Date: 2007-04-03
From: Watauga Dam Rd

To: Rte 91
Miles today: 15.8

Tuesday, April 3, 2007Watauga Dam Rd to Rte 91, 15.8 milesSleep comfortably in the Element (I love that car!!!) at the Watauga Dam Rd parking area. Stars and moon shine through the skylight. Wake about 5AM. Decide since I¢m backlogged with unseen photos and unwritten journal entries, I¢ll tackle some of that before starting out on today¢s hike. Even though I¢m ¢burning daylight¢ to do it, I stick with it until 7:45AM, ending up still backlogged but not as bad.Start 8AM. First day solo-hiking the AT in 2007! Temps in the 50¢s, perfect for an ascent. I love the climb.Warning signs alerting hikers about rabies and about bears.Hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) on several trailside hemlocks.The beautiful shadbush, serviceberry, in bloom, slender white petals on the trail. Yesterday Gray Feathers said the section of trail near Double Springs shelter, lined on both sides with expanses of spring beauties, would be a perfect spot for a wedding. March down an aisle strewn with serviceberry petals.8:30, top of the first steep up, steepest up we¢ve had so far this trip, sun has poked out from behind the mountain, shining almost directly in my eyes, BUT the NZ hat¢s brim is wide enough to keep it out. That funny-looking hat is great eye and skin protection.Stand of fir.Pussytoes, anemones. I won¢t keep repeating all the wildflowers every day. Will try to just add the new ones.Cutleaf toothwort. Squawroot.A yellow violet different from yesterday¢s. This one a Halberd-leaf.Ragwort.Meet Al and Kathy from NC hiking from 421 to Watauga Dam. They¢ve hiked from Carver¢s Gap to Watauga Dam. Their car is parked next to the Element. Your car is safe, I tell them.10AM eroded spot, just before a rhododendron thicket.At Vanderventer Shelter, I meet Matt who NOBO-thruhiked in 2001 as ¢Sweeper¢. He¢s hiking with the sweetest dog, a female named Uwharrie. Uwharrie, a stray who was lost in the Uwharrie Mountains, adopted Matt. Say hello to Bob and Pat Peoples for me, Matt says. I¢ve missed them the last 2 trips thru here. Matt hiked the Mountains-to-Sea trail from SC thru NC then joined the AT above the Smokies at Carvers Gap. There¢s a lot of trash near 321 and the tip of Watauga Lake, he says. Also some purple wildflowers I couldn¢t identify, he adds. Matt is laid back, easy to talk to, interested in other people and what¢s around him. He¢s young and sinewy and strong. Maybe he¢ll hike on to Alaska! He¢s got a solar panel, with connections that fit in an Altoids tin, that powers his ipod and light. Hello to NOBO Iceman Dan. Who won, Florida or Ohio State? I don¢t know. First spring azure butterfly. I wrote about these in the 2006AT journal, March 28. I pull up that entry:¢Just then, OH! The periwinkle blue butterfly!Here¢s the scoop on that trail friend Amoeba¢s seen on the AT every year since 2003. It¢s a member of the Order Lepidoptera, that name derived from the Greek lepido (scale) and ptera (wings). Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) have scaly wings. It¢s in the Gossamer-wing Family, the Blues Subfamily. Its scientific name is Celestrina ladon. Its common name is spring azure butterfly. Like the New Zealand female scale insect that sucks sap from red beech trees and excretes honeydew, the spring azure caterpillar excretes a sweet liquid that¢s a food source for other creatures. In this case, a food source for ants. In exchange, the ants protect spring azure caterpillars from predators. Every year the spring azure is one of the first butterflies to emerge from its chrysalis. It will live only a week or 2, during which time males and females mate and females lay their eggs. The ones flying close to the ground are most likely males, who ingest moisture and nutrients from puddles. The dorsal side of the male wing is a lilac-blue, the ventral side a pale grayish white. Like trying to photograph New Zealand fantails, it¢s hard to photograph spring azure butterflies. They don¢t land that often. And when they do, only rarely do they open their wings to expose that beautiful lilac-blue.On tomorrow¢s hike the sad corpse of a dead male spring azure will be sprawled flat at the edge of the trail, its wings wide open, dorsal side up.¢ At the campsite, I pick up freshly-left trash, put it in a grocery bag, and pack it out. While doing that I get passed by both Matt and Iceman Dan. While I¢m at the campsite, gnats came out in force. Biting.12:45 meet Memere and Gray Feathers. They¢re ahead of me, I need to pick up the pace!Hello to Valerie, Howard and Howard¢s daughter Vanessa. These are the 3 Mike told me about who stayed at Vanderventer Shelter. Valerie and Vanessa teach elementary school in NYC, Valerie kindergarten, Vanessa 4th and 5th grade. Right now it¢s spring break. Howard is a native Tennesseean. All are wearing large packs. I snap a picture but I won¢t post it. It¢s unflattering and too contrasty. My camera doesn¢t capture whites well. Another To-Do: figure out how to photograph whites.1:45 There¢s a tiny trailing arbutus among the oak leaves. Weird rock with bright yellow and bright red bands, right on the trail.2:50 At Iron Mountain shelter hello to Johnnymud and hello again to Matt, Uwharrie and Iceman Dan. Johnnymud wears size 16 shoes. He¢s hiking in hush puppies. He says he approached the hush puppy company to see if they might like to sponsor him but they said, you¢re not hiking the AT in hush puppies! Hush puppies are casual shoes. We have a sister company (Merrell) that makes the footwear you need for a rugged long-distance hike. No sponsorship. Too bad. Hush puppies will probably work to hike in just as well for him as Crocs do for me.Footwear conversation spills over into a discussion of Crocs and the Z-coils Myra was telling me about. Johnnymud says they don¢t make Crocs in my size. I tell him, yes, they do. Go to their website. You can get Beach Crocs in size 4XL, which fits foot sizes 16 and 17. Iceman Dan says Nike had coil-heeled tennis shoes some time ago. Matt, a runner, weighs in. Coil-heels are not good for runners, he says. Runners need to build up their own calf muscles by wearing not too cushy, non-coil-heeled shoes. Built-up calf muscles provide all the springiness anyone needs.I hike on. Pass the Nick Grindstaff monument. Lived alone, suffered alone, died alone.Closer to Rte 91 it looks different from when I tented here in 05. Maybe a re-route? Rhodos are browned-leaved. Perhaps a controlled burn was done? Out at 5PM. Johnnymud is ahead, at Abington Gap Shelter. I give Iceman Dan 2 beers, one for him and one for Johnnymud. Matt and Uwharrie come out and visit for a while at the carpark. I like both of them a lot. I¢ll try to find the wildflowers at Watauga Matt was describing and put photos on TJ. Good Luck, you two!Driving to Elizabethton along Rte 91 there¢s smoke rising from the forest and a small plane circling over it. Another controlled burn? Back to Nanny¢s for supper. I have their signature chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. Gray Feathers and Memere have real meals. For lodging, Nanny¢s recommends the Americourt Motel in Elizabethton. We check in, splitting the room 3 ways. Wifi!, showers, Weather Channel. We find out on the TV¢s local news, that¢s a forest fire along Rte 91, not a controlled burn. We¢ll use the Americourt as a base for a few days. It¢s within easy distance by car of our start and end points. Because the 2007 thruhiker bubble is already in this area, we won't take up room at the places right on the trail like Kincora, Abby¢s place and the Mountain Harbour B and B that's needed by hikers without cars.