Date: 2005-09-20
From: Daleville, Va.

To: On a ridge near Catawba, VA
Miles today: 23.1

23.1 miles todayOn a ridge near Catawba, Va. I woke up at 7am and went downstairs for the continental breakfast. I took a tray full of food back up to my room and ate it, then went back down and got some more. I wasn't in any hurry to get moving because I was going to a walkin clinic to see about this systemic poison ivy I've got. My mom and dad called to see how their fine baby boy was doing. :-))) I was as good as I could be expected considering there wasn't anyone here to bring me chicken noodle soup. :-((( I checked out about 9:30am and walked down to what was supposed to be a walkin clinic across from Krogers, but it was a family practice...appointments only. I gave my best pouty look. That sure comes in handy sometimes. :-))) They gave me an appointment for 10:30. I sure hope I don't get sick from being around all those sick people in the waiting room. I got to see the doctor and he said I have poison oak and chiggers. The good thing is he can treat them both the same way. He wrote out a script for Prednazone and I was on my way across the road to Krogers to get that script filled and resupply. I stopped by the outfitter first and left my backpack in their store, then went to Krogers and got everything I needed. I dropped that by my pack and went to Bojangles for lunch. It did say on the Prednazone to take with food. :-))) I ordered a two piece breast chicken dinner and soda. It sure is nice to be back in an area that has fried chicken. I also bought some benadryl from Krogers to help stop the itching, so I took two of those. When I got back to the outfitter, I went ahead and bought a new shirt anyway. I know I said I was going to wait, but it made me feel better when I put a shirt on with no holes. :-))) I also bought a new headlamp and got some denatured alcohol. I repacked my backpack, donated my old headlamp to the hiker box (it still worked, but just didn't make the connection all the time) and threw my old shirt in the garbage. I thought about sending it to Moosie so he could look "experienced", but I would have paid the postage to send it to him and he would have thrown the shirt in the garbage anyway. :-)) I had a new shirt and already had less itching, so I decided to hike on. I was really expecting to take a zero today, but I was "itching" to get back on the trail. Ha!!! I got to the trailhead at 1pm and started walking south. It was very warm down in the valley at that time, but climbing 800 feet to the ridge made a big difference. It was still hot, but at least there was a breeze. I ran into a north bound section hiker by the name of Poco Loco who was out for 2 weeks. It was great to see someone on the trail so I didn't let him get by without talking. He enjoyed talking too. We spent about 15 minutes asking each other water and trail questions. I hiked on and in about 4 miles I came to Lamberts Meadow Shelter. I had stopped about 10 minutes before there and filled my water bottles at a stream that still had a little flow to it. I signed the register and hiked on. When I got up about half way up the 1000 foot climb to Tinker Cliffs, and the breeze got really nice. I took a few pictures of the cliffs. There were about 6 buzzards gliding back and forth. I think they were waiting to see if I fell off the cliff. On the way down Tinker Cliffs, I looked to my left and saw a doe watching me walk by. She never did move, just kept an eye on me. I got down to Brickey's Gap and I heard a tractor coming up a small farm road. I waited and when the guy got to the top, he shut the motor down to talk. We talked about 20 minutes or so. Turns out his name is Kenny Brickey and his grandfather bought 250 acres there back in 1896 and it's been in the family ever since. He was coming up after a load of firewood he cut for the winter. I got his picture sitting on his old tractor up there on the mountain at Brickey's Gap. I hiked on and about 2 miles later, I saw a bear about 40 yards away from me watching me. I stopped to look back and he took off down the mountain. He was probably about a 200 pounder. That makes 11 bears I've seen on this hike. I walked by Campbells Shelter without stopping because it was getting close to sunset and I wanted to get up to McAfee Knob and enjoy it and take some pictures. I got up to McAfee Knob and set my pack out on the edge where everyone likes to stand to have their picture taken and went over to the other side and took a picture of it. I didn't have anyone there that could take a picture of me and I wasn't about to use the timer. My timer works in about 6 seconds and it was a 7 second run. I wasn't going to run out the edge of the cliff after I set the camera. I hung around until I could see there wasn't going to be much pink in the sky because of some thick, low clouds. I got to thinking about Pearisburg. I was planning on hiking in there on saturday and going to The Homeplace with Rainbow Slick and Goosebump that day. I talked to them last night on the phone and we cancelled that plan. It would have been 4 hours one way for them to Pearisburg. That's too much since they have Baby Bump. Soooooo, I decided to get there friday afternoon instead so I can get my bounce box and go through it in the motel room. That way I can take the bounce box back to the PO and hike out on saturday. I was coming down off McAfee Knob and it was getting dark. I had too much energy left and didn't want to quit walking yet, so I kept walking. I got to try out my new headlamp. :-)) I stopped at Catawba Shelter because I saw a light on. It turned out to be 3 guys hiking Virginia. We talked about 15 minutes, I signed the register and hiked on. I got to the Johns Spring Shelter after seeing a dry spring and I signed the register. It was another mile from there to cross Rt 311 which heads down to Catawba. I crossed that and as I was climbing the next bump on the ridge, I saw a campfire. I went over and talked to a guy named Hawk. Pretty soon his friend woke up that was sleeping in a tent and he came out and talked. His name was Derica. They said they've been camped there a couple weeks. We stood around the campfire for about 20 minutes talking before I hiked on. I walked another hour before I decided it was time to set up my tent. I stopped at 10:20 and was in my tent by 10:30pm. At least now I won't have to walk this ridge in the morning and see the red roof of The Homeplace down in the valley because I've already passed it in the dark. That would have been traumatic!! :-))) I love my new headlamp and my new shirt!! I'm a happinin' hiker. :-)))