Date: 2003-05-14
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cove Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Two-and-a-half miles north of the shelter, the trail comes within sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and 0.8 north of that, it crosses the Parkway for the first time. The trail went through 4 overlooks, and right in front of another one. For much of the day, I could see the Parkway, or hear cars driving by.It was exciting for me today. I don't know if it was because of the overlooks, or the road crossings, or what, but I looked forward to each overlook. Maybe I was just hoping for a cold soda from someone in a car. The Trail Magic I've received so far has spoiled me! At road crossings I hope to see a parked car, possibly with the trunk up, possibly with a cooler... I know I shouldn't expect it, and I don't EXPECT it, but I hope for it. Nothing wrong with that in my mind.Today was a beautiful day! The sun shining, cool to start, breezy! And in the first several miles, I got to walk through a beautiful rhododendron tunnel, with blooms all around! Awesome! The views from the overlooks were pretty good too. It was a little hazy, but overall pretty darned good. I think I took at least one picture at each overlook.Hotdog and I stopped at Sharp Top Overlook for lunch around 12:30. We had a clear view of Sharp Top and the other mountains of Peaks of Otter. Just as I finished eating, a van stops and a young couple gets out. The guy asks "Are you thruhikers?" When we said yes, he said "Cool!", went to his van and came back with handfuls of food: bananas, Twix bars, crackers, cheese, hummus! He'd hiked the trail in 1999 with a trail name of Grendal (not sure if it's spelled right) and was telling his friend about it, and hoped to see hikers on the Parkway. He's from West Palm area in Florida, and they were returning from Florida headed to New York. We chatted for a while, then they had to go. It was very kind of him to offer up food, and he seemed excited to see other thruhikers!Just as we were getting ready to pack up and head north, a Park Ranger pulls into the overlook, lights flashing. I was thinking that one of the cars that passed by had told them there were two bums on the Parkway. Not the case. I mean, there WERE two bums sitting there, but that's not why he stopped. The Park Service was spraying from helicopters to kill Gyspy Moths, in the area just north of where we were. He told us to wait an hour before gong north. Darn! He forced me to sit in the sun at a beautiful vista an hour longer than I was going to! I watched the helicopters, wrote some email, and just relaxed. Aaahhhhh... That was nice.About 0.7 after that overlook, we passed our last one until Friday morning. Then once more in the day, the trail crossed a road within sight of the Parkway. Coming out of that road crossing at Bearwallow Gap, we had our only decent climb for the day. Two southbounders told us after that, it was fairly level for a while. Kismet and Kitchen Sink were both headed south; Kitchen Sink for two more weeks, and Kismet for quite a while. She's doing a thruhike, but going south from Harper's Ferry to Springer, then south from Katahdin to Harper's Ferry--a pretty cool way to hike it. Hopefully, I'll see her later on, after she gets to the northern half!I saw two dayhikers, going back south to their cars. I talked to one for a bit, about the spraying, and about some Orchids he saw along the trail. I never saw them. I must've surprised the other dayhiker while she was...uh... watering the plants, because when I first noticed her, she had her back turned and was buttoning her shorts. It's a good thing I was zoning out, just watching the trail in front of me, or I might've caught her in the act! Given the situation, we exchanged pleasantries, and I moved on. Just after Harveys Knob Overlook, the trail was relatively flat for a while. There was an awesome rhododendron tunnel, with te rhodies all in bloom. It was so beautiful. My mom would love it! Then the trail dipped down just a bit and went next to a stone wall, that I believe was built for the Parkway which was above. It was pretty cool, but I wouldn't want to be hiking along there in a downpour, because a drainage culvert over a foot in diameter empties right onto the trail. Hikers would have to bushwack downhill to get around it. Lucky for me, it was a rainless day.It wasn't long before reaching the shelter. It was 4:30pm. I'd hiked over 13 miles, and yet, I felt like a slacker. Quitting at 4:30??? Well, yes. I'm scheduled to meet a ride to Trail Days Friday 18.6 miles from here. If I went on tonight, I'd have an extremely short day somewhere! As it is, I'll have until at least noon Friday to do 6.7 miles that day. Oh well, I guess that means I'll have to spend some time at overlooks and creeks! Trail life is hard, especially when lollygagging!This shelter has a lot of bugs buzzing around! There are carpenter bees flying around eating holes in the shelter. Let me just say, these bees are HUGE! They either aren't very smart, or they just don't care because they haven't bothered me yet. If they get too close for my comfort, I just shoo them away. Hotdog, on the other hand, takes a whack at them! He hit one, and sent it flying at me! It landed on my arm, after bouncing off my pack, and I quickly knocked it off, then swept it off the shelter platform. Hopefully it doesn't rain tonight, because I've seen at least one hole in the roof of the shelter. It's not supposed to, but stranger things have happened. I've been sitting here, wasting time until dinner, watching the lizards/skinks/chameleons/salamanders run around in front of the shelter. I'm not sure what they are, but a smaller one was a skink with a pretty blue tail. The bigger ones are super-fast! I'm having a good time watching them. On the trail, ! I rarely see them, as they scurry off before I realize they are there, but in the open area in front of the shelter, I can get a good look at them!I might crash early tonight, since I arrived so early. Or I can read...a lot. The shelter faces east, so the sun is at it's back, making the shelter dark inside already, and it's only 6:30! Of course, the other side of the coin is that the sun will be streaming in when it rises. That might make for an early morning. I know there's a creek just over 3 miles from here, and I might like to hang out there a while in the morning, so maybe an early start would be a good thing. Of course, I can just tuck my head in my sleeping bag, and ignore the sun. That works too, even though, after a certain time, sleep won't happen any more. At that point, it's time to start the new day! And I get to go somewhere I've never been. How great is that??