Date: 2004-06-03
From: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter

To: Laurel Creek Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Allegheny was up and gone by 6:15am this morning. He's meeting a friend at a road crossing about 20mi ahead and doesn't want to miss the chance for a hot shower and good food. I took time to cook up a pot of tea and catch up on my journals. Harry says that I must having too much fun since I'm two weeks behind on my journal entries. True to a degree. A good journal entry takes about an hour to complete. If you're hiking hard, you get into camp late and are really too tired to compose a good entry. When in town most of the time is spent resupplying, eating, sleeping and socializing with whomever else is there, leaving little time for journals. So I'm changing tactics to try updating the first thing in the morning over breakfast when it's quiet and my mind is fresh.I left Topknot and Duch at the shelter at 8:30am. These young kids can sleep late, take long breaks during the day, and still catch me at the end of the day. Made the short 4mi hike over to the Baily Gap shelter where I stopped for a second breakfast. After that was about an hour of rock hopping over a section covered with boulders and smaller rocks. The shelter register entries compared this with the infamous stretch of miles of rock in PA. I'm not looking forward to it. Rock hopping requires total concentration on where you place your feet, and there's the constant threat of an ankle turn or worse if a rock shifts the wrong way. My strategy is to always have at least two wheels on the ground, and three if possible (counting the hiking poles).Most of the morning was spent hiking through a sea of ferns. Very pretty, unless it's raining, when ferns are the worst to get you wet. I flushed a couple of deer who bounded away with their white flags raised.Here's a thing I've noticed on this hike. On the thousands of miles of the AT, in the zillions of acres of woods, no matter where you stop to rest there are at least a half dozen insects in the near vicinity that arrive immediately to feast on you. Plus a few that see you as a good place to land. At first you get the impression that they're following you around waiting for you to stop. But after this goes on for weeks you realize that there must be so many insects out there that you will never find a spot where you can take a 5min break without one attempting to eat on you. But you never see this horde of bugs as you walk along. A few butterflies and bees and little flying critters maybe, but the rest stay hidden somehow. Until you stop, and then a fly or gnat will show up within seconds. Makes you wonder what they live on between hikers. I guess a hiker is to an insect as a pizza is to a hiker; rare, delicious, and irresistible.I made it to the War Spur shelter about 3:00pm for more eats. Topknot caught up with me there. Then the tough climb up to Kelly Knob reminded me of the good old days on the AT down in GA. Fortunately and thankfully SuperDave of Blacksburg, VA had left a cooler of soft drinks near the top at Rocky Gap. I killed a black cherry and chased it with an orange soda. And belched out loud to show my apreciation. Thanks a gazillion, SuperDave!From there it was over to the White Rock overlook, with fantastic views (Blacksburg in the distance?). I left Topknot there to watch the sunset. A short way down the trail I directed a couple of young ladies back to the overlook trail that they had missed. Topknot will be pleased for the company. Then on to the shelter before 7:00pm in time for dinner, cleanup, and laundry. Topknot and Duch came in after 9:00pm for a few minutes, then hiked on to camp in a meadow a couple of miles down the trail on this full moon night. I had the shelter to myself except for the resident mouse.