Date: 2004-03-26
From: Bobblets Gap Shelter

To: Wattstull Motel (Trail to Button Hill)
Miles today: 13.4

Log entry:   55Start time: 0900Ened time: 1600 off the AT, 1645 at Its a Wonderful Life CampgroundMorning weather: Cool, clearAfternoon weather: Warm and sunnyEvening weather: Clear and pleasentBreakfast: PoptartsLunch: Peanut butter crackers and a Payday bar with Limeade Dinner: Cheese burger and a family order of seasoned fries, the fries were awesome, with a Dr Pepper.Trail description: Another easy, short day. The climb up Fork Mt we thought was going to be much worse, but we took it slow. A very long downhill from Cove Mt to Jennings creek. The area around Cove mtn had some cool out croppings.People: The Solemates all day and their wonderful family at night including Chad, Lauren's boyfriend, whom I had yet to meet.Animals: More deer and many skidadlers. A "skid-dad-ler" is something that rustles in the leaves as you pass, most often going unseen. Also on the road walk to the campground a big brute of a dog, part labrador, part truck.Money spent: About $8 for dinner and laundryBiggest complaint: One of those days when everything went right.Thoughts: The morning and the rest of the day in fact went by quickly due to us being in light and cheery moods as we were going to get to see family again and also eat at the Homeplace tomorrow night. The weather was also perfect, clear and mild. Throw in "flat" land and we were almost goofy all day.We passed Cove mtn shelter and planned on lunching at Jennings Creek. We allneeded water and the water source according to Wingfoots guide says, "Cove Creek 0.4 mile down blue-blazed trail, 500 ft drop in elevation" so we scooted by.We spent the better part of an hour and a half at Jennings creek. Jacob evenwaded in but once he got upto his ankles he soon found the water to be anythingbut refreshing. I read more of Patriot Games. After the good long break off the trail we headed up Fork Mt. The climb looks respectable on a profile map but is really nothing to fear. By 1530 we were at Bryant Ridge Shelter.What a gorgeous place, big enough to live in comfortably. I am not sure how many it sleeps but we guessed around 24, which is conservative. The shelter log wrote about someone who fell from the loft, breaking their wrist. Ouch. It was also in this shelter log that we realized that we missed Alan Shorb(Ponderer), flip-flopper headed SOBO first. This was the first we had seen his shelter entries. It turns out per my guest book that he was in Daleville when we passed through. Oh well, maybe some other trail some other time.We all visited the privy, though not at the same time, and decided to push on to the campground. Aqui es el plan.The blue-blazed trail to Button Hill leads to VA714. From there it is about amile and a half to Its a Wonderful Life camprground where Jacob's family was toarrive sometime in the evening. Jacob's family would then drop us off at theterminus of VA714 on Sunday afternoon and we would hike the blue blazed trail 0.5 mile back to where we left the AT.The climb up Button hill was short but arguably the steepest of the day. Therest of the roadwalk was all downhill.Along the way, up on a hill, a dog barked quite ferociously actually. Jacob got the bright idea of "woofing" back. (I had the same idea he just beat me to it Anyways this brought the beast running down the hill. We were in no danger of being run down by it but it was a little exciting for a few seconds.Once at the campground we did laundry and enjoyed the evening sunshine on thedeck. We then ordered dinner off the short order menu and ate that ravenously,I'm telling you those fries were good. The party then moved to the "game room" where Jacob and I played pool and lit up the jukebox. They had "The Cowboy Song" by Garth Brooks so I was a happy man. Oh and by the way I am not very good at pool. I should have tried with my trekking poles. Hmm..   We relaxed a little more after the pool championship until our siestas wereinteruppted by the bouncing of a basketball. The sound of sweetness to Jacob and I.There were 2 boys, ages 12 and about 9ish, and a girl, about 12 as well. Jacoband I walked up and they invited us to a game or twelve of "21 tip". Once thehouse rules were established it was game on. We played for about an hour or sountil we decided that our luck of no twisted ankles was about up and we headedback to the porch.I think the Cartners arrived around tenish bearing gifts of Chik-fil-a, DrPepper, and brownies. We picked the Wattstull Inn for the weekend as it was fairly centrally locatedfor our weekend plans which included a whole lot of relaxing.Today was one of my favorite days on the trail. The Lord was in all the details. It was great.