Date: 2003-06-28
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Peaks of Otter Inn
Miles today: 4.0

6:30 came this morning with a rain shower. I did NOT want to get out of my tent, but by the time my wake-up call came in the form of a hairy hiker named Pirate, the rain had stopped. I had asked him to come wake me up, due to my....ahem...difficulty with getting up in the morning, so when he came walking on over, I knew I had to get out of my nice warm sleeping bag! :) The day was looking to be beautiful and once I woke up, I was ready to hike! After Sage, another hiker staying in the shelter, hiked off and kindly cleared all of the cobwebs off the trail for us, (another reason to sleep late-the first hiker out always eats cobwebs all morning!), we headed out.    Today was the day we were to meet dad and deliver Charlie safely to him after a week in the wilds. We knew that we were going to end up at Peaks of Otter, and we knew that the trail crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway about 5 times throughout the day. The thing we didn't know was when dad would get here! We sent him all the trail crossings in hopes that he could find us.    The 2.5 miles up to the parkway went by quickly, and I was proud to show of my newfound speed and endurance! I was rocking! :) At one point, we came across two trail maintainers. Charlie asked them how far it was to Maine, to which one of them replied, "Oh, it's within walking distance.". :)    When we got up to the parkway, we decided to hike up the parkway instead of the trail. That way, dad would have an easier time of finding us.   Now, let me explain something important to you! To many AT hikers, purism is very, very important. Purism means that they always stay on the AT proper, and follow the white blazes, (white rectangles painted on the trees). What we were doing here is called 'blue blazing'. Right now, the purists reading this are shaking their heads is dissapointment at me! :) But never fear, tomorrow we are getting back on the trail where we got off. We are not extreme purists, Bumpkin and I, but we do recognize that skipping 6 miles here and 8 miles there is a sure fire way of missing the whole point of hiking the trail! Anything we miss, we keep track of so we can go back and catch it!   So....anyway! Here we are walking up the Parkway. One thing I can say is that the views are superb! Much better than the trail views! We stopped at on overlook for lunch and sat down for a feast of peanutbutter, jelly and gorp. We all got tickled when not one, but two cars drove by at 50 mph with women hanging out the windows videotaping the scenery. We joked that we could just hear the conversation, "Oh, look kids....those must be hikers!". I just hope they actually stop and get out at least once a day. You just can't get the affect hanging out a car window.   After lunch we started trudging up this HUGE hill. We were singing Sousa Marches and show tunes when we saw a green van in the distance. It started honking madly....Dad!!! Whoo-hoo!!! He got out grinning and there were hugs all around. It is so great to see him! I really miss my family on this trek, so this was a real treat!   It turns out that he had seen Pirate up the road, so we turned around went to pick him up. Bless my dads heart! Four smelly hikers, and he not only drove us all to the park, Peaks of Otter, but he took us out to lunch! We had a great time and before we knew it, it was time to say good-bye. We took some final pictures with Charlie, (looking, I might add, a bit scruffier than he did a week ago!), and said our farewells. I sure am going to miss hiking with Charlie! He was so much fun! I think he had a good time, but I don't think he is ready to sell his house and hike across the country! When I asked him if the thru-hiking bug had bitten him, he said that the only thing biting him was the mosquitos!! :)   The rest of the afternoon was spent taking a nap, and watching a wedding that took place outside on the lake. Our balcony provided a beautiful view of the ceremony, and watching the young couple proclaim their commitment and love to each other was touching, and, oddly appropriate at this point in our journey. Everyday of this hike seems more profound and this just underscored that. Del showed up later and spirited Bumpkin, Pirate and I away to Roanoke for a steak dinner. Yes, my fall from vegetarianism is complete! I don't want chicken or ham, but my craving for red meat is not to be denied! And, by the way, it was great!!   Driving home in the back of the pickup, I watched fireflies dance in the tree tops and the stars come out above us. The smells alone told stories about the places we were driving through....campfires, the faint smell of skunk, a nearby creek..all on top of the pure, clean smell of grass.    Once again, it doesn't get any better than this. :)Love, Anna aka Mud Butt------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com