Date: 2015-05-05
From: Lake Watauga, TN

To: Vandeventer Shelter, TN
Miles today: 9.1

Dinner last night was amazing. Juicy, medium rare steaks. That's all I have to say about that. We then retired into a hot tub for over an hour, enjoying Coke and good conversation in the process. We'd eventually hit the hay close to 2:00am. I woke up just after 9:00am, made sure my gear was packed up, and was treated to one last feast by Bushwacker. Another breakfast of scrambled and fried eggs, bacon, sausage, steak, biscuits, gravy, strawberry jam, milk, and OJ. We all enjoyed several large servings even though we didn't have the room in our stomachs. Bushwacker also prepared several doggy bahs of all the leftovers from the previous day and half worth of meals that were divided up between the 5 of us to spread out the weight.After breakfast we all loaded onto the boat to begin our trip back to the beach where they had picked us up. The weather was sunny and clear as we exited the cove into calm, mirror-like waters, reflecting the trees and mountains above. After a leisurely 30-45 minute ride, we were soon hopping off onto the sands of the beach where we had eagerly waited our hosts a day and a half ago. It had seemed like much longer. We exchanged our thank you's, goodbye's, and well-wishes as we headed back into the woods surrounding the lake. We covered the first 2 miles in ~45 minutes, past Griffin Branch and Watauga Lake Shelter. This first stretch has been closed to overnight camping due to high bear activity recently.We reached Watauga Dam, a large earthen dam holding back the massive lake we had recently been enjoying. William had one more treat for us as we exited the woods and crossed along the top to where thew trail picked up on the far side. A familiar humming noise rose from the lake below where William stood in his boat with a pair of goggles on, allowing him to see from the POV of the drone he was flying towards us. He performed several fly-bys and aerial shots for the next ~10 minutes, filming us and our surroundings as we passed through it. He will be putting it together tonight and it should be available soon for viewing. He's very talented and I'm sure it will be nice. I encourage you all to visit his YouTube channel and give some of his drone videos a watch. He's compiled several videos shot from this part of Tennessee including a few spots I've already hiked through. His work can be found under: wbush121.After William had concluded his flight, we waved and shouted our thanks from the top of the dam before turning and finally returning into the woods. We didn't set a goal for the day as our bodies immediately felt weak and sluggish from all or the relaxing and eating we had just completed, as well as the additional weight of our packs from he food provided by Bushwacker. Fortunately we didn't have a goal in mind or I'm sure we wouldn't have hit the mark. We stopped at Vandeventer Shelter, 9.1 miles in, which sits atop the long ridge that leads from the Watauga Dam along the lake and eventually towards Damascus, VA. This particular shelter is best known for a murder that took place here in the 1970's. We've enjoyed it most for the view it offers just 10 feet behind the shelter where it looks out over Lake Watauga, over 1,000ft below. We can even see the lake house we've called home over the past 2 nights.Burnsides departed earlier this afternoon to make his way north at a quicker clip than the rest of us over the next week. He's the best man in a wedding in Connecticut in a little under 2 weeks; he will be under a deadline and needs to reach a certain point where he plans to catch a bus. Afterwards, he has every intention of returning and meeting back up with the group, but time will tell. Tomorrow the rest of us plan to put on 20+ miles in order to reach Damascus, VA on Thursday. We're not planning to stay in town for we'll be reutrnong there in just under 2 weeks for Trail Days, an annual fest/party thrown in our honor.The 4 of us are currently lying in our sleeping bags in the shelter, along with 2 other hikers. A few more are tented nearby. The sun is setting and promises to be a decent one. Hopefully sleep comes soon, but most likely not since at least 3 of the hikers near me will be snoring. Shame on me for not putting up my tent; also shame on me for being lazy and hating packing up a tent in the morning. The high today was near 80 degrees and looks to be in the 70's for at least the next week. Sweat will flow freely, smells will appear sooner, and we'll just deal with it since it's the only option we have.