Date: 2005-05-18
From: Waterville School Rd.

To: Merian, VA
Miles today: 106.0

Well it's been a bit since I've written. It seems so long since I write I think that I amost forget a detail along the way. Well the last few days here have been a blur for me. Since I stopped in Waterville School, the Standing Bear hostel there was great. I met up with a couple of guys that I haven't seen in awhile there who really encouraged me to get to Hot Springs. Since I've been out of the Smokies the terrain and flora as been wonderful, hardly any rocks to climb over. That definetly has been a challage for me. Since I am legally blind it has been hard for me to judge where to step on a few of those rocks along the way. I can only imagine what Penn. will be like.Not only was the terrain nice but I got to Max Patch and I gotta say this is the most beautiful spot on the AT so far. I ended up watching the sunset on top of this grassy mountain and did my first night hike to the next shelter (which I never found) I ended up sleeping in a little cove about a mile down the way. I woken in the morning by Texas Dreamer that I was about 100 yards away from it.I eneded lup leaving Steading Bear on Wednesday an had decided that I probably wasn't going to make Hot Springs by Friday morning going at 10 miles per day. Well I hadn't expected the terrain to be so nice and believe it or not I ended up doing 15 mile days after all. So Friday morning I hiked into Hot springs 8am Friday morning. I was so happy about the pace and speed that I did those couple of days.Well to my dismay a few people I ran into told me that everyone had left Thursday night for Trail Days.   The outfitter and hostels didn't know of any other shuttles going that way. So I decided to stay there and just hike on. I was having lunch at the Paddlers Pub down the street and had overheard a couple of guys talking about Traildays and told them about my situation. Flash the guy with the car had come down to pick up his friend Peace Pipe and I ended up getting a ride with them to Damascus VA. Flash was a really nice guy. Thanks so much for the ride Flash. I also caught up with Vertical Eddie and Texas Dreamer around there too.Well Trail Days was pretty cool. Tents were every consivable place. They call it Tent City. It was like a regular ol' state fair kind of atmosphere. They had events and vendors selling their wares all over town. If you needed a tent of sleeping bag you had about 10 different kinds and places to get them It rain alot and so I got to try out my new tarp tent to see how it was going to hold uup. It turned out great and hope it serves me well down the way. It is certainly nice not to carry the weight of a tent at least.I stayed in the hostel "The Place" they call it on Sunday night. I met up with Mustard Seed, and Swamp Donkey there plus many others I hadn't seen in awhile. I headed out on Tuesday from Damascus instead of heading back to Hot Springs. I needed to get to Harpers Ferry by the beginning of July because I am hiking with a friend for a week or so there. So I needed to make up some time.On the way out of Damascus I ended up having my first visual hangup. I must have missed a blaze someplace because I ended up going down the Virgina Creeper Trail for a bit before I ran into someone that told me where I was. Well a couple of hikers told me about it once and said it was a beatiful trail that rand along the road and the river, and it met up back on the AT about 12 miles. The trail was designed for bikers so the terrain of it is paved. Well so I took my first "Blue Blaze" of the trip and hiked it down to where it met up with the AT again. And I gotta say, it was a very lovely hike and a really great day for me. I was indeed beautiful trail.A day later I got to the road VA 602 by Fox Gap. In the parking lot was a guy that had a delivery truck that he fixed up to make a mobile hostel. "TABA's Bounce Box" was the name of it. Taba was a very friendly guy and he stops at various trailheads and gives hikers rides and feeds them. I ended up just camping out right there by the "hostel" and ate hot dogs and burgers with the rest of the guys that came down.Well this is where my story stops for the moment, a few days before I got a call from home about some business that I needed to take care of. So I ended telling Taba about it and he gave me a ride into Marian, VA which is where the nearest bus station is. So regretably I am off trail for a week or so, I write to you form my mother's house in good ol' Texas, but I plan to get back. I'll keep you posted.Till next time.