Date: 2005-05-05
From: Audie Murphy Monument

To: Catawba, VA
Miles today: 16.7

Up with the sun. Early start for an early finish. Nice and cold this morning too, but I did watch the sunrise as I packed up my stuff and scarfed pop tarts. Hiked with Heald, Biscuit, and Matt for the morning. We went down the ridge on the same side we came up (not sure what the point of that was exactly) and then up the next. We hit the ridgeline and did a lot of scrambling over rocks to get up to Dragon's Tooth. When we finally made it up there, we climbed to the top of the rock and soaked in the view. Nice view, too. Then it was more ridiculous rock scrambling to get down the hill from Dragon's Tooth. My knees and toes were not pleased with any of that. Found more trail magic at the bottom. I'm getting pretty spoiled with that here lately. Seems like there's been daily magic along this stretch. Each is much appreciated though. I had some gatorade that really hit the spot. At the next road crossing, I almost hiked the quarter mile to a general store that was supposedly there. Got about 50 yds. down the road before I turned back. I decided that I probably only had so many steps in me today and it was best not to waste them on frivolous things. So back to the trail I went. I went along a stream, through some pastures and up the ridge. This ridgewall was pretty frustrating. End of the day. 6 miles to go. I could clearly see town below. And there were just a ton of rocks. The trail turned off the narrow ridge from time to time. Each time I got my hopes up that I was done walking the ridge, only to have those hopes dashed when the trail turned back to an uphill run. It was late in the day, and the Homeplace restaurant was calling me, taunting me with it's all-you-can-eat BBQ pork. Alas, there was an end. I hit the road and started the mile long road walk into town. I wasn't walking for long until a fellow pulled over and offered me a ride in. I didn't even have a thumb out. Quinn was his name and he even offered to drive me to the next town over for a better grocery store than what was in Catawba. I thanked him for the offer, but turned it down since I didn't need much to get me to the next town on the trail. After he dropped me off, I met up with the rest of my crew and walked to the Homeplace. Sat on the porch for a bit and waited for the last couple hikers to roll in. Eleven hikers then went into the restaurant and we definitely stood out both in sight and smell. The place was full of UT kids and families, probably since exams and graduations are near. Then the food came. Silence fell over our table, and all that could be heard was the clashing of silverware on porcelain plates and the smacking of lips. Our waitress had a hard time keeping up with us, as soon as a dish came out, it immediately made a lap around the table and vanished. Must've been an amusing sight. In the end, we waddled out to the gazebo and laid around like beached whales, just waiting to be pushed back into the ocean. At this point, there was still plenty of daylight left, but we had no interest in hiking. Fortunately for us, the folks that own the Homeplace let hikers crash in the gazebos. Clearly, we are not the first hikers to fall into this predicament. So we decided to stay. In the meantime though, we definitely added to the ambiance of the place. As folks wandered by, they cocked an awkward eye toward the gazebo filled with filthy, smelly creatures laughing it up. A few stopped by to chat for a bit or pet the dogs. "Y'all must be hiking the trail", they said. I suppose it's pretty obvious, we're just not that stealthy. Maybe it was the packs... But anyway, good stop here. Best food so far on the trail and boy, was there a lot of it. It was good at the time, but I'll no doubt be punished for it later. Se la vi...