Date: 2006-05-13
From: Knot Maul Branch Shelter

To: Jenkins Shelter
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Bama called briefly this morning to say that she and Little Wing made it fine to Knot Maul. They were joined in the shelter by Marco Solo, Comfortably Numb, Marley, and Australians, Mike & Zen. The weather is very good, even though my "Weatherman" persona required me to tell her that the forecast for the nest five days included a lot of rain.They got on the trail early at 6:30 am because they knew they hard some tough climbing today, over 2,000 feet in elevation gain straight up a ridge face to the Chestnut Knob Shelter. My sister-in-law had told me earlier that Bama should look for Burke's Garden, where she and my brother had vacationed in their motor home. It's a small inclusive community, still active after many generations of the same families living there - and from my 3D topo mapping software looks like a huge football stadium, except that it's about 6 miles across and 10 miles long. It can only be entered from one small road. The AT passes along the southeastern ridge surrounding Burkes Garden and offers some amazing views - not unlike Cades Cove. I hope the weather holds so everyone can see. (More on Burkes Garden at the end of this entry).After hiking almost straight down the ridge (Garden Mountain), an elevation drop of 2,000 ft, their sore toes will be treated by the Jenkins Shelter at the bottom, alongside a stream that leads to a lake. They will be halfway between Wytheville, VA and Bluefield, WV and near Bland, VA, their next stop. UPDATE: Bama called around 2:00 pm and they had pretty much finished the trek across Chestnut Ridge and were about to start down. She was able to see Burke's Garden and said it was very pretty. Bama was calling from County Road 623 at mile 563.9 and said they were tired and wanted me to drive there and pick them up and bring them beer! Of course, she was cutting up. Bama was out of water and Little Wing only had a few sips left and they said they hoped some Trail Angel would stop on the road and give them some water. I told them they were heading downhill and only had about 4 more miles to go to get water and rest. Bama said her feet were really mad at her and had been calling her all sorts of ugly names for several miles.Well!! Bama called back at 2:30 pm and they had met two Trail Angels, Teresa and Pete, who were day hiking!! Pete gave them all his water and some trail mix and Teresa shared fresh strawberries, crackers and cookies. See...prayers ARE answered.BillPS: For those not interested in history or weird topography, you might want to skip this next part.The Majesty of Burke's Garden - The Beauty of Tazewell CountyBy Helen Barranger, Contributing Editor, Blue Ridge Country It's easy to see why no one would sell land to George Washington Vanderbilt back in 1880 when he was looking for a spot to build the mansion he would call Biltmore. For Burke's Garden--Tazewell County's crown jewel--is so uniquely beautiful that the good-sense families who own it knew full well there was no alternative but to pass the land along to their children. And Tazewell County as a whole has a great deal of the same flavor. It's built on loyalty, tradition, common sense. Money doesn't always talk. Sometimes it doesn't even whisper. George Washington Vanderbilt learned that in the 1880s when he tried to buy land for his mansion in Burke's Garden, Tazewell County, Va. The people of Burke's Garden knew a good thing, too, and nobody would sell him an acre, according to well-known local legend."He tried hard to buy it," says Burke's Garden resident and "mayor" Jim Hoge, who remembers his Grandmother Moss telling how Vanderbilt stayed in the Moss home. "In those days to acquire land in Burke's Garden one either had to heir it or marry it and Vanderbilt had done neither." So Vanderbilt put the 255-room Biltmore in Asheville, N.C., his second choice. Bill