Date: 2005-05-03
From: Audie Murphy Memorial

To: Catawba Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Miles hiked today : 20.619.4 miles + 0.4 miles of side trail + 0.8 roadwalk milesI woke up this morning at 6:55 a.m. and was on the trail at 7:40 a.m. Shortly up the trail, there was a falen tree and as I ducked under it, I heard a scratching noise on my pack cover, but thought nothing of it. A few miles up the trail, I saw a shadow that made it look like my pack cover was loose and realized that the scratching noise was actually my pack cover ripping. Grr! I'll have to get some duct tape to fix it with next time I'm in town.I was moving quickly this morning and arrived at Trout Creek at 9:10 a.m. I stopped for 20 minutes to filter water and then continued on. Over the next 4.1 miles, I had 1,550 feet to climb. On the way, I passed the side trail to Pickle Branch Shelter at 10:00 a.m. I finished the climb and continued on to Dragon's Tooth at 12:30 p.m.I wasn't quite sure why the peak was called Dragon's Tooth, though after taking the 0.2 mile roundtrip side trip at the summit, I found massively huge slabs of rock at least 30 feet tall. Some were easily climbable and others were tempting, though I exercised caution and left the risky ones alone.I returned to the AT after 25 minutes and began the descent from Dragon's Tooth. This was easily the most difficult piece of trail I've encountered on the AT to date. If it had been raining today, the descent would have been nothing short of dangerous, as I was scrambling down smooth rock faces at greater than 45 degree angles. It took me nearly an hour to descend to Rawies Rest, which was yet another difficult rock scramble. After Rawies Rest, I had a fairly easy 1.0 mile descent to VA624, though there was a surprise in store for me.Just before the road, at 2:30 p.m., I spotted a cooler and a folding stool. Trail magic provided by Jeff Williams of Catawba, VA! The note on the cooler said something to the effect of "Greetings thru-hikers and long-distance section hikers. If you began your hike at Springer Mountain, then you've hiked 689 miles to reach this point. Take a load off, you've earned it!" Inside the cooler were pb&j sandwiches, candy bars, home-made peanut butter bars, an apple fruit pie, a banana, soda, bottles of gatorade, and bottles of water.I'd given away the remaining 3 packages of "mud 'n' bugs" pop-tarts in Pearisburg and hadn't bothered to buy replacements, so my breakfast foods were somewhat lacking. This morning, my breakfast consisted of a few fig newtons and 4 ounces of cheese, so I was quite hungry by this time. I sat down on the stool and ate, in order, the apple fruit pie, the banana, one of the sandwiches, one of the peanut butter bars, and washed it all down with a soda. I could have eaten more, but I thought it best to leave some for the hikers behind me.I reached VA624 at 2:55 p.m. and road walked 0.4 miles to Catawba Grocery. Before beginning my trip, I'd seen a picture of Catawba Grocery on-line, though this building looked nothing like the picture. I asked the cashier whether they'd remodeled and she told me that they'd built a new building entirely and relocated about 100 feet away from the original site. While at Catawba Grocery, I bought items for breakfast and lunch for the next few days and also some items to supplement my trail magic lunch: 2 sausage dogs topped with cole slaw and plenty of mustard, a quart of chocolate milk, and a pint of cookies 'n' cream ice cream. I also packed out a 2 liter bottle of soda, despite the fact that it weighs 4 pounds.I sat at Catawba Grocery until 4:45 p.m. During that time, Red Blaze showed up, but had missed the trail magic, as he had taken a blue-blazed side trail to get to Catawba Grocery. Frenchie showed up shortly and had gotten the trail magic. Red Blaze and I departed together, though he headed South on the AT to look for the trail magic. When he later caught up to me, Red Blaze told me that he'd been unable to find it. My guess is that Mr. Williams had removed the cooler for the day and would replace it in the morning. That's what you get for blue-blazing!I had 7.9 miles to hike to reach my intended destination for the evening and it was nearly 5:00 p.m., so I set out at a quick pace. I've found lately that a lengthy afternoon break enables me to do a end of the day push with much greater ease.This section of trail was much easier than what I'd faced earlier today. There were minor ups and downs and, with only a 5 minute rest break at 6:30 p.m., I'd covered 5.6 miles to a side trail to a view point, arriving at 7:20 p.m. I took 15 minutes to walk the 0.2 mile roundtrip side trip to check out some huge slabs of rock and some spectacular views of the neighboring valley.Back on the trail, I crossed VA311 at 7:45 p.m. and stopped to chat with a day hiker for 5 minutes before continuing on to Johns Spring Shelter (a.k.a. the Boy Scout Shelter), arriving at 8:15 p.m. I stopped for 5 minutes to sign the register, then made a final 1.0 mile push to Catawba Mountain Shelter, arriving in very dim light at 8:50 p.m.I was happy to see Lumbermack here upon my arrival. It seems the feeling was mutual, as he called his wife, Sunshine, to tell her that he didn't have to sleep in a shelter by himself after all. I know how he feels. Shelters are somewhat creepy when you're the only one there.As I write this entry, I can hear the mice scurring around in the ceiling. I hope they leave my pack alone. Tomorrow is an exciting day, as in 1.7 miles, I'll be at McAfee Knob, one of the most photographed portions of the AT.Bedtime at 10:30 p.m.