sloppy, Good ole' Boy, Bella, Slick (all last seen in Damascus), Underground (once again) and two last seen back in Franklin NC, Clock and Stump. Both these boys were from NC and they stayed in Franklin a while to heal up some injuries. We sat, talked and eventually ate supper. They were talking about night hiking and asked if I would like to come along. It looked like rain but, I was in to it. Underground wanted to go however, his load was much too heavy for the speed we wanted to travel (he decided to stay) When we left after dark it was just Slick, Bella and Myself. The others did leave eventually (minus underground) about an hour or so behind us.   The rain did come and we were pounded by it. We traveled across fields (got lost once following a cow path though we quickly recovered) and must have crossed over a dozen Styles. We even ran into a Copperhead (smell cucumbers in the wild, it is a Copperhead, trust me) as we were going up and over one Style near the North Fork of the Holston River. We made it as far as we could and decided to stop and do a little Stealth Camping. We guessed we were not allowed to camp there but we did anyway (it was raining and we were soaked). Leave no trace and be gone early was the plan (It worked). About an hour after we arrived we could see the flashlights of those behind us. We decided not to show we were there and let them walk by. I always figured that if you are going to break the law (not that I am admitting to anything) do it on your own, not by anyone's recommendation or invite. Those hikers "busted on us" the next day and I told them just that, we laughed. We knew we could have been fined for it and if it were not for the bad weather, we would have continued on.    I personally hiked a total of 23.4 miles that day and night. My longest hike to date. The light gear and the terrain were working well together. The two girls I hiked with were strong hikers. The trekking poles made night hiking safer as they provided stabilization as you went. They also warned you of unseen obstacles on the trail before you ran into whatever was in front of you.