Date: 2010-05-07
From: Pond campsite

To: Elk Garden
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was another beautiful day in paradise. The weather was crazy good again, and the gnats weren't even bad. Which was the first day in a long time for that, I must say, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.We hiked on the Creeper Trail for a little while. I think I made up some time there, as it is almost totally flat. So I could just stride along. But as soon as the trail returned to regular AT, I slowed down. Zang! I love walking fast. Also, I had a deadline since JD was meeting me. I put in my earphones and turned on an audiobook - today, Bill Bryson's "Shakespeare". And when that was done I started in on "Dune". I saw a lot of southbounders but very few northbounders. None except Cody during the day, actually, and that was not until about 3:30. I can't figure out where everybody is. Did they all get rides north so they could hike back into Damascus for Trail Days? Are they stuck in the town vortex? I seem to be unaffected by town vortices, but I also don't drink much..After what seemed like a very long hike I finally topped Whitetop Mountain. The view was awesome but I had other things on my mind. Primarily water. It was really hot out and I had only a few swallows left. Luckily I found some seasonal springs running on the other side of the summit. The water wasn't that tasty but it slaked my thirst. Ten minutes after that, of course, I found the *real* spring. It was an amazing gusher shooting out of the side of the hill at firehose velocity. I gathered a liter but haven't had a chance to treat or taste it yet. I bet it's amazing.I went as fast as I could the rest of the way to Elk Garden to meet JD. When I arrived at the parking lot, no silver PT Cruiser. Ah well. I got to catch up with Webwalker and Just Blue Skies, who has a sore knee and is taking the weekend off to let it heal. Good for her! Too many people bull through and end up with more serious injuries, IMHO. But I'm quite conservative when it comes to health. I believe strongly in rest for healing. And in her place I'd rather lose two days now than have to leave the trail. I hope Just Blue Skies feels much, much better with the time off and TLC. JD arrived soon, bearing with him sodas and birthday cupcakes. I introduced him to my two friends and also to Cody who had just walked up. Embarrassingly, they all sang Happy Birthday to me. But then I got to have a cupcake so it was all good.JD had packed a selection of junkfood in the car to keep my going until we got to dinner. Clever husband! Wytheville was a fair drive away, as we had expected to be farther north when the plans were made. Dang stomach virus slowed us up. That's all right, though, because the B&B is amazing. It's in an old mansion. It's definitely the fanciest house I've ever slept in. As soon as we arrived I got a shower. The shower has overhead AND body nozzles. Wow. And you can take a steam bath in it, which I did. It felt amazing. I have to do that again before I leave. I may return to the trail quite pruney.I had asked JD to bring our bathroom scale so I could get a real assessment of my weight. Checking other people's scales doesn't help much because you don't know if the baseline is the same. So, according to my very own scale, I've lost ~14 lb. Wow! And that's while stuffing my face with everything I can carry. I wonder if it will keep up or hold steady. I should be able to check again in a bit over a month.Tomorrow JD is going to slackpack me. I had intended to do 16.9 through the Grayson Highlands area, but with the extra drive from Wytheville and the fact that the B&B doesn't serve breakfast until 8:30, I don't think I have time. So we worked out a route that lets me see the highlands and do more like 9 or 10 total. I'll have to miss the section from Massie Gap to Fox Creek. Which given that I've already missed ~50 miles isn't breaking my heart. I'll see the bits I wanted to see, and have more time to spend with my husband in the evening. The day after I should rejoin Cody.