Date: 2003-07-20
From: Buena Vista, Virginia

To: Hog Camp Gap, USFS 48
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Erin says:We got up this morning a little groggy, but managed to make it out of the hideous Budget Inn a few minutes after 11am. We walked across the street to hang out at the Exxon station convenience store. Nothing happens until we can have iced coffee flowing through our systems. Once I got coffee, I called home on the payphone across the parking lot to check in with my family and request bugspray to be shipped to Waynesboro. The ear piece on the payphone was melted. Buena Vista a wacked-out town. Done talking, I returned to find Craig perusing the magazines inside the store. We weren't in a hurry to try to figure out how to hitch back out to US 60 nearly 10 miles away. We sat outside the store drinking our iced coffee and engaging in conversation with strangers hoping to yogi a ride out of them. We talked to this one really nice older gentlemen who asked us questions about our pack weight, water bladders, stove, etc. He told us he was a marathon runner. He said he'd give us a ride, but that his car was loaded with people and junk. Darn. We tried.Finally, what seemed like hours later, we walked to the edge of town and started putting our thumbs out to hitch. We stood on the side of the road without luck for about 20 minutes when the marathon guy pulled up! He told us he'd started the drive up US 60 with his family. Realizing how steep and windy the road is, he came back to get us. Craig and I weren't exactly sure how we'd fit in their car, but somehow we managed to cram in there with his family and our stuffed packs. Craig sat up front with the marathon guy, while I jammed into the backseat with my pack, his wife, and their teenage daugther. I knew we smelled too -- I felt awful and yet appreciative that they had come back to get us and were willing to put up with us!They dropped us off right in front of the trail at Long Mountain Wayside on US 60. The wayside is a nice little picnic area, and there were families enjoying the day with lunches spread out on the grass. Craig and I weren't in a hurry to get going. It was pretty warm out. We chatted with a woman who had just returned from a horse ride. She told us about the road that made its way up the mountain and how she'd seen the AT crossing up there. She also said it was much cooler higher up. It was fun to watch her wipe down her sweaty horse and usher him into her horse trailer. Conquering our procrastination, we started hiking after 2:30pm. We climbed 2000+ ft. pausing along the way to eat raspberries and blackberries by the trail. We summited Bald Knob (4,059') that was neither a bald or a knob. We didn't discuss. We went on to Cold Mountain, which was a bald, and chilled out on top of the rocks. We shared a leftover beer from the night before. Cold Mountain wasn't cold at all today. It felt really peaceful to be on top of a grassy bald again. We hiked on for a few miles, and Craig found us a sweet camping spot at Hog Camp Gap. I have to say that this campsite may be one of the best we've used thus far! We are on the outskirts of a grassy clearing. There are a few large, swaying trees surrounding us, and one of them has a big wooden swing hanging from a branch. I set our tent up on a soft, grassy patch while Craig went to get water. We are near a road, and we've seen a few other hikers pass by in the early evening hours. I bet they are jealous of our prime camp spot! I made dinner tonight while Craig made us a great fire in the firepit here. We've been hanging out around the fire drinking the Steel Reserve beers that we hauled up the mountain. It is very relaxing here. The wind picked up and the temps got cooler. The fire is effectively keeping the bugs away. It is also nice because we aren't so exhausted that we can't sit here and enjoy the fire. Craig keeps wandering off into the nearby trees to look for dead wood to burn. We get a kick out of burning things in the fire. Our plan is to sleep without the rainfly on tonight. Hopefully it won't rain. It is gorgeous here -- the stars are out. What a wonderful evening.