Date: 2004-06-02
From: Seeley-Woodworth Shelter

To: Tye River (VA, Route 56)
Miles today: 11.7

I am sitting on a big smooth boulder along the Tye River having enjoyed another spectacular day of sunshine (yea, BOB!), low humidity, light breezes and cool temperatures. It was also a day of spontaneous decision making and being open to doing things other than sticking ¢to plan¢ (actually, as I think about it, I never did have a plan for the day other than to ¢head north¢...)After 11 12 hours of sleep I woke to find that all of my shelter mates were already gone except for ¢Slowpoke,¢ who incidentally was the hiker who had gone missing for five days back in April, which initiated broad-bases. He had gotten off on a side trail and then received some ¢bad directions¢ from the only two people who he encountered during what he referred to as his ¢period of brief disorientation.¢ (Five days?!?)As I was finishing my breakfast and sharing AT stories with ¢Slowpoke¢, ¢Beast¢ and ¢Gaia¢ blew into camp, used the privy, checked the shelter log and headed out, intent on getting to Fish Hatchery Road in time for the 11 am pickup by the owners of the Dutch Haus B&B. When picked up, hikers are taken over to the B&B where they are treated to a free lunch and then are shuttled back. The usual pick up time are 11 o¢clock and 12:30 and it¢s was then 9:55 am (and the pickup point was about 3 miles away). I had heard about the B&B from shelter log entries left by some ¢SOBO¢s ¢ (South Bound section hikers) and, what-the-heck, I thought it sounded like fun so 15 minutes later I was packed and off like a ¢Bumpo-out-hell.¢I made the 3 miles in pretty good time actually running part of the way, but to no avail. ¢Beast¢ and ¢Gaia¢ didn¢t know that I had decided to join them for lunch. So, when asked by Earl they told him that nobody else was coming along. With no one to wait for, Earl (owner of B&B) left a few minutes early. Not to be discouraged, however, I wasn¢t about to miss out on free lunch, so I just kept right on going and walked the additional mile and a half into Montebello, Virginia and then on to the Dutch Haus. In spite of the additional mile and a half I managed to get there around 11:30 am which was darn good time! My decision to press on proved to be a very good one! Lunch was two double cheeseburgers cooked on the barbeque grill, corn on the cob, potato salad, ice tea and homemade lemon meringue pie, served on a real table, indoors, on real plates! DEE-LIGHTFUL! Many thanks go to Bonnie, Laura, and Earl who have such a great marketing approach. Next time I am in Montebello, you know where I¢ll be staying!After lunch Earl took us to the Montebello General Store and Post-Office before driving us back to within a 12 mile of the trailhead which was indeed, a pleasant surprise for all three of us. To show you how considerate our hosts were, the ride in the back of Earl¢s truck was on oversized beanbag cushions, which were marvelous at absorbing the bumps. Also as a point of reference, their House, has a sign on it indicating that Springer is 881 miles away, but more notably, between here and there someone has determined that there are 21,156 blazes marking the way. That comes out to 26.4 blazes per mile or an average 1 every 200 feet. (Now, you tell me, who counts blazes on the AT and what for?)My afternoon was spent cruising¢just ambling along¢at whatever pace felt good, taking in the scenery and the few but extraordinary vistas from atop Priest Mountain. From there it was downhill to the Tye River, a drop of 3000¢involving 37 switchbacks (another AT statistic thanks to some frustrated Census- taker.) On the way down, I overtook ¢Blueberry Burt¢, and her husband ¢Goodtimes¢ (from Bridgewater, Connecticut) with whom I had lunch on the first day I had returned to the Trail last week. Chatting as we walked along, they delivered some bad news¢they had seen ¢Wilson¢ (my bandana!) in the clutches of some SOBO day-hiker yesterday afternoon. They didn¢t realize that ¢Wilson¢ was supposed to be going north with me until they read my plea for help in locating him in the Seeley-Woodworth Shelter journal¢¦ and I never thought that ¢Wilson¢ would become a SOBO!Upon reaching the river I took off my shoes, ate some cheese and crackers, and chatted with ¢Hotrocks¢, ¢Polar¢ and her 1 12 year old Golden Retriever, ¢Jack.¢ All of them were tenting there by the river with ¢Blueberry Burt¢ and ¢Goodtimes¢. I packed up and headed out for Harper¢s Shelter 212 miles away, but 200¢up the Trail I stopped, and for the second time today, spontaneously decided to change my ¢plan.¢ I turned around and set up my tent to enjoy a relaxing evening with others by the river. The mountain will still be there tomorrow. Oh yes¢even though I logged 11.7 miles up the Trail today, my actual mileage walked was 14.7 miles when you add in the stretch to the Dutch Haus.