Date: 2006-12-07
From: Hokey Pokey's Home/Daleville, Va

To: Catawba, Va
Miles today: 19.8

I took a zero yesterday. I am very good at wasting a day when I get a chance.I layed around in the morning, but did go out and get the oil changed in my truck, then when Hokey Pokey got back from work, we went to a bar about half way between Roanoke and Catawba and had a few beers and played five games of pool.Hokey Pokey was happy when the owner of the bar thought he looked like Vince Gill.It was nice playing some pool...I haven't done that in ages.Hokey Pokey wouldn't let me pay for a thing...thanks Hokey. :-)))Today started out with a pot of Starbuck's and some microwave eggs and sausage.When Hokey Pokey was ready for work, he drove me to the trailhead in Daleville and dropped me off.It was a mild 40 degrees out, but that was supposed to be the high for the day. A cold front was coming in and bringing high winds and much colder temperatures.I had all day to walk 20 miles, so I started out slowly and kept stopping to take some pictures.I crossed over Tinker Creek, then signed in a trail register and left a few smiley face stickers. :-)))I climbed up to Tinker Ridge and walked by Hay Rock. I was still taking lots of pictures and walking easy.I could feel the changing weather and the winds would pick up, then the sun would come out again and the winds would calm down. That went on for a couple hours before the high winds came and stayed.I walked down to Angels Gap, then walked by Lambert's Meadow and stopped at Lambert's Meadow Shelter to sign the register.I see Goat Milk is now two days ahead of me...wonder how that happened. ;-)))I climbed up to Tinker Cliffs and was greeted with a very strong, cold wind. I took a few pictures of the valley below and of the cliffs, then started heading down to Brickey's Gap.The walk started getting harder because the winds had blown leaves up the mountain and they were settling in the Trail. When there were rocks nearby, the leaves would get really deep...up to my knees. It's not easy walking down a steep hill, not being able to see the Trail and walking though leaves up to your knees.The blazes in that area were scarce too. There were times when I lost the Trail. I would head back up to the highest spot and usually found the Trail that way.I got down to Brickey's Gap and could see McAfee Knob off in the distance.The walking got easier again, but the high winds would hit me whenever I got exposed to the north...which was a lot. :-)))I got to Campbell's Shelter and saw Lone Wolf there waiting on me with a couple PBR's and some wine.I drank a PBR, but left the wine for him. We sat there for a while talking.I watched Lone Wolf drink the wine. He must be really refined because when he would tilt the bottle to drink, his pinky finger would stick out. :-)))We weren't in any hurry because we only had 5 miles to walk to meet up with Hokey Pokey at 5:30 at Rt 311 and we had about 2 1/2 hours.We did walk on after a while and climbed up to McAfee Knob.It started snowing litely on our way up that mountain.It's rare that I have anyone there to take my picture, so I turned on my camera and it shut right off. The battery was dead.I put a new battery in, but then I couldn't get the camera to work. Not sure if it was too cold or the battery had a bad connection.Lone Wolf ended up taking a couple pictures with his digital camera and said he'd get Gypsy to send them to me.I walked out to the edge of the cliff for the pictures, but I was real careful. I didn't need to end my walk just four miles before then real ending point. :-)))I propped myself up with my Leki's and was careful not to forget where I was. It was windy and there were snow flurries. I was real happy it was frozen precipitation and not a cold rain.We walked down the mountain and walked by Catawba Mountain Shelter without stopping.We did stop at John's Spring Shelter and sat for a few minutes while I signed the register.We walked on. The wind wasn't too bad except for when we got on an exposed ridge. I stopped at the last trail register just before the road and signed that. The wind really whipped through the last little bit of Trail. My hands got pretty cold. I had slowed down just a little.It was about 5:25 and Hokey Pokey said he'd be at the trailhead at 5:30pm. He's usually right on time too.I got to watch Lone Wolf walk for five whole miles on a white blaze trail. :-)))Wolf had got to the road and I came out a few minutes later. I could see that he was over in the parking lot talking to Hokey Pokey.It was just getting dark out. Hokey Pokey took a couple pictures and we headed down the mountain to The Homeplace.I figured that I would be done with this walk when I was seated and eating some fried chicken. :-)))It was packed there because of so many people having Christmas parties.I was told it would be an hour, so the three of us found a spot out of the way and was standing there.A waitress that I've had before in there spotted me and asked the owner to seat us in her section.We ended up getting a seat way before the hour was up...in fact, we were almost done eating by the time the hour was up. :-)))When I had two drumsticks on my plate, we got the waitress to take my "summit" photo. I raised the drumsticks just like most hikers raise their Leki's and Hokey Pokey and Lone Wolf scooted around and we all got in my "summit" photo. :-)))This year's walk is done!! I'm part of the "Class Of '06"!! :-)))I was so tired from walking through all those leaves and the cold wind today, that when we got back to Hokey Pokey's home, I stayed up for about 30 minutes, then headed upstairs and went to sleep. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.It was a great day made even better by having a couple good friends there at the end...thanks Hokey Pokey and Lone Wolf.I'll write a post hike entry in a few days and this journal will be coomplete. I have a few things I want to talk about in that entry.I also posted a few photos of the last day of the walk.