Date: 2003-06-25
From: Lamberts Meadow Campsite

To: US 220-Daleville
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: clear sky

Date: 6.25.03Starting Location: Lamberts Meadow campsiteDestination: US 220-DalevilleMileage: 9.1   Last night, as all four of us were laying in our tents, Charlie said, "Is everyone having a great night?", at which point Bumpkin and I said, "Wonderful,...Stupendous". Pirate said, "Its an average night". I was on the verge of chastising him when Bumpkin screamed, "Theres a locust in my sleeping bag!!!", at which point Pirate immediately said, "The night is looking up!" :) It was a humorous beginning to what was to be a very long night. We all settled in peacefully to the sound of the water and birds....til about midnight. Then this strange howling filled the night! It went on for hours, on and off, raising the hair on the back of my neck and chasing away any idea of sleep. Finally at 3:30 am, sensing that everyone else was awake, I whispered, through our tent walls, "Pirate....what IS that?". He said that it was hunting dogs and that they must have caught scent of something. The next day, several people said that they thought it was coyote. I don't know....if it was coyote, they sounded like something out of a horror movie! And since it is not hunting season, I can't imagine that it was dogs! Whatever it is, it kept us all up most of the night, so morning found us a little slow and clumsy.      Charlie coaxed me out of my sleeping bag with a mug of hot tea. I tell you, I am really going to miss him when he leaves! :) As my body slowly woke up, I got ready to face the 9.1 mile day into town.   I have beeen craving sweet tea for three days and tonight I was going to have it!!   Normally, we wouldn't be going back into civilization so soon, but there is a no camping rule for about 15 miles through the towns of Daleville and Troutville. We think it is a conspiracy set up by the local motels and all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant! :) Anyway you look at it, though...we are going into town! First, however, we have to travel the ridgeline for almost 10 miles...none of which have any water. That is a long way without a water source! We pumped as much water as we could and then set off up the trail.    The day consisted of rolling hills along the top of the mountains that moved us along like a slow roller coaster. There were a lot of rock scrambles, and even some hikes through powerline right-of-ways. These are always kind of neat because you will be walking in the woods and all of the sudden you are crossing a glade full of wildflowers and weeds and towering above you will be this huge powerline thingy! Something that obviously man-made always comes as a shock when I am hiking! As the hills got bigger and rockier, my spirits started to flag. I came to the bottom of a ugly, rocky slope that seemed to go straight up, and Charlie came bounding down it without his pack. "Give me your pack", he demanded. Of course, I refused! We went back and forth arguing, til he looked at me and said, "It is trail magic....let me do some trail magic for you!". How could I argue with that? He bounded back up that ugly hill with my pack....making it look waaay to easy, might I add...and I walked up, lurching with the unaccustomed lightness. When I got to the top, he and Bumpkin had found tons of fresh blueberry bushes, and had picked me a bag of fruit. They were small and sweet, and warm from the sun. Blueberries never tasted so wonderful!   As the day wore on, we sent Bumpkin on ahead to get our room, and Charlie and I hiked on, up and down the rock formations. And it got hot. Real hot! At one point, I got overheated, and started to really struggle. Charlie kept telling me to sit down and drink more water. When I fell down and jammed my shin into a rock, I was done! Now I had three new scrapes to add to the 70+ bug bites, two poison ivy patches, and myriad of scratches from last weeks fall! I was starting to seriously look like the walking wounded! However, just like last week, I knew that sooner or later, I had to just get on with it. With tons of encouragement from my brother, I struggled through the last of the rock scrambles before we finally started down off the ridge.   We were pretty sore and tired, but we had a little extra pep in our step as we descended into the coolness of the woods. As we walked the remaining two miles into town, we played word games to keep ourselves occupied. The highlight of the day was spooking a deer and watching it leap across the trail in front of us! I was so excited cause I wanted Charlie to see a deer, and now he had!   As we got down to the highway, we high-fived each other and headed for the motel. Passing cars honked and waved at us, making us feel very welcome in town.    A couple of hot showers later, and we were headed to the AYCE Chinese Buffet. Needless to say, we did some damage! Pirate walked in and joined us, as did Koop, a hiker from the shelter the night before. Along with two other hikers, BeBop and Don't Stop, we put a hurting on the buffet! :) I ate til I thought I would pop! I think my hiker apetite is starting to kick in!:)   Now I am laying in an air-conditioned room on a soft bed. I have to tell you, something doesn't feel right about this.....but I think I will suffer through the night! :)   Tomorrow......more mountains to climb! Love, Anna aka Mud Butt------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com