Date: 2005-10-02
From: Rt. 421, TN

To: Hampton, TN
Miles today: 35.4

35.4 miles todayKincora HostelHampton, Tn I slept well again, but didn't go to bed until midnight. I got up at 5am because Grey Fox said he'd be at the hostel at 6:30. I packed up my stuff and then walked up to Cowboy's in hopes of coffee and breakfast. It was almost 6 when I got up there and there was no signs of life, so I walked back to the hostel and made my own coffee. While the water was heating up, Grey Fox showed up. I finished making the coffee and we sat and talked a while, then I loaded up my stuff and we headed for the trailhead. We were hoping to find a restaraunt open on the way, but none were. Grey Fox said he could drop me off at Rt 421 and he'd meet me in about 6 miles at Rt 91 with breakfast. That sounded great to me, so I started walking south at 7:15am on a beautiful morning. I stopped at the spring first and got good water and tanked up the ol' body. I had a 700 foot climb up to Double Spring Shelter and stopped just long enough to sign the register. There was an owl that was hootin' while I was signing the register. I hiked on and passed by Bewildered, one of the sobos I met yesterday who was just about packed and ready to walk. He tented near some water last night. I hiked on and in a couple miles, I came to the new relo where the trail goes through an old farm property. I really like that because for about 3/4 of a mile you walk through this pieceful old farm. I got to Rt 91, but Grey Fox wasn't there. I thought that maybe he went to the old trailhead, so I walked down the road to that. He wasn't there, so I went back and waited by the side of the road. I heard his car conming about 10 minutes later. He had waited until about when I was supposed to be at the trailhead and had the lady at Shady Valley make me 3 sausage and egg biscuits and they were still hot. That was fantastic!! I sat down and ate those and had a couple sodas. I filled my water bottle and drank some water. We made plans to meet at Rt 321 later today. I told him that it would be about 4pm before I got there. I hiked on feeling great. I had another 700 foot climb and when I got to the old Grindstaff Monument, I stopped and took a couple pictures. I guess he was a hermit in the area and his birthday was the same day as mine, only 101 years earlier. I walked on and when I got to Iron Mountain Shelter I signed the register. I was surprised to see Bewilder had already signed in. He must have passed me when I went down Rt 91 to the old trailhead looking for Grey Fox. I hiked on thinking I'd refill my water bottle if the spring was flowing, but when I got there, it was dry. I kept walking and passed by Patagonius just before noon. We talked for a short while, then I hiked on. About 15 minutes later, I came up to a 5 foot 2 3/4 inch rattlesnake. This was the second one I've seen that had some nice darker colors to it. He was moving across the trail, but had stopped when I got close. I was taking out my camera to get a picture, but he started moving again, so I got closer to him so he'd stop. He curled up and started rattling at me while I took a few nice pictures. His rattles were going the whole time I was there. He must have been having a bad day and was seriously upset with the world today. :-))) I hiked on and when I got to Vandeventer Shelter, Bewildered was their. He looked bewildered too when he saw me. He asked me how I got behind him, so I told him about walking down to the old trailhead on Rt 91. I signed the register and walked on. In about 2 minutes, I came up to Restless. He was sitting down eating lunch after having gone down the half mile to the water source. He did say that the water was still flowing though. We talked a short while before I hiked on. I started seeing Watauga Lake and before long, I was walking across the dam. The lake water had a real nice color to it today. I stopped by Watauga Lake Shelter to see if Grey Fox had hiked in, but no one was there and the stream was dry, so I kept walking. I was walking around the lake and when I could see the beach area through some trees, I spotted Grey Fox's car. I still had about half a mile to go, but I knew I would soon be eating. Better still, I would soon have something to drink. I had been out of water for over an hour. I got to the car at 3:50pm and Grey Fox said my soda was in the back, so I went behind the car and sat down and guzzled down the soda. When I was done, he said there was another soda on the other side of me, so I started drinking that. That's when I realized that the first one I drank wasn't coke, it was rootbeer. I drank his by mistake...oops. :-))) I didn't even taste it going down. Sorry Grey Fox about drinking your soda, but it was good!! :-))) I ate a loaded Subway roastbeef sandwich, then went down and drank a litre of water and filled my bottle for the last 9 miles to Kincora. Grey Fox said he had a great day at the lake. He swam some, layed out in the sun some, watched girls some and slept some. He said he also stopped and talked to Bob Peoples at Kincora and let him know that I would be there tonight. Bob told him; "Well, there goes the neighborhood." It's so good to have such nice friends. :-))) I thanked Grey Fox for helping me get through this hike today and at 4:25pm I started the 1000 foot climb up to Pond Flats. I've always rewarded myself for climbing Pond Flats by stopping at the nice spring on top and drinking some good, cool spring water, but it was dry this time, so I kept on walking. I walked down the mountain. It's steeper on the south side, so I went a little slower. I got to the bottom and saw there was still a nice flow to the stream there. I crossed the stream twice on a couple footbridges, walked past Laural Fork Shelter without stopping and down towards the gorge. I got to Laurel Falls and walked out into the river on some rocks and took a couple pictures. I had never seen the falls with so little water, but there was enough to still be beautiful. In fact, I think the falls were even nicer with less water. They had more contrast with the rocks showing through the falling water. I climbed about 200 rock steps to get out of the gorge, then an easy mile walk out to Dennis Cove Rd. When I turned to walk up the road, I could see some pink in the sky from the sunset. I got to the hostel at 7:30 and walked in to see Grey Fox, Tug Boat, Bob Peoples and a couple other guys there talking. As always, it was good to see Bob. Tug Boat is the other sobo I met the other day. We all sat and talked for a while, but I needed to call Miss Janet before it got too late. I wanted to find out when we were leaving for The Gathering. I called and Miss Janet said her ride fell through. I told her I would call her back tomorrow night and see if anything changed. When I got done talking to her, Bob said I could just finish hiking around this area for the next couple days and ride up with him, so I called Miss Janet back and told her not to worry about a ride for me. We all spent the evening at Kincora doing what you do here...talking. :-))