Date: 2007-11-19
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: Groseclose, VA
Miles today: 22.9

My alarm was set for 6 in order to facilitate 10 by 10, so I packed up by the light of my headlamp and hit the ground running at 7:15. The top of the mountain is mowed to maintain it as a bald, so it was a cool walk as the sun came up over the mountains to the east. I put up quite a few deer that were most likely escaping hunting pressure by climbing to the top of the mountains. I didn't see any hunters in the morning because the trail was rather isolated. I made good time to the shelter where I had lunch. Other than coming down from Chestnut Knob, there weren't too many good views. I did see lots of wild turkeys, and seemed to spend about 90 percent of the time walking through rhododendron. If you like rhododendron, this area is just for you! The only thing bad about the rhododendron thickets is that not much light hits the trail, so it tends to be really wet and slippery with leaves. I did come across a cool oak leaf; half of it had turned brown, and the other half of it was still green. It was split down the middle at the vein that runs from stem to tip. I took a few pictures of it, because I was bored, and continued on into town.I hiked through a really cool valley through cow pastures with really neat views and things; perfect place to put a tiny house! I also learned a few things as I got closer and closer to town.1) Even if you're so fat that you need handicapped license plates so as to shorten your walk into Wal-mart, you can still walk enough to deer hunt.2) The statewide burning ban does not apply to you if you're just burning tires you threw down in the ravine behind your trailer.3) If you haggle down the rate at a motel and then try to pay with American Express you lose any discount you may have manipulated.Luckily I also had VISA, so I was able to get by with the hiker rate at the Relax Inn in Groseclose. Groseclose it an exit on I-81, so I ate at a travelers' restaurant, which was cheap but the furnishings were incredibly sparse; the place was definitely on its last legs. It had been a mom & pop Cracker Barrel type place, but apparently they had an inventory fire sale before selling the restaurant business and building, and the lady that bought it didn't have enough capital to restock. There were some injection molded ponies with inspirational religious quotes painted on the side of them, and some cheap NASCAR photo collage clocks for sale, none for more than 13 bucks.I spent the night watching TV and running back and forth to the truck stop, which was a pretty tiny truck stop. Where I work in Caroline County, VA for the county's Fire Rescue department, we have a huge truck stop area, which I envisioned as I was coming into town. The truck stop in Groseclose was nothing like the ones in Ruther Glen, but it did for a quick resupply to get me to Damascus. While I was sitting in my hotel room, I decided to shoot for Damascus, VA for Thanksgiving, a distance of nearly 75 miles, to be covered in three days, two nights. I also learned that stocks were performing dismally, which I confirmed when I checked my investment values when I got on this computer.