Date: 2008-03-23
From: Rte 311

To: Rte 220
Miles today: 19.4

Thursday-Saturday, March 20-22, 2008Some magic happens while I¢m zeroing.Vagus finds my lost Croc at Wind Rock!!!!He gives it to 3 dayhikers to leave for me on the northbound side of the 311 trailhead.To try to get rid of the chiggers, or whatever they are, that are plaguing me, I spend one whole zero day laundering everything in the Element, all my clothes, and washing out the Element itself.This seems to have worked because I haven¢t gotten any new bites.Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008Hiking north Rte 311 to Rte 220, 19.4 milesHomer, who thru-hiked in 2002 with his family, wife Therese, daughter age 11 and son age 8, picks me up at Pizza Hut at 7AM. He talks a bit about his thru. They are very close as a family and absence would have been especially hard to cope with. His children, like mine, get along real well. By all 4 of them doing the thru together, they were with each other 24/7 and made bonds and memories that will last all their lives.One of the memories is of the 4 of them crouched under a rock overhang waiting out a lightning storm. A fairly powerful jolt hit Therese, passed through the children, Cascade and Rock Slide, into Homer. It was frightening. When the storm passed, they left the overhang, walked along the ridge, and then the storm came back. No protection. Nothing to do but keep walking. Fortunately no second strike.Homer and Therese, trail-named The Odd Couple, discovered it was easy to get a hitch because children 8 and 11 are ¢hitch-magnets".Near Wayah Bald NC they met a woman from NY who said when you get to NY look me up. I live right next to the AT in NY. They did and she treated them to a stay in her home. She was not only a top-notch carpenter, but also a metalworker and was teaching metalworking to her son. A very interesting person. Meeting her in NC and then staying with her and her husband in NY was a great experience.Cascade weighed only 63 pounds and carried a 17-pound pack. Rock Slide weighed 42. I (Amoeba) don't know how much weight he carried. Rock Slide did the whole trail himself. In only one place did he need a little help, because he was just too short. That steep boulderface that has the iron bar sticking out of it on Katahdin.I know that place well. I think that, the descent into Carlo Col and the rock descent north of the Lemon Squeezer are the 3 most dangerous places on the AT. When I hike Katahdin this September, I¢m going to descend to Chimney Pond instead of coming down on the AT. Just to avoid that one boulder. Every hiking year I need to rethink my limits. I know this year my body can no longer safely descend over that boulder.At the 311 trailhead, Homer finds my lost Croc, just where Vagus said it would be, AND a tangerine in the toe. A Croc Christmas stocking! THANK YOU Vagus, and the 3 dayhikers, whose names I don¢t know. (See March 25 entry, thank you Joey, Janice and Eli!)I start walking north from 311 at 7:20 under cloudy skies. Cold, perhaps 40¢s.Wonderful trail maintenance on this high-use section. Boardwalk around steep rock cliff, built as an Eagle Scout project, Blue Ridge Council. Excellent blazing. Rocks chiseled flat. Track is bare of leaves in most places.Stop at Johns Spring Shelter and sign register.Second shelter, 2 miles from the start. Just getting going this morning are 2 couples, out for a weekend hike, who stayed at the shelter overnight. The 2 women are still in their sleeping bags, reluctant to shed the warmth. We chat, I sign the register, and hike on.Hello to Blue Sky, hiking with her 2 dogs, Dixie and Mocha. They were on the Knob at sunrise. Some beautiful rays of sunlight up there, says Blue Sky. She tries to get out on the trail as often as possible now because soon they¢ll be hiking the Grand Canyon and she wants to be in hiking shape for that.Trail winds through cabin-size boulders.I hear rustling in the leaves, but don¢t see anything. Rustling stops, it¢s totally silent, except for the sound of my heart beating.9:15 at the Knob. I¢ve never learned how to use the time delay on my camera, so I can¢t take a picture of me on the Knob. What an amateur. Reminder to me, Amoeba, you've had that camera since 2005. It's time you learned how to take time delay.I do get a shot of the Knob with nobody on it, and a shot of rays in late stages of the sunrise, which show the silent majesty of this place on Easter morning.I see a dove.Campbell Shelter. No pen to sign the register. There¢s a bird¢s nest, maybe a phoebe nest, with no birds in it, that¢s tucked into a corner of the shelter framing. Those birds picked a secure place for that nest.Some knee-deep leaves. I slow down and swoosh these to each side with my feet. A rake would make short work of this, but swooshing with calves and feet takes time. More leaves, deeper than knee. Another place to patrol during catching season!11AM there¢s a dead tree over the trail that¢s held up in the crotch of a live one, but some of the dead wood has dropped on the trail. There may be a danger of what¢s left suspended across the trail dropping on someone.Bricker Gap.Hello to Faithful from Maine, hiking SOBO. He¢s got 6 weeks to get himself to Springer. He stayed last night at Lambert Meadow with Phoenix, another SOBO.Hello Homer!!! He¢s working hard on a relo that will officially open in 2 weeks. I get a preview, and the privilege of trying out what he's built so far. Later his children will officially christen this piece of beautifully sited and graded new trail. Homer says he tries to avoid grades greater than 8%. Take a look at today's picture.Stop at Lambert Meadow Shelter. Register is almost used up. Phoenix is still there, deciding what he¢ll do today. In 2004 Phoenix SOBO thru-hiked the AT, starting at Katahdin in late August.I'm remembering April 17, 2005 when Spinner and I spent the night at Lambert, with T-Rex, Boomerang, Bronco Billy, and Bailey (AKA Daytripper, Beetle Bailey).Another squirrel, racing across the trail behind me. Then SIX white-tail deer run across the trail in front of me, tails waving.Hairy leaves of mullein arranged in a whorl.Hoot of an owl.More 2008 AT wildlife than I¢ve seen to date.Tinker Cliffs, grand solemnity of the rocks. I get out closer to the edge than I did when I first hiked this section.Another deer.On the way down I meet a man who's come in from 779 on the yellow trail.Steep descent through rocks.Today I¢m feeling strong. No worries about the length of this hike. I'm open to whatever unfolds today. I'm feeing no hunger at all, fasting on a feast day.Flying from branch to branch, an acrobatic squirrel shows off.Lying on the path is a twig of hemock RIDDLED with wooly adelgid. You can see how they suck the life-sap out of the trees. Every time I see adelgid, my heart breaks.Trailwork here is wonderful.3:45, I make myself a trail companion, company while I take a break for a drink. His name is Ruffletangle. Long story about this name. Ruffletangle¢s quite pleasant. A good listener. I tell him about the hike so far. He gives me no advice. Just smiles and listens. 5:30 More great trail work. Rocks have been chinked for footholds. Gravel holds rock in place. Steps are flat and not too steep.Swallowtail butterfly has caught its wing in a tear in an oak leaf.   It struggles. Bursts free and flies off. Seeing that swallowtail, I¢m wondering when I¢ll see the first azure blue butterfly and the first 6-spotted tiger beetle, 2 creatures I love to see on the trail in the spring.Passing a lot of new houses to my left.Approaching graffiti-coated Hay Rock.Running out of time to continue the slow process of swooshing leaves off the trail as I walk.Under some more powerlines, there¢s noticeable buzzing.Almost 8PM, past the railroad tracks and the concrete bridge, I see the flash of the white tail of a rabbit.Out at 8PM, 12 34 hours of hiking. Feeling wonderful. I drive to the 311 trailhead to sleep there.