Date: 2004-06-04
From: Relax Inn Motel in Adkins, Va.

To: Lick Creek in Va.
Miles today: 17.0

17 miles todayLick Creek in Va.Stealth tentingIt's hard to beat a day like today. I woke up at about 5:30am and got dressed and walked in the rain up to The Barn Restaurant and got my coffee and ordered a hikers special. It had two eggs, two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, two sausage patties, homefries and two pieces of toast. When I ordered it I said...heck, give me two biscuits too. All that and it was only about 6 bucks. Buhda Jim came in and joined me. He thru hiked in '97 and is back out to hike Virginia. He eats like a thru hiker though and has only been on the trail for less than a week. I came back to my room to figure out what I'm going to do today and how much food I need to buy to get me to my next stop. It's raining out and there are flood warnings out so it sounds like it will be a cool, wet day to walk. I talked to Chief and he's trying to figure out when he can come out and hike for a few days before he starts his 800+ mile hike of The Mountains To The Seas Trail later this month.I went and resupplied and packed my backpack. It was 10am and I still had an hour before I had to be out of the motel room, so I went back up to The Barn and ordered another breakfast. This time I just had eggs, sausage, homefries and toast with more coffee. I also ordered two sausage and egg biscuits to go. I packed them out for dinner. I went back to the room and left at 11am. I walked up to the Dairy Queen and went in and sat down because it was raining really hard. I ordered a coke and then decided to order a cheeseburger to pack out with my other two sandwiches. I actually got out of there before noon. I started hiking at 11:55am and it was still raining hard. It was very hard to get started in the rain after I was all clean and dry after the night in the motel, but once i got out in it and got wet I really enjoyed the rest of the day...in fact it turned out to be one of my best days. I really like adverse weather and I was just as happy hiking in this weather today as a pig in mud. I was actually in mud though part of the day. A few times it was mud up over my ankles in some of the low spots. I got to Davis Path Shelter and sat down for a short break. It was only 3 miles into the days walk. I hiked over a couple of small mountains...Gullion and Big Walker and then on down to the north fork of the Holston River. This was the muddiest part of the hike today. The river was only about a foot from flowing over the top of the bridge. I had to skim my feet along the edges to keep the mud from sucking my shoes off my feet. I hiked on up to Knot Maul Branch Shelter and ate the sandwiches I packed in for dinner and talked to Little Munchkin. Kev-dog came in a little later and I could tell from the look on his face he wasn't having a good day. He looked at me and said "You were enjoying this mess today weren't you??...I knew it." I hiked on while he was trying to dry out. He was staying there for the night. I heard thunder in the distance as I hiked out, but it stayed away even though it continued to rain. I walked about another hour and found this great spot about 30' from Lick Creek. I'm up on a high finger of land that is about 20' higher than the creek. I get to listen to the water all night in the creek. I know I said I wasn't going to say anything else about orange newts, but it's been a while since I've seen any until the two I saw today. I came up on a section hiker earlier today that was sitting in the middle of the trail on a rock and it was raining and he looked pathetic. He was a nice guy, just taking a break. He just started a section hike that should take him to Harpers Ferry. He said his name was Walrus. I saw a thermometer at the first shelter today at 1pm and the temperature was 58 degrees...you can't ask for better weather than that in June.When I crossed Nemo Rd, I couldn't believe how quiet it was. I can only remember one other time in my life when it was that quiet and that was out in the middle of nowhere in Montana. Then a bird started singing...you never have a shotgun handy when you need one.I passed the 1/4 point today...almost done with this hike.It's been another great day on the A.T.