Date: 2019-04-08
From: Niday Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Guess what?  I was up early. The trail descended to a road then it took a long steep climb and followed a ridge walk to the Audie Murphy monument.  Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 ¢ 28 May 1971) was born into a large family of sharecroppers in Hunt County, Texas. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valour available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honour for valour that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.   As you can imagine, he suffered from what would today be described as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).   Murphy slept with a loaded handgun under his pillow. In his last few years, he was plagued by money problems but refused offers to appear in alcohol and cigarette commercials because he did not want to set a bad example.  Shortly before his 46thbirthday, Murphy died in a plane crash here on Brush Mountain, not far from Catawba, Virginiain 1971.  In 1974, the Christiansburg Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a monument (Shown in this photo) to honour him.  He was interred with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery, where his grave is one of the most visited.    So having paid my respects, I continued on the trail as it descended down to a road and then followed a long steep climb and a ridge walk to the Dragons Tooth which is a rock monolith of Tuscarora quartzite straddling Craig and Roanoke Counties just west of Catawba. I was well rewarded, as the rock stands out on its own at the top of Cove Mountain and was even more impressive than I thought it would be.  (See the photo on my blog site).  A storm was gathering and I could detect thunder and lightning off in the distance. It started raining and I thought it best to get going as the descent from Dragons Tooth entails a bit of a rock scrambling and I could do well without it being wet underfoot on these slippery rocks! Too late, the heavens have opened up and I¢m in a deluge; nothing for it but to put my head down and descend as quickly and as safely as possible. As I look back, today¢s trail was great and despite being hard it was also enjoyable.I finally arrived at the road and my intended campsite was looking very wet indeed.  Feeling not much better myself, I turned on my heels and made my way to the nearby shop for a pizza.   From there Underdog made a phone call to the Four Pines Hostel, as we need to get myself warm and dry.I can¢t tell you how blissful the steaming hot showers are in this place! Now, feeling clean, warm and well fed, I¢m ready to get my head down for the night.   The problem is, that lights out is 10 pm, which is way past ¢hiker midnight¢!  And I do so need my beauty sleep but there are a few section hikers here who seem to have ¢ lost¢ the volume control!   Am I beginning to sound like a grumpy old man or what?Before I sign off for the day I just want to give a big thanks to Lee for the words of encouragement. Thanks my friend, the shin splint problem is definitely improving.